Jonathan Lim, founder and CEO of Oddle, used to personal F&B.
He opened his restaurant The Garden in 2011 and has over 13 years of expertise within the meals and beverage (F&B) and expertise trade, together with his one-year stint with the Nationwide College of Singapore Abroad Faculty (NOC) program in Silicon Valley.
As an F&B proprietor, he discovered many gaps within the trade that pose challenges for him and different F&B homeowners. Though there are various digital platforms to work with to offer a extra seamless and holistic expertise in your clients, it may be overwhelming and restaurant homeowners don’t achieve a lot management or profit from the providers.
Going through comparable issues, reminiscent of an not possible six-figure charge in an try to create an internet ordering website for his restaurant, Jonathan determined to be the sport changer on this trade.
then it began odd in 2014, a complete platform that focuses on serving to F&B homeowners digitize their enterprise by enabling them to construct a sustainable on-line ordering platform on their very own, along with co-founders Alan Goh and Yong Xiang Pua.
[W]We shortly understood that the one sustainable enterprise mannequin is one wherein all events profit. When our F&B retailers win, we win collectively. We then went on to develop a holistic one-stop-shop for all of our F&B companions’ digital wants, all of which don’t have any set-up prices, together with the supply {of professional} value-added providers like advertising and marketing.
– Jonathan Lim, Founder and CEO of Oddle
By combining empathy with expertise, Oddle fills the hole available in the market by offering extremely accessible, low-cost, performance-driven options that assist F&B homeowners maximize their operations by sensible knowledge and significant engagement.
Why is it essential to digitize?
Jonathan emphasizes that it’s important for eating places to determine an online-to-offline (O2O) technique in these instances.
Using on-line providers to unravel their issues and re-engage with customers “ensures the sustainability of restaurant companies by the altering habits of customers and mitigates the financial impression of the pandemic”, highlights Jonathan.
To remain related, Jonathan encourages F&B homeowners to develop and broaden their companies by not solely on the lookout for eating options, but additionally incorporating different off-premise sources of revenue. By enabling clients to entry priceless buyer knowledge and knowledge, they are often smarter and more practical in driving their enterprise sustainably into the long run.
“The largest problem many F&B operators face is discerning their core buyer base as a consequence of fragmented knowledge channels attributable to quite a few platforms,” he provides.
Oddle goals to handle these issues, empowering these enterprise homeowners who could also be nervous about digitization and providing an easy-to-use platform for all their digitization wants, from a complete view of orders and funds to the supply of synthetic intelligence ( AI) and analytics in your advertising and marketing functions.
Digitization providers, totally different info
Oddle abides by a “restaurant first” philosophy, which is what units it other than its opponents.
“Not like meals marketplaces like Deliveroo or Foodpanda, Oddle affords options that give meals and beverage retailers full management and transparency of their enterprise and buyer knowledge, making certain most efficiency at minimal prices,” says Jonathan. .
With a mission to empower eating places to take cost of their very own future, Oddle affords an omnichannel platform that helps eating places ship world-class buyer experiences and engagement.
Its technological suite of options consists of an e-shop platform with managed supply logistics, a reservation platform, QR orders and cost terminals. All of those providers are straightforward to navigate and use, making it straightforward for restaurant homeowners to include them into their companies.
As well as, Oddle has three key providers that complement the system, reminiscent of Managed Advertising and marketing Providers, Buyer Success Administration and unusual mealsits meals discovery platform that extends the restaurant’s attain to foodies throughout Asia by leveraging Oddle’s database of two.3 million customers.
In comparison with different platforms that cost restaurant retailers an rigid flat charge, Oddle operates on a zero setup value mannequin, offering reservations at no extra value and taking a minimal share solely on profitable gross sales.
“We additionally actively assist our retailers reinvest of their enterprise to drive profitability by our free-to-use data-driven advertising and marketing providers,” provides Jonathan.
With Oddle’s sources, Jonathan highlights that eating places may profit from having extra management over their on-line operations in comparison with different platforms that provide such digitization providers.
[O]Our profitable benefit over different platforms is that our companions have full entry to their buyer knowledge. That is vitally necessary for all F&B operations as nothing is extra essential to your corporation than KYC ([Knowing] your consumer).
