Here's a new way to deliver Old Dubai grub farther

Here's good news for South Asian expats residing/working in New Dubai: a new delivery app, Spoonfed, now delivers food from popular restaurants in Old Dubai - think Karama and Oud Metha - to New Dubai. What's better, the app does not have a minimum order amount for delivery.

The startup currently delivers to Dubai Media City, Dubai Internet City, Discovery Gardens, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Barsha Heights and Business Bay, and plans on expanding to Dubai Silicon Oasis, International City and other areas soon.

"With Spoonfed, we are solving a problem. It was first brought to our attention by our friends who work in New Dubai. Their lunch more often than not consisted of overpriced refrigerated sandwiches and over-sweetened drinks from convenience stores. These meals would cost anywhere from Dh15 to Dh30. The choices of restaurants in New Dubai are limited to continental and fast foods, whereas the demographics are dominantly South Asian," said Sudhir Narisetty, founding partner at Spoonfed.ae.

It is not financially feasible for restaurants in Old Dubai to deliver a single order across the city. Hence, the minimum order value is usually set at Dh200 to Dh500.

"Since individuals cannot order for Dh200 to Dh500 every day, restaurants were losing out on sales from a potential market," adds Narisetty. The start-up is led by a team of four and currently employs 24 people. The co-founders have invested Dh1 million so far in the platform, mostly personal funds.

Spoonfed has partnered with restaurants in Karama and Oud Metha such as Amaravathi, Erics, Indian Summer, Hot Fish by Bu Qtair, Komedor, Paramount, Ravi Restaurant, Rasoi Ghar, Maharaj Bhog, Rajdhani and Zam Zam Mandi. "We are in the process of onboarding thrice the number of restaurants we currently have," adds Narisetty.

The app is a win-win for restaurants as well. "Through Spoonfed, we've helped our partner restaurants in Old Dubai reach out to a customer base in New Dubai with zero risks involved," said Fazal Mohamed Kassim, co-founder of Spoonfed.

"We have had requests to deliver to Indian communities living in different parts of Dubai. With Spoonfed, we are able to cater to new customers without having to open another branch," explains Leroy D'Souza, owner of Canara Restaurant.

"It is low risk, we did not have to invest in another kitchen. With Spoonfed, we are able to deliver to other areas, so we have increased our delivery orders and acquired new customers," says Satya Narayan, general manager of Amaravathi.

It takes approximately 90 minutes for an order to be delivered to New Dubai. "We are constantly working to finetune our operations to shave off as much time as possible from the delivery time. With upcoming products in the future, we are hopeful to dramatically reduce the time," said Narisetty.

Spoonfed is different from other food delivery apps such as Zomato, Talabat and Deliveroo; while Zomato and Talabat are order-pushing services, Spoonfed is a distance delivery service.

"They take up order from customers and relay them to restaurants. Once the order is given, it is up to the restaurant to fulfill it. Since every restaurant is run differently, the delivery fee, minimum order values, duration and quality of delivery vary heavily. They have a varying delivery fee of Dh0 to Dh30 and a varying minimum order value of Dh0 to Dh200. Deliveroo operates in micro-sized areas centred around restaurants. It has a delivery fee of Dh7 and a surcharge of Dh5 for orders below Dh40," Narisetty pointed out.

Spoonfed, however, relays the order to the restaurant and fulfills the logistics with its own fleet of riders. "We have delivery fee starting from Dh6, no minimum order value and no other restrictions in terms of distance," he concluded

Source: Khaleej Times