Malaysian digital queue and food delivery platform for restaurants – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

One of my biggest deviations when it comes to dinner in a restaurant is seeing a long queue. My complaint is not the waiting time, the need to be in line physically while I was doing other errands.

Kewdoo is a digital queuing system that aims to solve this problem. The platform allows customers to line up almost at the chosen restaurant. It also allows for a faster billing rate for restaurants.

In October 2021, Kewdook introduced about 90 merchants and attracted about 20,000 users within 10 months of launch.

Queuing

Kewdook has 2 ways for customers to access a restaurant’s digital queue. They can scan a QR code displayed at the store entrance, or register it on the business system through a frontman.

After making a reservation with the customer’s name, phone number and number of people, they are physically left without a queue and can wait a long time with other responsibilities.

As soon as a table is cleared, an SMS will be sent to remind the customer that he is back on time. If they do not show up after a set time, the queue system will move to the next sponsor in the queue, and may take the free seat instead.

Each restaurant can set its own duration for how long the customer wants to keep them on the “Skip” list before removing them from the queue to clean the system.

Overall, queuing is a much more efficient solution that benefits both the restaurant and the customer. It’s a similar strategy Thong Kee Coffee, a Malaysian copy We interviewed him earlier in his internal queue to code for faster billing rates and traffic management.

More than one booking platform

Kewdoo’s closest competitors in the market today are local booking platforms GemSpot, TABLE APPLICATION, and based in Thailand QueQ.

Although these players have been in Malaysia for quite a few years, Kewdook believes that he has more to offer than just having a table booking platform.

Founders Grace Lai and James Koo want to position their service as a social trading platform for F&B merchants. More than just a booking app, Kewdoo is being built as an integrated solution that links digital queues, reservations, online food orders, Point of Sale (POS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to a Kewdoo restaurant.

Basically, they expect Kewdoo to be a platform for digital restaurant ordering and booking systems.

In addition, Grace and James plan to create a social media feature on Kewdoo that allows users to share food and dining experiences. When other users browse the posts, there will be a link to click and order food at the restaurant, or to make a reservation.

This strategy is to help retailers find more customers through word of mouth and at the same time get more sales through the social platform that is still in operation.

However, customers can see what it can be like through a “Request Now” link on their website. Clicking on it will take you to its food delivery platform, which works just like any other food delivery app.

Driven by pandemics

Grace and James shared that about Rs 100,000 has been invested so far to grow the Kewdoon platform. Both at the age of 20 told Vulcan Post that running a business at a young age has been a challenge because they do not have access to resources in terms of funding, networking and experience.

Limited resources brought limitations when we started and it was difficult for us to get start-up clients at first, and our development period was delayed. However, that doesn’t stop us from starting our own startup. In fact, limited resources have reminded us that we need to stay creative and innovative in order to grow our business.

Grace Lai and James Koo, founders of Kewdoo

To date, Kewdook already has about 90 merchants and about 20,000 users on the platform, 10 months after its launch. On average, restaurant partners also saw a 19% increase in online sales through Kewdoo.

They gave an example where one of their traders, Mitasu Japanese Restaurant, reported a 65% increase in bookings and a 123% increase in online orders. Another restaurant, Low Coffee Salt Using Kewdoo’s booking and queuing system, the booking has grown by more than 300%.

“We also have an inspiring success story where Kewdook helped a home shopper, DaYeh Food Gallery, to grow their home-based business until the opening of Sri Petaling’s first physical restaurant in November, ”the group added.

Grace and James noted that Kewdoor’s growth was catalyzed by the second MCO, which accelerated the startup’s plan to launch its delivery platform. In addition, the restaurants that initially joined Kewdoo for its delivery platform have been retained even after the lockout to accommodate Kewdoo’s reservation systems.

These achievements have been included in Kewdoo’s 23 startups MaGICs GAP SIDEC’s Selangor Accelerator Program (SAP) 2021 5th cohort and 30 major startups.

Through GAP, the team believes they have been given a quick way to scale up their startup and prepare them to be better entrepreneurs. That’s why Grace and James plan to launch Kewdoo’s social commerce platform next year.

Although Kewdoo borrows items from the solutions on the market, it is worthwhile to consolidate all these features into a single application. However, the team must be prepared to guide the merchant and customer in their use, as they may be overwhelmed with all services and may cancel the application.

• You can find out more about Kewdoo here.
• You can read about other Malaysian startups here.

Featured Image Credit: Grace Lai and James Koo, founders of Kewdoo