Tag: Food

  • Deliveroo Unveils New Tools to Help Restaurants Grow

    Deliveroo Unveils New Tools to Help Restaurants Grow

    Deliveroo today announced the Hong Kong launch of two new tools for its restaurant partners – Restaurant Home, an online portal which will provide data and insights on how restaurants’ delivery services perform, and Marketer, a key part of Restaurant Home, which will enable restaurants to upload and tailor promotions.

    Restaurants that partner with Deliveroo on average see their revenue increase by up to 30% and the company anticipates that the newly launched tools will see these figures increase even further.

    Brian Lo, General Manager of Deliveroo Hong Kong, said, “Innovation is in our blood and we are always on the lookout for new ways to support our riders, our partner restaurants, and the hungry people who depend on Deliveroo for a great meal delivered fast. The new tools now available in the Deliveroo arsenal will help our restaurant partners to improve their offerings and drive new efficiencies and profits, in turn benefitting our riders and end customers.”

    Restaurant Home

    Through Restaurant Home, Deliveroo will offer the following data insights:

    Delivered orders, to increase delivered orders

    • Shows the total number of delivered orders and the percentage change over a time period

    Prep time, to speed up delivery times

    • Shows the average time between order acceptance and rider pickup
    • Shows the percentage change in prep time over a time period as well as competitors’ average prep time in a local area

    Order ratings, to improve overall service

    • Shows a line graph of the average customer order rating per day over a time period, as well as how this compares to competitors in a local area

    Nick Lo, owner of Hong Kong restaurant So Far So Good (蘇花餐室), said, “Restaurant Home is another example of Deliveroo’s constant innovation. I’m excited to engage with this tool more, using the data analytics and insights provided to optimise my menu and my business.”

    Marketer

    Part of Restaurant Home, this function allows restaurants to set up their own marketing offers to consumers on the Deliveroo app. Restaurants are asking for more control of their businesses and Deliveroo has listened to this, offering insights gleaned from Restaurant Home to help restaurants tailor different promotions to customers.

    Ms Thi Hang, owner of Bun Cha Vietnamese, said, “The new Restaurant Home tool from Deliveroo gives me real time updates on key business metrics – I’m always logged in. I’m now also able to put up my own discounts, so I have more control over my ability to attract new customers and my visibility on the app.”

    Wider support to restaurants

    Restaurant Home and Marketer are the latest in a long line of measures Deliveroo offers restaurants to support their businesses. Working with 3,500 restaurants in Hong Kong via a team of more than 2,000 riders, Deliveroo is now serving delicious and convenient meals to people in 16 out of 18 of the city’s districts. In the past 6 months, Deliveroo has a 20% growth in riders and an 18% growth in the business as a whole.

    • Deliveroo helps restaurants create ‘Virtual Brands’ to diversify their offerings. Creating virtual restaurants allows existing restaurants to increase revenue by offering new or complementary cuisines from their current kitchen, but under new branding. A virtual brand appears as a separate restaurant with a new identity on Deliveroo.
    • Deliveroo offers ‘Editions’ delivery-only kitchens. Restaurants are able to expand without needing a physical presence in the area, enabling them to reach new customers. Deliveroo provides unique data and insights that allow them to tailor concepts and menu items to the area’s needs and preferences, leading to increases in sales of up to 400% in some cases.
    • Deliveroo stays on top of the trends so that restaurants understand where consumer demands are and where they’re headed next. For example, Deliveroo recently found that the most popular cuisine categories in Hong Kong are local Hong Kong food, Shanghainese, Vietnamese and Italian.
    • Wider support: Deliveroo is available to support restaurants with insights and direction on marketing and social media; menu design; photography; tailored customer acquisition and retention strategies.
    • Partnership opportunities, for example Deliveroo for Business offers a hotel room service so that hospitality groups can provide even more comfort and convenience to their guests.
  • Philippine’s La Lola to open in Singapore

    Philippine’s La Lola to open in Singapore

    La Lola Churreria will soon open its first store in Singapore at Clarke Quay Central. The Brazilian-inspired food-retailing concept is being brought to the city by MFT Group of the Philippines, in partnership with Bistronomia which opened the first La Lola store in the upmarket Manila Power Plant Mall at Rockwell.

