SINGAPORE - Self-collection is now possible at Deliveroo's new central kitchen, a first by a food delivery service provider in Singapore.
Lavender-based Deliveroo Editions 2, which opened on Monday (Apr 23), features seven restaurants which dispatch food to Deliveroo's online customers and now also allows customers to pick up their meal in person with the new 'click and collect' option.
They can also eat in the 20-seat dining space provided.
Rival Foodpanda launched a similar operation with a dine-in option last month - Favourites by Foodpanda - in Woodlands, though it has yet to roll-out a self-collection feature. The company plans to open two to three more outlets this year.
Editions 2, based at the office and retail building CT Hub 2, is Deliveroo's second multi-restaurant kitchen and is one-and-a-half times the size of the 2,110 sq ft Deliveroo Editions in Katong, which opened last year.
It includes three restaurants which feature at Katong - Kurry Korner, Aloha Poke and Blu Kouzina - plus four new ones: Streets of Saigon, Da Paolo Pizza Bar, Wolf Burgers and Dosirak.
The new 'click and collect' option is also a first for Deliveroo Editions worldwide, and gives customers the option to pick up their orders directly without having to pay a delivery charge. Customers also have a dine-in option, previously not available at the first site in Katong.
Unlike a conventional dine-in restaurant, there are no waiters and customers must place their orders online, even if they are present physically.
Deliveroo's head of special projects Editions Singapore, Ashwin Purushottam, said Editions 2 has retained some of the restaurants from its predecessor to help them expand their business and "experiment with new menus".
Kurry Korner, a Punjabi restaurant, used feedback from data provided by Deliveroo on top performing menu items, to launch a new Indian-Chinese menu.
Raw fish salad bar Aloha Poke also plans to launch a new menu.
Ms Jacinta Lee, marketing manager and co-founder of Streets of Saigon said: "As Editions is a delivery-only kitchen, we have significantly lower manpower needs as compared to a brick and mortar restaurant. We don't need a cashier and front of house staff."
Mr Will Shu, Deliveroo's chief executive and co-founder, said restaurants at the new outlet "can expect higher profits than from their normal restaurants."
Since the Katong venture launched, restaurant partners New Ubin Seafood and Blu Kouzina have seen their delivery revenue increase by nearly 600 per cent.
Like Foodpanda, Mr Shu confirmed that Deliveroo plans to open more central kitchens here soon.
With UberEats exiting the market, Foodpanda stepped into its shoes as the sole food delivery company in e-commerce giant Lazada's LiveUp programme - a lifestyle membership scheme offering discounts from e-retailers.
