Fave acquisition intensifies mobile food ordering competition: Waitrr

Fave bought takeaway apps CutQ and FoodTime.

The acquisition of Singapore food takeaway app CutQ and Malaysian food delivery app FoodTime by mobile payments platform Fave heats up competition in the food mobile ordering space, said F&B delivery firm Waitrr.

Heightened competition, however, bodes well for Singapore’s F&B businesses in their challenge to recruit and retain wait staff as stricter rules on foreign labour aggravate manpower crunch in the industry, Waitrr argued.

“The main players in the mobile ordering market offer merchant-friendly pricing, with no up-front costs and low fees per transaction, unlike other digital ordering solutions such as tablets and ordering kiosks, with price tags in the thousands of dollars,” it said.

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Moreover, according to research by Waitrr, restaurants can save up to 40% in manpower costs with mobile ordering and payment platforms. “On top of that, they are able to collect additional customer data and advertise to past customers through multiple platforms such as email, SMS and in-app engagement,” it said.

The firm also mentioned how other F&B businesses are taking a different route by investing in white-label mobile ordering solutions, citing Commons, Burger King, KFC, and Itacho that have their own mobile applications from which customers can order.

“Whatever model restaurants choose to deploy, it’s clear that ordering & payment in restaurants is only going to get easier and more efficient as time goes by,” it said.