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Revolutionising the food industry: His app eliminates commission fees for merchants and offers lower rates for customers
The QueueCut app provides a win-win solution for both merchants and customers
Founder of QueueCut Mr Yip Kooi Keat (left) wants to help hawkers like Ms Reiko Chow of Yong Nian Claypot Chicken Rice to offer delivery services and reach more customers. PHOTO: QUEUECUT
Each week, during the off-peak hours between lunch and dinner, Mr Yip Kooi Keat would be making his rounds at hawker centres around Singapore. He’s not there to indulge in his favourite chicken rice or fishball noodles, however.
He’s there to speak to hawkers to get them to sign up as merchants on his new food delivery platform. The newly-launched app, QueueCut, does not charge merchants commission fees.
The youthful looking 40-year-old will also personally help merchants set up a profile and list their offerings for free.
Even with such attractive features, he is often met with scepticism. Some hawkers are worried that he might be a scammer.
He says: “When I tell them that my platform doesn’t charge them any commission or fees, and that onboarding is also free because we will help them upload their food menus, prices, photos and descriptions without charge, some of them feel that it sounds suspicious.”
He adds that many hawkers don’t use other food delivery platforms because they charge a 30-per-cent commission, and they don’t want to increase their prices and pass on the cost to customers.
But Mr Yip is not deterred. He feels that QueueCut will encourage hawkers to start offering delivery services and reach more customers.
Using his savings to launch the app
Mr Yip, who also owns the IT consultancy firm Thinkture, founded QueueCut in May 2021 after watching his hawker parents struggle to keep their business afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While they considered offering food delivery through established platforms, Mr Yip’s parents were discouraged by the commission rates and high onboarding fees being charged. They also did not want to raise their prices and instead decided to close their stall during the lockdown period.
Even at the best of times, the life of a hawker is not easy, Mr Yip notes. He recalls how his parents would regularly wake up as early as 4am to begin preparing ingredients for their noodle stall in Ipoh, Malaysia. As a teenager, Mr Yip would sometimes help out at the stall after school and on weekends.
Despite their low income, Mr Yip’s parents used their life savings to send him to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Information Systems.
With his experience working as an IT consultant in Singapore, Mr Yip decided to create an app to help hawkers like his parents spend less time managing their orders and reduce their operating costs while not having to worry about commission fees.
After nearly two years of development, QueueCut launched its app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on April 15.
Mr Yip has poured some $600,000 of his own savings into the venture to date and hopes to break even by 2025.
About 40 merchants have signed up to offer their wares on the platform, about half of whom have completed the onboarding process.
An all-in-one app for delivery, dining in and self-pickup
Mr Yip is well aware that his new app faces stiff competition from major players, but he says his main aim is to reach out to hawkers and other merchants who shy away from offering delivery options for various reasons.
“I’m from a hawker family, so this platform is not only for making money, but also because I want to help other hawkers.”
The owner of TE Sarawak Laksa, Madam Teresa Wong, did not previously offer delivery service from her stall in Gambas Crescent because of the commission fees charged by other food delivery platforms. But after hearing Mr Yip and his team explain how QueueCut’s zero-commission pricing model works, she signed up as a merchant on the app.
The platform's zero-commission model and free onboarding service are also what attracted the owner of Ding Kway Chap, Madam Sia Lay Hoon.
“They are major selling points for me because the other platforms charge high commission fees, which can significantly cut into my profits,” she says.
QueueCut is not only a zero-commission delivery platform but also an ordering system for dining in and self-pickup orders.
Ms Aries Chan, the owner of the nasi lemak stall The Coco Rice, finds that QueueCut’s takeaway and dine-in options are an added convenience for her customers.
“The dine-in option is very useful,” she says. “This allows customers to skip the queue and make their payment online.” She adds that they can just order and collect the food from the stall, which also helps save her some time.
The app does not require customers to hit a minimum order value for delivery, which Mr Yip believes will appeal to single diners who would not normally hit the $10 to $15 minimum orders imposed by other platforms.
Consumers will be charged a 20-cent platform fee when using the app for self-pickup orders. When ordering food delivery, they will be charged a platform fee of 10 per cent of the order value.
In the near future, he plans to launch a rider app. He has recruited a small team of four riders concentrated in Punggol and Sengkang. The area has a high concentration of young families who are more likely to order food delivery, Mr Yip says.
For deliveries to other parts of Singapore, QueueCut has partnered with on-demand delivery service Lalamove.
Orders delivered by QueueCut’s own riders would come with a delivery fee of between $4.50 to $4.80, while those delivered by Lalamove would cost $10 and up.
Mr Yip says the company keeps costs down by having a small team and lean operations. Currently, the company consists of about 10 employees. If the business is successful in Singapore, Mr Yip aims to expand into his home country of Malaysia.
“Some of our merchants have never used other delivery platforms before because of the high fees, but since we are offering a free platform, they have nothing to lose and are willing to give it a try,” says Mr Yip.