    The Clarke Quay site was chosen for its close proximity to the MRT and bus stations.

    MFT Group chief marketing officer Chiqui Tan said the company chose Singapore because of locals’ dessert-driven palette and openness to new concepts.

    A former employee of the Philippines’ SM group, Tan says she has been watching La Lola with interest for several years.
    “We’ve been fans of the brand ever since they started. We thought it was genius that something so simple can be done so well. I saw the speed and the scale they grew the brand,” she said in an interview.

    “La Lola churros are so global in flavour that [the concept] can be taken anywhere and will have a strong chance of succeeding,” she said.

    The two companies are planning multiple outlets across Singapore and MFT Group is also actively looking for more food concepts to launch.

    The MFT Group, a private equity investor, has already successfully taken Singaporean chain Salad Stop to Spain. And it plans to open branches of that brand in Vietnam soon.

  • Women can make or break Vietnam’s F&B industry

    Women can make or break Vietnam’s F&B industry

    With more women spending more on eating out, they have become linchpins of the F&B industry, a study indicates. A new survey by HCMC-based market research firm Decision Lab finds that female consumers can make or break the food and beverage industry of Vietnam.

    Average visits per capita by female consumers to the out of home food and beverage market has increased by 5 percent during last year, from 121 between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the third quarter last year to 128 between the fourth quarter last year and the third quarter this year.

    Women have also increased spending on almost all major food channels in Vietnam, namely full service restaurants (FSR), or sit down eateries where food is served directly to the customers’ table, and quick service restaurants (QSR), where table service is minimal and the typical fare is fast food, street food, convenience stores, canteens and bars.

    As a result, women’s contribution to the out of home market revenue has increased by a whopping 10 percent.

    Among the women themselves, the 15-34 year-old segment accounts for 82 percent of the visits in the out of home market, and more than half of those by white-collar workers. Students are also seen as the driving force of female visits at 25 percent.

    As such, Decision Lab points out that the growing influence of women on the foodservice market is real and the industry would be well advised to use female-friendly messages to increase the traffic.

    According to market research firm Vietnam Report (VR), Vietnamese spend more than a third of their income on food and beverages, topping education and utilities.

    VR said the food and drink market has become more exciting in recent years with the entry of technologies such as phone apps that allow users to find nearby restaurants and order deliveries.

    Food and beverages were two of the 10 most bought products online last year, it said, citing data from market research company Nielsen.

  • Jollibee’s 250th store opened in North America

    Jollibee’s 250th store opened in North America

    Philippines fast food operator Jollibee is planning to hit 150 locations in the US within five years, up from its current 37. The company’s CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said: “The fried chicken market in the US is quite huge. This is just the first leg of our journey, to be one of the major players in the fried chicken market.”

    The company has also announced plans to open 100 additional stores in Canada, part of its strategy to become on of the world’s top five quick-service restaurants.

    Jollibee operates 4300 stores in 20 countries, and has a portfolio of 14 brands.

  • Shake Shack opens in Pacific Place HK

    Shake Shack opens in Pacific Place HK

    Located at Pacific Place, the new branch will give out 200 Shake Shack tote bags on a first-come-first-serve basis. In addition to the Shack classics and the Hong Kong exclusive milk tea shake, the new store will introduce a selection of local menu items, including a new series of “concrete” (custard desserts) – matcha golden bell, open sesame and queensway crunch.

    Shake Shack will launch three holiday shakes – Christmas cookie, chocolate peppermint, and Hazelnut – to celebrate the festive season. All of which are topped with whipped cream and decorated with colourful sprinkles.

    The holiday shakes will be available for a limited time at both Pacific Place and ifc mall.

    Echoing with Shake Shack’s mission to Stand For Something Good®, the Pacific Place store will donate 5% of sales from its matcha golden bell concrete to the i-dArt programme of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, a non-profit organisation that promotes social inclusion by encouraging people with differing abilities to participate in art.

    Shake Shack is ramping up its effort on global expansion.

