Foodtech startup Eunoia helps F&B outlets trim operational costs

Eunoia, a Singapore-based food technology startup, has raised $800,000 (SGD) in funding led by Golden Equator Capital. The company plans to invest the funding to enhance customer experiences and build smarter solutions at every digital interaction in F&B outlets, including platform enhancements, R&D investments and hiring key talent across the ASEAN region. According to Eunoia, F&B outlets are challenged by Singapore’s labor shortage, with job vacancy rates in Singapore’s F&B industry at 4.1 percent in 2015. In May this year, a five-year food service sectoral manpower plan by Spring Singapore and the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) suggested technology as a key strategy to improve productivity.

Zwee, Co-Founder and CEO of Eunoia said, “We are immensely proud to launch Eunoia. Our vision is to help the F&B industry improve profitability by providing convenience and improve productivity through our suite of foodtech solutions. In doing so, we are well positioned to tap into Singapore’s multi-billion dollar a year F&B industry.”

Lowering operational costs with Ordr

Inorder to digitize and simplify the food ordering process, Eunoia has developed Ordr, its cloud-based tech platform that allows F&B customers to place orders and pay at the table using their own mobile device, reducing the reliance on manpower. The Ordr system allows F&B merchants to upload their menus to a host of digital platforms, allowing customers to place and pay for their orders directly. This, Eunoia believes, can improve customer experience by empowering them to control their ordering and payment experience. The company has already bagged early clients like Strumm’s Holding’s Molly Roffey’s and Finders Keepers.

Zwee said, “Today’s consumers are used to having everything available at their fingertips and they expect businesses to make their lives more convenient. We want to help F&B operators reach more customers, while earning more revenue with less hassle. Every food ordering platform adds more complexity, creating more work and a higher chance of errors. The automation we provide with our solutions helps businesses that want to expand, reduce errors and resolve manpower challenges.”

Furthermore, Eunoia claims that its tech solutions can help solve the most pressing issue for business owners– lack of available workers. Ordr has an implementation fee of S$125 per month while the average monthly wages in Singapore’s F&B industry fall between S$1,000 to S$2,500. Hence the startup believes that with reduced dependence on service staff to accomplish the ordering process and delivery, F&B merchants can keep a better check on their operational costs.

Eunoia to integrate third-party delivery apps into one system

According to Eunoia, F&B outlets in Singapore are expanding and adding new customer channels through food ordering apps such as Deliveroo, FoodPanda and FeastBump. While these channels reach out to new customers and provide new and optimized revenue streams, they also burden service staff with additional platforms to juggle. Also, F&B operators need to update menus across each platform – a challenge since each platform may use different technologies, formats and APIs. Zwee explains that with Eunoia, F&B outlets can further trim their operational costs with its order aggregation system. This would automate orders from different ordering platforms into one channel, managing order fulfillment and revenue reconciliation. Its menu management system can help sync menu updates across all food delivery apps, eliminating uploading in different formats. Zwee further revealed that Eunoia is looking at working with Point of Sale (POS) providers to integrate their technologies into a single platform.

Bryan Ong, Director of Strumm’s Holding Pte Ltd, said: “Customers today crave instant gratification more than ever. We have to be omni-channel to meet their needs. That means having our menu on multiple online channels, including food delivery apps. But more channels mean more devices to manage. A tight labour market means hiring additional help to resolve these issues is no longer an option. Eunoia has arrived in the market at the perfect time, solving several problems with its solutions.”

Eunoia will be conducting a pilot test of Ordr, with up to ten F&B merchants to be given the opportunity to be part of the programme. The company has also revealed plans to grow its presence in other developed countries like Hong Kong and Australia.