Oddle's Jonathan Lim helps restaurants re-engage customers

Oddle’s founder Jonathan Lim uses smart data to help restaurants reach out to their customers

By Kenneth SZ Goh / 10 Nov 2022

Business, Data, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Food, Kenneth SZ Goh

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CEO and founder of Oddle, Jonathan Lim. (Photo: Veronica Tay)

With a shortage of manpower and rising costs in a post-pandemic world, running a restaurant in Singapore has become more challenging. A food establishment’s best future-proofing strategy is to know its customers, says Jonathan Lim, CEO and founder of F&B technology company Oddle.

Besides an e-commerce platform for deliveries and takeaways, it also provides restaurant management solutions, such as online reservations, QR code ordering systems, and payment terminals.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Singapore (Food and Beverage Solutions) says: “Re-engaging customers is the best way to increase sales since customer retention is cheaper than acquisition. By capturing customer data through the various touch points in the food ordering journey, we can understand dining habits such as ordering frequency and preferences.” Oddle also helps restaurants re-engage with their customers by having them send exclusive menus and bundles via emails and text messages.

It was only earlier this year that Oddle, which started as a food e-commerce platform in 2014, expanded into restaurant solutions. With restaurants such as PizzaExpress Singapore tapping into these services, they now represent 15 per cent of the company’s revenue. Currently, Oddle has 7,000 eateries on its platforms across four markets, including Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

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Despite a challenging economic landscape, Oddle’s revenue has increased by ninefold in the past two years, generating $24.3 million in its financial year which ended in March 2021. Earlier this year in May, the company raised US$5 million (S$7.1 million) in a pre-Series B bridge round led by Altara Ventures, paving the way for greater growth. The funds have been used for the further development of restaurant solutions, and to expand the roll-out of the Oddle Eats app, a food discovery platform for consumers across the region.

In a post-pandemic world, how can restaurants future-proof themselves with technology?

Restaurants can gain control of their future by getting to know their customers. We can capture consumer data through touch points such as delivery, takeaway, reservation and payment platforms to help restaurants identify and segment their best customers to re-engage them. Zi char restaurant Keng Eng Kee Seafood, for instance, updates customers on online-exclusive dishes, bundle meals, and other specials.

Data can also help restaurants grow their business. As an example, Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant in Jalan Besar decided to open Swee Choon Express (Century Square) after discovering through Oddle that most of its food delivery customers live in Tampines.

Related: Promising start-ups now get a leg up with e-commerce aggregator, Rainforest

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In a competitive market, how does Oddle help restaurants drive profitability?

Re-engaging customers and reaching out to more of them through data is our playbook for growing revenue. When it comes to online delivery and takeaways, we help restaurants increase their shopping cart conversion rate.

Oddle’s average basket size is $120, which mostly consists of bundle meals or party sets. As a result, restaurants are able to optimise their operations by reducing the number of clicks that lead to a purchase. In addition, we helped restaurants grow their gross merchant value from $30 million in 2019 to $200 million last year.

CEO and founder of Oddle, Jonathan Lim. (Photo: Veronica Tay)

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For about three years, you ran a grill restaurant called The Lawn. How has that experience guided your work at Oddle?

Running a restaurant in Singapore is tough. One of my pain points was not being able to handle the high volume of corporate orders properly. The staff often struggled to remember customer details since they were part-timers and barely trained. With Oddle, I wanted to build myself a McDelivery-like platform with a systematic approach to getting food orders. Since then, digital marketing capabilities and integration with delivery partners have been added.

We have been swimming against the tide in the food delivery industry for many years. Despite this, we have stuck to our philosophy of “Always Restaurant First”, helping restaurants to grow revenue sustainably and digitise their operations. We are happy that many have told us: “If not for you, I wouldn’t have known how to survive the pandemic”.

Related: Finding opportunities for growth in a crisis

Business, Data, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Food, Kenneth SZ Goh