    In a statement, Randy Garutti, CEO of Shake Shack, said the company entered into licensing agreements to open more than 50 stores in the Philippines, Mexico and Singapore over the next decade.

    The company expects to open its first stores in Singapore and Mexico in 2019.

  • Unilever Vietnam owes over $25mln in back taxes: state audit

    Unilever Vietnam owes over $25mln in back taxes: state audit

    The state auditing agency says Unilever Vietnam should pay over $25 million in back taxes for the 2009- 2013 period. Speaking at a National Assembly session on the draft bill on Tax Administration, State Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc pointed to the Holland-backed personal care products maker Unilever Vietnam as an example of taxes overlooked by the authorities.

    Phoc submitted an audit report that says Unilever Vietnam had under-declared its tax dues. The company took the case to the Prime Minister and the National Assembly’s Budget and Finance Committee. After re-examination, the State Audit concluded that the company had under-declared its tax dues by VND584 billion ($25 million).

    The auditor general said the company had accepted this figure, but requested that it is not charged for late payment.

    “Whether the company is fined will be decided by the General Department of Taxation, not us,” Phoc said.

    However, tax department officials as well as Unilever Vietnam representatives said that the company had not accepted the above figure despite the parties having discussed the issue many times.

    “The determination of the amount of tax arrears arising from errors in calculating the preferential tax rate that applies to Unilever Vietnam for its expansion activities in 2009-2013 is not related to transfer pricing,” said a representative of the General Department of Taxation.

    Representatives of the HCMC Taxation Department also confirmed that the decision to collect this sum from Unilever Vietnam has been made, but has not been accepted by the company.

    Unilever Vietnam denies having under-declared any tax obligation. Tran Vu Hoai, the company’s vice president of Sustainable Development and Public Relations, said the outstanding tax issue in question is “due to the differences in the stipulations of the Investment Tax Law and the Corporate Income Tax Law for the period before 2014.”

    “Such differences in the stipulations of the relevant laws have led to different interpretations, causing difficulties for businesses and relevant agencies in the implementation of the laws,” Hoai said.

    The crux of this issue lies in the differences that existed in terms of investment incentives between “new projects” and “expanded investment projects” between 2009 and 2013.

    Then, “expanded investment projects” were only entitled to a three-year corporate income tax (CIT) exemption, and a 50 percent CIT reduction in the five following years. Meanwhile, “new projects” could enjoy a preferential CIT rate of 15 percent for 12 years, three-year tax exemption, and a 50 percent reduction over the next seven years.

    Tax men and companies are divided over the definition of “new project” and “expanded investment project” as they apply to tax incentives.

    Unilever Vietnam has petitioned the Government, the Ministry of Finance and State Audit to find a satisfactory solution in compliance with Vietnamese laws and international regulations.

    Unilever Vietnam is not the only company that’s faced this problem. Suntory Pepsico Vietnam Beverage, GE, Piaggio Vietnam and Yamaha Motors have reportedly fought similar battles.

    Hoai said the matter is being handled by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other agencies.

    In September, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment the task of coordinating and working with the Ministry of Finance to resolve such issues for enterprises, in the spirit of ensuring non-retroactivity of the law.

  • The ThickShake Factory eyes 1,000 plus outlets across India

    The ThickShake Factory eyes 1,000 plus outlets across India

    The ThickShake Factory, a premium thick shake brand that recently completed a century of being operational with more than 100 outlets in India, is planning to expand its footprint in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and many more states in the coming few months.

    According to a ANI report: The brand, which brings the concept of running a cold dessert beverage quick service business (QSB) for the first time in the country, has won a number of accolades in the recent past, including ‘The Times Nightlife – Best Beverages, 2015 & 2018’, ‘Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2018’, ‘IMAGES, Most Admired Startup of the Year’, Best Shakes Parlour Award at ‘Indian Restaurant Awards 2018’, ‘Best Business Growth in F&B’, ‘Best Beverages Swiggy Award 2018’, ‘Franchisor of the Year Award, Franchise India 2016’, and many more.

