Rocket Internet-Backed foodpanda Adds Business Delivery

On-demand food delivery service foodpanda is expanding its offerings to corporate clients, which rely on buying their lunch everyday.

While foodpanda serves 38 countries, its new service is just being extended to six Asian countries, including India, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand, TechCrunch reported.

The new service exclusively targets the segment of employers that provide free or discounted meals to their employees. Through its service, the companies can now partner with foodpanda to have timely meals delivered to their office. The partnership will also allow employers to set budgets and employee spending limits and to simplify expense account management and invoices.

Foodpanda CEO Ralf Wenzel told TechCrunch that the company expects the service to become a major part of its business and fuel up t0 50 percent of its revenue. As the company signs up more clients, foodpanda will provide subscription services, which will guarantee the company a continuous revenue stream.

Though the company remains bullish on outperforming in the corporate food delivery space, it might prove to be an uphill battle with recent allegations about fake listings, inconsistent service and poor work culture in India, according to TechCrunch.

“We have a more sophisticated and drastic selection [process, and we more] carefully manage our inventory,” Wenzel told TechCrunch. “We’re building out our own last-mile capabilities, [so we can] control the end-to-end experience. We make sure we work with the right restaurants and are taking more responsibility on the last-mile delivery.”

As the company works on improving its overall management to repair customer relations, it said, its ultimate focus remains on investing in improving its technology.

“The food tech space needs to keep innovating,” Wenzel added. “Even foodpanda lacks innovation … We want to invest in technology that is new and disruptive.”