After Grab, Gojek Has Launched 20 Cloud Kitchens

On-demand service company Gojek continues to develop cloud computing-based restaurants or cloud kitchens this year. Until now, there are 20 cloud kitchen owned by Gojek.

“The development is good, and in the future, it will be further enhanced,” Gojek Group Chief Food Officer Catherine Hindra Sutjahy said in Jakarta on Tuesday (11/2).

Gojek launched its cloud kitchen service last year under the name GoFood Kitchen. When it was first launched, Gojek only had 10 cloud kitchens.

Cloud kitchen is an online-based restaurant service that allows GoFood partners to be present at locations closer to consumers. The launch of GoFood Kitchen coincided with the launch of the GoFood Festival.

The difference with GoFood Festival, GoFood Kitchen does not provide on-site dining. Consumers can only order through the Gojek application. GoFood refers to the data obtained in determining the location of the cloud kitchen.

While its partners are chosen based on supply and demand in the region. This year, Gojek not only developed GoFood Kitchen, but Gojek also launched four new features namely GoFood Turbo, GoFood Pickup, GoFood plus, and Google Assistant.

All four were launched in January. “The response was quite good from the market, many merchants participated,” Catherine said.

The number of users who transacted GoFood in the fourth quarter was 20 million subscribers. The number has doubled compared to 2018 in the same quarter. Gojek’s competitor in the food delivery service, Grab, already has 40 cloud kitchens.

Grab Has Already Launched Cloud Kitchen

Last year Grab launched its cloud kitchen, GrabKitchen. Currently, GrabKitchen is available in five major cities in Indonesia. Through this cloud kitchen, users can order a variety of culinary through the application, but cannot eat it on location.

GrabKitchen mentions that it wants to expand the market without incurring substantial costs, because they can open branches through this cloud kitchen service.

“So, our goal is to accelerate them (merchants) and invite them to grow with us,” said Grab Food and New Businesses Head of Marketing Grab Indonesia Ichmeralda Rachman in Jakarta, Wednesday (30/10) last year.

GrabKitchen was first launched in Singapore. The latest central kitchen facilities owned by decacorn from Negeri Singa Putih have more than 10 Food and Beverage (F&B) brands serving the western part of Singapore.

Head of GrabFood Singapore Dilip Roussenaly said, the presence of this cloud kitchen encourages cost-efficiency and makes it easier for corporate merchant partners to do business and allow them to operate.

Grab will also take care of utility management and also provide marketing and financial support for the merchants.

GrabKitchen Hopes to Encourage Merchants to Innovate

Grab will also provide merchants with market insights to create new menu options, which lead to a wider variety of food choices for customers from one shipping point.

“We hope (Grab Cloud Kitchen) can bridge the demand for cuisine and expand a variety of food choices, as well as offer convenience to consumers through delivery (food) on request, pick up yourself, or eat directly,” said Roussenaly as quoted by DealStreetAsia, Wednesday (8 / 1).

Going forward, Roussenaly continued, GrabFood will launch more GrabKitchen in Singapore. However, he was reluctant to explain in detail how much and when the cloud kitchen service will be launched.

Keep in mind, food delivery services are one of Grab’s largest business units. According to Grab, its food delivery business grew 5.2 times the sales value or gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2019. In the same year, active users rose 173%.

Grab claims that the company is the largest food delivery provider in Southeast Asia in terms of GMV and geographic footprint. At this moment they already have 50 cloud kitchens across SEA including the ones in Indonesia.