    The ThickShake Factory serves over 50 types of shakes with more than 40 topping/ mix-ins. It is famous for their ‘Shape your Shake’ feature where customers can choose what they want from the variety of toppings. The brand brings the best flavours in the form of not just ThickShakes, but a complete range of cold coffee varieties, slushies, chocolate and fruit-flavoured drinks.

    The ThickShake Factory has had an excellent journey and has only moved forward since the opening of its first outlet in 2013 with winning ‘Franchisor of the Year’ award twice, one in 2016 and the other in 2018 along with many other awards.

    The company has the vision to have over 1,000 outlets pan-India, along with a strong global presence and has created more than 300 jobs so far, mostly at the bottom of the pyramid and the lesser privileged sections of the society. Recognised as one of the fastest growing QSR chains in India, the company’s current business model is such that the outlets which are currently operational, most of them are franchise-operated and some are company operated.

    “With each day passing, we at The ThickShake Factory are only going ahead as there is no looking behind. We started with our first outlet in 2013 in Hyderabad and have come a long way from there with more than 100 outlets already. Our main focus is to provide the customers with the thickest and most delicious shakes and hence that’s the only thing in our menu. With over 50 types of shakes on the menu, we have something for everyone to suit their palate. We are excited to serve the tastiest and thickest ice cream based shakes in more cities across India,” M. Yeshwanth Nag, Founder of The ThickShake Factory said.

    The founders, M. Yeshwanth Nag and Ashwin Mocherla, were inspired by the global trend of growing appetite for sweet savouries and therefore brought the most appealing range of tastiest ‘Thick’ Shakes to India. The brand never ceases to impress with their heavenly ‘ThickShakes’ through its wide range of offerings.

  • BreadTalk Opens New Concept Store In KL

    BreadTalk Opens New Concept Store In KL

    Boutique bakery franchise BreadTalk Malaysia has opened a new concept store in Kuala Lumpur’s Avenue K Shopping Mall. The new outlet is situated opposite the KLCC LRT station and is offering a promotional tote bag to early customers spending more than RM20. It opens from 8 am to 10 pm daily.

    BreadTalk Malaysia is preparing to launch several more concept stores in other Kuala Lumpur locations, including KLIA2, before opening a flagship at Star Boulevard on Jalan Yap Kwan Seng next year.

    The Singaporean brand has spread throughout Asia and the Middle East since opening in 2000, basing its products on premium ingredients such as Japanese-milled flour and New Zealand butter.

  • Naganuma Ice to make Singapore debut

    Naganuma Ice to make Singapore debut

    Hokkaido soft serve ice cream franchise Naganuma Ice Co is opening in Singapore. The brand is distinguished as the sole Hokkaido firm certified by the prefecture’s authorities for using raw Hokkaido milk in their ice cream products. The milk is sourced from ranch cows near Naganuma town before being transported immediately to the brand’s factory for low-temperature pasteurisation.

    Naganuma’s three stores in Hokkaido and three in Taiwan regularly see hour-long queues for the ice creams, produced with the raw milk and eggs.

    The new outlet launches November 25 at Carlton City Hotel.

  • India’s Tata food to focus on healthy range

    India’s Tata food to focus on healthy range

    With consumers increasingly becoming health conscious, health and wellness will drive the growth for the food and beverage segment, Tata Sons brand custodian Harish Bhat said Friday. “My belief is, as far as the food and beverages segment in the country is concerned, one of the key drivers for the future will be the consumers’ need for health, wellness and fitness,” he said.

    According to a, Tata Global Beverages has presence in green tea with its Tetley brand, while its other firm Tata Chemicals offers unpolished pulses and low sodium salt.

    Bhat said the salt-to-software conglomerate’s brand is synonymous with trust as its companies offer quality products and services at a reasonable price, adding that in a country which has strong trust deficit, the brand works very well.

    He elaborated that inferior quality products, products which are overpriced, or products or services which don’t live up to world class standards, can create a trust deficit. He further said if there is a segment of trade which is not fair with its consumers that can create a trust deficit.

    “I believe that the Tata brand has earned trust over a long period of time through the behaviours that it has exhibited, through the products and services it has provided to our customers. All our companies believe in providing our customers with products and services of impeccable quality at very good value and it is that combination of quality and value which has made 650 million Indian customers trust the Tata brand,” he further said.

