New technology partnership kicks Food Ninja into new gear

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Global Line Network (GLN) chief executive Sebastian Tan, left, with Food Ninja co-founders Vincent Wong, centre, and Woei Siang Lim.

A Malaysian software company is pouring money into a Wellington food delivery service which aims to help hungry diners get food faster.

Food Ninja has struck a deal with technology firm Global Line Network (GLN) to expand its offering in an increasingly competitive market.

Uber launched its food delivery service, UberEats, in New Zealand in March.

The company's founders will invest the money in a new app which will help speed up delivery. In exchange, GLN get a cut of the profits.

Food Ninja is among a growing number of delivery service businesses around the country, including UberEats, Delivereasy and Menulog.

Delivereasy, a service where drivers delivered your dinner by scooter, launched in May 2016.

* Dinner delivered by scooter as new player enters Wellington market**

According to the Food Ninja website, it has 262 restaurant partners and 4324 users. Since its launch, it has served 7521 people.

Woei Siang Lim founded the company in 2013 with fellow Victoria University student Vincent Wong.

Since then, it has continued to grow in Wellington, and it established a hub in Dunedin last year.

The young entrepreneurs have been looking for ways to upscale their operations and expand into other regions and countries, as several competitors have emerged.

This is where GLN comes in. The firm is a digital platform provider for fleet management and distribution in Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines.

'Technology plays a big part in the food delivery business, so that's where we saw our opportunity,' Lim said.

'A new customer app will automate much of the ordering process, making it easier and faster to order, while a supporting back-end app will increase the speed and efficiency of delivery.

Food Ninja marketing lead GaMei Chin said the company would expand the number of services on offer, including instant ordering, pre-ordered meals, takeaways and table reservations.

The company will partner with local delivery companies, in addition to their own drivers.

'We will be the only food delivery company in Wellington who will be running on dual delivery teams, so that we can expand our services to more diners,' Chin said.

Food Ninja hoped to offer the service in other main cities throughout the New Zealand during the next 12 months.

'We had actually expanded to Dunedin on the second quarter of 2016 as a testing ground and we'd learnt a lot there,' Chin said.

'Our ultimate goal is to be the main player in the Oceania and Southeast Asia market.'

GLN chief executive Sebastian Tan said the firm had been looking for partnerships in Oceania, particularly New Zealand, 'for some time now'.

'We see vast potential for the adoption of new apps here over the next five to 10 years.'

Any profits made from the Food Ninja partnership would be reinvested into New Zealand, as GLN looked to grow other operations throughout the country, Tan said.