– Jonathan Lim, Founder and CEO of Oddle
By linking its personal enterprise success with that of its retailers, Oddle stands agency on its “Eating places First” precept, offering reasonably priced options in a clear results-based format. This enables every F&B operator to acquire most efficiency at minimal value.
Struggles to modify to a income sharing mannequin
Again in 2014, Oddle’s authentic enterprise mannequin was based mostly on a subscription mechanic to assist the meals and beverage trade undertake digital options for his or her supply and takeout enterprise. Their model emblem was that of a mouse, symbolizing how eating places could make gross sales with only one click on.
Though this contributed to its industrial success, Jonathan realized that its mounted subscription mannequin contributed to the issue the place restaurant homeowners or F&B operators typically face difficult processes and costly mounted subscription charges so as to add providers. like supply, takeout, e-shopping, reservations and extra in your corporation, to not point out the difficulties of managing a number of companions as effectively.
As such, Oddle pivoted to a income sharing mannequin in 2019, whereas making certain that its personal monetary sustainability was intently tied to the success of its companions. This overarching change helped break the mould whereas staying nearer to its roots within the trade.
Selecting to surrender our preliminary profitable enterprise mannequin and change to the present one aligned with retailers was one of many largest challenges we needed to take care of as this meant we had been giving up a gentle and safe stream of revenue and it was a very troublesome factor for a enterprise to do.
However we felt it needed to be executed as a result of a flat subscription charge would not inspire us to place within the effort to make sure our companions can thrive, as they’d pay us the identical quantity irrespective of how effectively or poorly they do.
– Jonathan Lim, Founder and CEO of Oddle
In the course of the 2020 pandemic, the brand new enterprise mannequin resulted in vital income as a result of improve in on-line deliveries as a result of pandemic, serving to many eating places flip round their enterprise inside 24 hours.
“[W]We capitalize on the decline of the bodily F&B panorama by making certain that companies are making a clean transition to the net sphere,” says Jonathan.
Regardless of the pandemic lasting a number of years, Oddle continued to look to the long run and sought to anticipate the challenges in a post-pandemic economic system by additional growing its full suite of holistic on-line and offline options to organize for the expansion of its F&B companions. sooner or later. within the area, which additionally served to make sure Oddle’s continued industrial viability.
Such options embody holding reservations in preparation for the return of on-site eating crowds and offering cost terminals for factors of sale uncared for by conventional cost suppliers.
Experiencing exponential development
So far, Oddle’s Gross Merchandise Quantity (GMV) has grown from S$30 million in 2019 to S$200 million in 2021. Its income has additionally elevated greater than 10-fold in the identical interval and is now “environment friendly by way of capital.
Jonathan highlights that these figures remained sturdy within the first half of 2022, at the same time as COVID restrictions had been about to be lifted.
With the easing of pandemic measures and the enlargement of their dine-in product repertoire at Oddle, they noticed a rise in traction from their dine-in cost terminals, which helped overcome the slight drop in GMV supply.
On his journey of offering full trial O2O options to F&B companions, Jonathan shares that the 430 retailers utilizing Oddle’s reserving options are already attaining a formidable 150,000 covers, whereas 350 new retailers have taken the area. supply and takeout from Oddle.
A type of success tales is Pizza Categorical. Initially, it offered its clients with tabletop ordering, in-store cost, reservations, and supply with a number of fragmented and costly platforms.
“We acknowledged the chance to optimize these knowledge touchpoints with our omnichannel providers, driving Pizza Categorical’ profitability to attain increased supply margins from optimized supply configurations,” highlights Jonathan.
With Oddle, Pizza Categorical was given straightforward and complete entry to a stronger buyer relationship administration (CRM) database with up-to-date supply and eating knowledge, leading to a 23 % discount in working hours and a considerable discount in annual financial savings of S$50,000.
simply final month, Oddle raised US$5 million in its Pre-Collection B spherical, bringing its complete funding to over US$12 million (S$16.78 million). With this newest spherical of funding, it plans to boost product improvement and regional market enlargement in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In accordance with Jonathan, some points of Oddle, reminiscent of takeout, QR ordering and reservations, are deliberate to penetrate new markets with a self-service mannequin.
“This yr, we are going to proceed to advance our philosophy of “All the time eating places first” and delve into offering extra options to F&B retailers,” he provides.
Featured Picture Credit score: Oddle