    Trust also comes because the Tata Group has been functioning in harmony with the community…Those are the factors which has made the Tata Group brand synonymous with trust in the country, he added.

    On the impact of the controversial removal of Cyrus Mistry as the group chairman in 2016, on the brand, Bhat parried a direct reply but said the Tata brand is synonymous with trust and continues to remain strong with all stakeholders.

    “All our internal and external researches keep throwing that up all the time,” he said.

  • Nutella Cafe Opens in Union Square, NY

    Nutella Cafe Opens in Union Square, NY

    Confectionery giant Ferrero opened a permanent Nutella Cafe in the heart of New York City this week. The cafe, the brand’s second in the US after its debut in Chicago last year, is designed to create “an authentic Nutella experience all year-round” with a menu of Nutella-centric foods and specialty espresso beverages.

    “We are thrilled to celebrate the grand opening of Nutella Cafe New York in one of the greatest culinary cities in the world,” said Rick Fossali, VP of operations at Nutella Cafe. “The response to our first Nutella Cafe in Chicago has been outstanding, and we cannot wait to treat New Yorkers and tourists alike to a wonderfully delicious Nutella experience showcasing the uniqueness and versatility of this beloved product.”

    The menu at the Nutella Cafe New York will include all-day dishes such as freshly baked breads, pastries, breakfast specials, desserts and gelato – all featuring Nutella hazelnut spread.

    Highlights include Chicago favourites like the Pound Cake Panzanella and Grilled Baguette, along with several items which are exclusive to the New York location: Hazelnut Blondies with Nutella hazelnut spread; multi-grain Piccolino (“little one” in Italian) freshly baked croissants; Grilled Banana Bread with Nutella, warmed and topped with fresh banana slices and toasted hazelnuts; Chia and Hemp seed pudding, topped with Nutella and fresh banana slices; Frozen Nutella Pops and a “Create Your Own” station that allows customers to pick their favourite base with Nutella and customise it with their own choice of fillings and toppings.

    Nutella Cafe New York is located at 116 University Place, a stone’s-throw from Union Square.

    Nutella was created in 1964 by Michele Ferrero, based on the recipe for Giandujot developed in 1946 by his father, Pietro Ferrero – a confectioner and the founder of Ferrero – in Italy’s Piedmont area. These days it is sold in more than 170 countries.

  • Full service eateries threaten fast food in Vietnam

    Full service eateries threaten fast food in Vietnam

    A survey has found full service restaurants outshining the quick service segment in Vietnam since 2017’s third quarter. Full service restaurants (FSR) or sit down eateries where food is served directly to the customers’ table, have been far better patronized than quick service restaurants (QSR), where table service is minimal and the typical fare is fast food.

    In fact, the QSR segment has been dropping quarter after quarter, according to a report released this week by the HCMC-based market research firm Decision Lab.

    It found that the growth of full service restaurants has been fueled mostly by women, and consumers above 35 years of age.

    The FSRs and QSR are the two most important channels for manufacturers of various product categories, with the other five channels being street food, bars, convenience stores, hotels, and canteens.

    Together, they currently account for the majority of out-of-home visits by consumers across all demographic groups in Vietnam.

    The falling of QSR

    Quick service outlets have been suffering from declining visits from all consumer groups, male and female of all ages from 15 upwards in all the three major cities, the report said.

    Among various types of quick service outlets, cafes, bakeries and juice, smoothie shops are those that have witnessed the biggest drop in visits, by 29 percent, 22 percent and 30 percent respectively.

    They have switched to other channels to consume these daily products likes street food, full service restaurants and convenience stores.

    But this does not mean Vietnamese are cutting down on these products. Vietnamese consumption of coffee, juice and smoothies actually increased in the past year.

    Since April 2016, Decision Lab had tracked the out-of-home eating and drinking market in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Vietnam’s three biggest cities of Vietnam.

    It tracked all food and drink consumed out of home on a daily basis with an annual sample size of 15,000 completed interviews.

