During the three-year pandemic, food businesses had been impacted by decreasing in-person dining and government endemic prevention policies globally. As a result, they have been collaborating with delivery platforms to sustain their survival and increase revenue. Despite increasing diversity in delivery services, people began dining in restaurants or ordering takeout again after the pandemic eased off. To avoid hefty platform fees, food businesses are seeking collaboration with other platforms. They hope that by diversifying delivery channels, they can improve their profit margin and the overall revenue.
Bogi Huang, Chief Operating Officer of DotDot Global, pointed out that with the advent of the post-pandemic era, the top two delivery platforms in Taiwan have started offering takeout services. However, businesses still have to pay a fee as high as 18% to 20%, which significantly diminishes the profit of food businesses. These days, we find that businesses are working hard to attract new customers and meet the demands of regular customers. Therefore, apart from maintaining partnership with delivery platforms, they also indicate additional ordering channels on their menus for regular customers to avoid incurring high platform fees. DotDot Global has launched a smart ordering system that has been integrated with LINE, and in conjunction with a complete membership management and payment system. This system has been adopted by chains such as 50 Lan and Old God Kung Food Hot Pot, with more than 10,000 customers.
DotDot Global Maximizes Popularity of LINE
Following the rapid rise of delivery platforms, numerous takeout system solutions for the food industry have emerged. During the pandemic, many cloud-based point of sale (POS) providers introduced online ordering modules to meet a variety of operational demands. Unfortunately, they did not become mainstream systems.
Upon in-depth analysis, DotDot Global identifies two major challenges that are hard to overcome. First, online ordering systems are designed for general restaurant operators and are therefore, less applicable to vastly different food businesses like bubble tea shops, and street vendors. Second, cloud-based POS providers are not familiar with consumers' ordering needs. Most online ordering modules are designed to facilitate business management, causing the interfaces to be less user-friendly. As a result, they struggle to attract consumers to adopt them.
Huang said, "When entering the food market, we decided to launch our own online ordering service through LINE because it is the most popular app in Taiwan." Consumers can order online conveniently by adding the official LINE@ account of the vendor. The platform offers takeout and delivery services, as well as online payment like LINE Pay and JKOPay, making it extremely convenient for both food businesses and consumers. As businesses are facing labor shortage, online payment can eliminate the need to handle cash, make change, and save businesses from dealing with abandoned orders. Furthermore, DotDot Global has also collaborated with many logistics companies to offer delivery service for food businesses without charging high platform fees.
From Philippines to Entire ASEAN Market
DotDot Global offers a one-stop solution for food businesses, covering the POS system of stores, online ordering, in-store WiFi, digital payments, integrated delivery services, food delivery logistics, and marketing strategies for attracting customers. Food businesses can customize these services according to their needs. Take the online ordering system as an example. For stores that have limited operational space and staff, DotDot Global provides cloud-based order-taking and printing machines. Once the equipment receives an order from an online platform, it automatically prints the receipt, and the store can prepare the order on the receipt without changing their workflow. This process is also very easy to learn.
The LINE ordering service introduced by DotDot Global caters to the needs of different types of food businesses. Over the years, it has gradually incorporated various customization settings into its ordering system. Take bubble tea shops as an example. The online ordering system provides options for different sugar and ice levels. For braised food shops, the system offers a discount option of three products for NT$50. After its launch, the LINE ordering service immediately attracted users with all kinds of dining preferences. Furthermore, in 2023, DotDot Global introduced the SoftPOS payment service, adding contactless credit card payment to existing POS machines. Dine-in customers can safely making payment without any physical contact.
Huang pointed out that DotDot Global was founded in 2014 and has since joined two to three accelerator centers. In recent years, there has been noticeable growth in Taiwan's entrepreneurial environment. The number of accelerator centers has significantly increased since ten years ago, offering a more diverse range of services for startups. Whether it is acquiring venture capital, reducing time to market, or transforming creativity into actual products or services, these resources provide tremendous help that can significantly increase the success rate of startups.
DotDot Global recognizes the immense global opportunities in food delivery and takeout industry. After achieving notable success in the Taiwanese market, DotDot Global plans to expand its operations overseas, starting from the Philippines. DotDot Global is currently conducting proof of concept (POC) verification with Philippine partners in local food courts, and has received positive feedback overall. The company plans to expand into other food industries in the future.
