Deliver.sg CEO Krishnamani Kannan gave Singaporeans what they’d been craving: a fast, island-wide food delivery platform that tickles their tastebuds.
Four short years ago, Singaporeans who wanted a hot meal delivered to their door were restricted to restaurants within a three- to four-kilometer radius of their home. Locals who craved food from their favorite eatery had to get in their cars and fight traffic to pick it up themselves.
“Singapore is only 50 kilometers end to end, so my business partner, Nareshkumar Rajendran, and I came up with the idea to start a food delivery platform that would deliver island-wide,” Deliver.sg CEO Krishnamani Kannan says.
“We were solving a problem for both restaurants who wanted to sell more and customers who wanted more options. My partner has excellent logistics experience and I have a tech background, so it was win–win.”
When Deliver.sg launched in January 2020, Kannan and his partner had no idea that their business was set to become an essential service within its first year of operation. In early April 2020, the Government of Singapore enacted circuit breaker lockdown measures that involved strict stay-at-home orders to stem the tide of COVID-19 infections.
Food delivery boomed across the city-state, and Deliver.sg was poised and ready to snap up the new business.
“We were the only player at that time providing island-wide delivery, so we got a lot of new onboards,” Kannan says. “Another company came along during the pandemic, but it shut down within 10 months because its team didn’t have the logistics experience and couldn’t run the operations efficiently.”
A differentiated experience
To solidify Deliver.sg’s market position, Kannan focused on creating an exceptional customer experience that would set the food delivery platform apart from any would-be competitors.
“We deliver anywhere in Singapore within 90 minutes,” he explains. “We have in-house customer support, so if there’s going to be a delay due to heavy rain or traffic, we inform the customer immediately so they can decide whether to wait or cancel their order.
“If customers need help or have an issue, we’re here to talk and solve it right away. For example, if a food item is missing, we’ll deliver it or give them their money back immediately.
“With other companies, customers have to fill out a form and wait up to 10 days for their money. Not with us – a customer’s money is a customer’s money.
“This is how we’re differentiating ourselves from others. Our customers love our service and love our in-house customer support.”
“This is how we’re differentiating ourselves from others. Our customers love our service and love our in-house customer support.”
Deliver.sg also supports its restaurant partners with free marketing initiatives, including a 30-second promotional video, regular exposure across Deliver.sg’s social channels and loyalty programs to help them boost their bottom line.
“We also help restaurants trial new initiatives,” Kannan adds. “If a restaurant wants to try sustainable boxes, they approach us and we discuss a joint venture or partnership.
“They might try biodegradable boxes or stainless steel containers that can be reused. The restaurant collects an extra dollar or so from customers who want non-plastic items and we can then send our riders to pick the reusable containers the next day.”
Just the beginning
Despite Deliver.sg’s exponential growth – it now has 325 restaurant partners and counting – Kannan says food delivery is just the tip of the iceberg for the Singaporean startup.
“We’re launching a superapp soon that will include features like an on-demand courier service, grocery delivery and more,” he says. “Customers will be able to order everything they need in one place.
“We’re also developing a new concept called DaaS, or deliver-as-a-service. If a restaurant owner feels they’re paying too much commission, they can sign up to our subscription model. They’ll pay a monthly subscription fee to use our riders and they’ll only need to pay the rider fee.
“They’ll be able to control everything through a dedicated mobile app. We’ll also offer different marketing support packages. We can take care of everything from their social media to their customer data, and help them increase their delivery and dine-in business.”
“We want to bring the successful Deliver.sg model into countries that have nothing like it.”
In the next five years, Kannan also plans to expand into India, the Middle East and South-East Asia. “Our immediate plan is to launch our superapp in Singapore and South-East Asian countries like Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam,” he says.
“We recently acquired an on-demand courier company in South India that has 1,800 riders and 320 locations. We’re revamping the platform and aiming to increase the number of locations to more than 1,000 within a year.
“Then, we’ll explore the Middle East. I’ve already made two trips to Dubai and Bahrain, and there aren’t any players doing the DaaS concept there. We want to bring the successful Deliver.sg model into countries that have nothing like it.”