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https://scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3026999/grab-plans-launch-50-grabkitchens-across-indonesia-year Tech
Grab plans to launch 50 GrabKitchens across Indonesia this year
- Singapore-based Grab aims to be the No 1 food delivery service in Southeast Asia’s most populous country
The food services business of Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab launched the company’s 10th GrabKitchen site in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, this week. Photo: KrASIA
The food delivery business of ride-hailing firm Grab, Southeast Asia’s most valuable tech unicorn, plans to roll out more than 50 so-called GrabKitchens across Indonesia by the end of this year.
GrabKitchens are set up similar to food courts, except that vendors prepare their dishes only for pickup and delivery.
“Our source of growth will be driven by GrabKitchens in the second semester of 2019,” said Ichmeralda Rachman, head of marketing at GrabFood and new business for Grab Indonesia, during the recent launch of the 10th GrabKitchen in Jakarta. “It is not easy to determine the ideal location for GrabKitchens, so we use data to fill the gaps to better understand cuisine demands.”
Rachman said the gross merchandise volume for GrabKitchen has increased an estimated 25 times since the first site was launched in the country in April this year. She said Grab aims to be the No 1 food delivery service provider in Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, by the end of this third quarter. That would mean overtaking current market leader Gojek, which is also Grab’s main ride-sharing rival in the region.
GrabKitchen, which was established to provide orders for the eateries through Grab’s super app platform, is part of the Singapore-based company’s efforts to nurture an ecosystem of start-ups.
Building a well-rounded ecosystem of services allows companies like Grab to obtain troves of valuable user data that can be used for targeted advertising or understanding customers’ needs, to offer better services. Providing a variety of services that are part of everyday life also makes the platform more sticky, ensuring that users remain active while also serving as a higher barrier of entry for potential competitors.
With GrabKitchen, Rachman indicated that GrabFood has gained almost 50 per cent market share in the first half of this year, compared to a 15 per cent share at the start of 2018. GrabFood’s overall gross merchandise value grew three times in the same period.
The plan for GrabKitchen sites is to eventually include a dine-in concept. Indonesian competitor GoFood was first in the market to introduce a mix of delivery and dine-in services.
“We will observe the market’s response and plan to have some dine-in concepts in our GrabKitchens this year,” said Sai Alluri, the head of GrabKitchen, at the same launch event.