    The respondents were Vietnamese consumers aged above 15, who also reported on consumption by children (under 15 years) present when eating out.

    Nghiem Vu Huong Linh, head of Foodservice at Decision Lab, said the findings suggest that consumers have become very selective in their choice of outlets to visit and that not all outlets can benefit from the increasing demand without making significant efforts to become attractive and worth trying.

  • Asia rice: Indian rates up on firmer rupee; Thai harvest to shore up stocks

    Asia rice: Indian rates up on firmer rupee; Thai harvest to shore up stocks

    Rice prices in India nudged higher this week as the rupee firmed, while Thai exporters eyed fresh demand from the Philippines. India’s 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $363-$371 per tonne this week, versus $362-$369 last week.

    “As the rupee has started to appreciate, we have to adjust export prices,” said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

    The Indian rupee rose 0.4 percent on Thursday to its highest level in nearly 8 weeks, trimming exporters’ margins from overseas sales.

    In southern and eastern states, supplies have started to arrive from the new season crop but they are expensive due to higher fixed government buying prices, said a Mumbai-based exporter.

    India’s rice exports dropped 9.6 percent to 5.8 million tonnes between April and September from a year earlier, as leading buyer Bangladesh trimmed purchases due to a bumper local harvest, a government body said earlier this week.

    Meanwhile in Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices were quoted at $380 – $398 per tonne, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, unchanged from last week.

    “There have been some minor deals with markets like Japan but they have had no impact on prices,” a Bangkok-based trader said.

    “Thai rice exporters are now watching the Philippines closely because their government will open the bidding process next week.”

    The Philippines’ National Food Authority has issued an international tender to import up to 500,000 tonnes of rice with offers to be opened on Nov. 20.

    “We see this as a major deal ahead of December,” another trader in Bangkok said, pointing out that during the mid-November to early-December period, the market expects an increase in supply due to the seasonal harvest.

    In Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice remained in the $415-$420 a tonne range seen last week.

    “We haven’t signed any new export deals over the past month as domestic supplies are scarce,” a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said. “We wouldn’t be able to secure sufficient rice if we got any new contracts now.”

    Egypt received offers for more than 500,000 tonnes earlier this week, including 50,000 tonnes from Vietnam, the trader said, adding that they were not sure if they will bid in the Philippines’ state grains agency tender.

  • Jollibee Philippines Q3 profit rises

    Jollibee Philippines Q3 profit rises

    Philippine fast-food franchise Jollibee posted an increase in profit of nearly 20 per cent in its third quarter. Backed by strong sales, the firm has posted a 19.2 per cent rise in net income attributable to shareholders to PHP6.09 billion (US$114.5 million).

    According to Jollibee’s CFO Ysmael Baysa, the company’s global sales have seen strong growth this year, including in its home base in the Philippines, partly driven by concerted efforts to expand Jollibee’s store network.

    “We look forward to the recovery of Jollibee profit margins in the Philippines next year and the significant improvement in the profit performance of our new businesses in the next one to two years,” he said.

    Beyond its own franchise, Jollibee operates the Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon and Smashburger brands in various worldwide locations. It currently has 3003 stores worldwide, with more set to open in the immediate future in Malaysia and Guam.

  • Coffee Day India Q2 net profit plunges

    Coffee Day India Q2 net profit plunges

    Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd Wednesday reported a 59.78 percent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 23.83 crore for the September quarter due to higher expenses. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 59.26 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

    According to a report, Its total income grew to Rs 1,015.13 crore during the quarter under review, up 12.42 per cent, as against Rs 902.9 crore in the corresponding quarter of the year-ago period, Coffee Day Enterprises said in a BSE filing.

    Expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 1,014.99 crore, up 13.83 per cent, as against Rs 891.6 crore a year ago.

    The company said board of directors, at its meeting held on 14 November 2018, discussed the potential restructuring of the company’s business to segregate its coffee business and its subsidiaries from their non-coffee businesses (including integrated multi-nodal logistics, financial services, development and management of commercial space, hospitality services and investment operation).

    “No decision to undertake any restructuring has been taken by the board at this stage,” it added.