How Grab Cloud Kitchens Will Satisfy Indonesians' Appetite The ride-hailing company has opened two new delivery-only outlets in the country, and is working on a 'super' app
By Pooja Singh
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To achieve better efficiency and offer more options, Grab has opened two delivery-only kitchens in Jakarta, Indonesia. Located in Cideng and Kramat, the GrabKitchens will offer food on GrabFood, the ride-hailing powerhouse's on-demand food delivery service, closer to consumers who live, work and happen to be in the area.
GrabKitchen is a delivery-only kitchen, or cloud kitchen, that brings together multiple F&B brands in a single central kitchen to plug the cuisine gaps in specific areas and increase the diversity of food choices.
Change is Here
This concept was introduced in Indonesia in September 2018 when GrabFood opened its first delivery-only kitchen in West Jakarta. With the two newly minted delivery-only kitchens, GrabFood now operates three GrabKitchen outlets in Jakarta.
"We find innovative and creative ways to better serve our customers and this is one of the reasons our food delivery business has grown extremely fast in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia. GrabFood delivery volume grew almost 10x in Indonesia from December 2017 to December 2018, and we're now partners with many of Indonesians' top national and international brands and local merchants," says Tomaso Rodriguez, vice president of GrabFood.
GrabFood has collaborated with 11 merchants to join the new kitchens including Ayam Asix, which is known for its crispy fried chicken, and burger joint Dons Burger. "We are honoured that some of the top local merchants in Indonesia have chosen to expand their business with us. We are confident that GrabKitchen will give merchants the best chance of success. Our work doesn't stop here. We'll continue to use data to help merchants optimize their business, reach new revenue potentials, and capture any unmet demands in the market," said Ridzki Kramadibrata, President of Grab Indonesia, in a press release.
GrabFood currently serves six Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. In Indonesia, GrabFood is available in 178 cities.
Time for a Super App
Meanwhile, the company has separately announced that it will bring GrabFood into its everyday super app. The new GrabFood experience will be beta-tested in phases, starting with the Southeast region at the end of the month. This milestone strengthens Grab's position as Southeast Asia's leading everyday super app and comes just before GrabFood's first anniversary in Singapore.
In less than a year, GrabFood has become the fastest-growing business unit within Grab. From May 2018 to March 2019, the company claims its orders grew 25 per cent month-on-month on average. As a result, GrabFood's F&B merchant-partners saw monthly revenue increase by up to 4x. GrabFood's fleet of more than 13,000 delivery-partners just in Singapore, its headquarters, are also completing 80 per cent more daily jobs and earning much more income than when GrabFood first started.
"As an everyday super app, we believe that bringing our services together will unlock the most value for our customers. This will make for a more seamless user experience and put us in a strong position to drive the multi-billion-dollar food-delivery market forward," says Lim Kell Jay, co-chief of staff and head of GrabFood Singapore, Grab.
