Jumping onto the delivery wagon in the time of COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR (April 8): Businesses, even some essential ones are finding it difficult to sustain amid the sluggish economy which is compounded by the COVID-19 virus outbreak and the ensuing Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the government.

During such unprecedented times, many in the food business in particular are quickly taking the delivery route for the first time.

Take Kuala Lumpur-based supplier Ever Fresh Cameron Sdn Bhd for instance. With its core business in the supply of vegetables mainly from Cameron Highlands and from overseas to restaurants all over the Klang Valley and as far as Penang and Johor Bahru, the fresh produce supplier has decided to deliver the produce straight to consumers at home.

“Initially, we received significant order cancellations of more than 80%. Our top five customers that contributed to some 50% of our monthly sales even decided to close for the duration of the MCO.

“For others who chose to continue their business, albeit for takeaways only, their orders dropped significantly as well,” Ever Fresh Cameron manager Meng told EdgeProp.my.

Home delivery services have been on the books for Ever Fresh Cameron for several months already. But with the escalating virus outbreak and swift implementation of the MCO, it forced the company to begin services and therefore was not fully prepared to deal with the logistical issues that came along.

“Our drivers are used to restaurant deliveries as opposed to residential areas or condominiums. It is an inconvenience for trucks to perform multiple drop points compared to dispatch motorcycles. Plus, the cost of trucking is much higher, and we have no choice but to subsidise our drivers to keep them working.

“For sure, the margin is higher [for online orders], but quantity ordered is much lower. Most restaurants tend to order daily, but this is not the case for families since our minimum order quantity is set at RM50,” said Meng.

Nevertheless, he believes that home delivery services will be more prevalent, moving forward. “We have planned and even registered a new company to sell our current products and also introduce ready-to-eat ones directly to end-users,” Meng shared, adding that families these days especially younger ones are well-versed with online shopping and thus it makes sense to diversify.

A native of Cameron Highlands, he says during the MCO, the area’s farmers saw unusually low demand due to business hour restrictions for fresh markets and wholesale markets. 

“But vegetables can’t wait. Once they mature, you must harvest them. However, a large amount is discarded due to logistical constraints to the largest consumer market in the country– the Klang Valley,” added Meng.

Challenging but still manageable

Meanwhile, Foo Foo Fine Desserts, a dine-in only café specialising in traditional plated desserts in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur has also for the first time started delivery services to sustain the business.

“The MCO came as a blow for us. Having been in operation for more than four years now, the nature of our desserts is not suitable for deliveries. Some changes to our standard operating procedures were required. My business partner has to quickly come up with new desserts and modifications to existing ones to make them suitable for delivery,” Foo Foo co-founder Jack Lua told EdgeProp.my over the phone. He is jointly managing the establishment with Chong Kin Foo.

Deliveries commenced at end-March with the help of Point-of-Sale system StoreHub. “In a matter of days, we were integrated with StoreHub’s delivery system, Beepit. It is a rather new system and it has some kinks to iron out but the StoreHub team was quick to improve it,” Lua shared.

When it comes to sourcing ingredients, it is no walk in the park. “Definitely, they are harder to source [during the MCO]. Luckily for us, the few shops we frequent are still open but always with a long queue to even enter the shops.

“Hence, time management is vital [in procuring the ingredients]. It is challenging but not impossible to overcome. It is still manageable,” offered Lua.

He admits that dining-in is still simpler and a more direct way of running the business. “With deliveries, more parties are involved. If there is an issue with the system such as a lag during ordering or trouble looking for dispatch riders, it will take a bit of time to be rectified but we do so immediately as we cannot keep customers waiting too long. But since we started, the system has improved by leaps and bounds,” said Lua, adding that a pre-ordering feature will be introduced soon on top of the recently implemented variable delivery fees for different delivery distances.

“The variable fees save us from having to fork out an extra sum to cover deliveries over further distances,” he noted.

What happens after the MCO? “We are still pondering for now, if we would want to continue with the delivery service. It would mean we need more desserts that are suitable for deliveries, more storage space, manpower and kitchen equipment. We do not have the capacity for the time being.

“On the other hand, we are also concerned whether people would come out to patronise cafes immediately after the MCO. There is a general fear of the virus lingering. If that is the case, we may have to continue with deliveries or run it jointly with dining-in. Thus, we will play by ear. Regardless, we would still need a bit of time to adjust back to dine-in business,” Lua said.

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