Pockets Pre-Series A Funding, DishServe Expands Partnership

Delivery, packaging focused ghost kitchen platform DishServe has this month completed a pre-series A fundraiser.

Some of the investors involved include Genting Group, Insignia Venture Partners, Stonewater Ventures, Ratio Ventures, Rutland Ventures, 300x Ventures, MyAsiaVC, and several angel investors. In 2020, they also received early-stage funding from Insignia.

The company plans to use the fresh funds to add more than 500 locations in Jakarta and expand to Bandung to Surabaya.

In addition, this capital will also be used to increase sales channels, develop technology, and conduct curation to increase food choices.

DishServe Founder & CEO Rishabh Singhi said, “Indonesia is currently a very attractive market with a variety of food choices. Cloud kitchens can certainly help F&B brands reach more customers in various geographic areas.

“In a certain way, cloud kitchens have increased the food choices available to customers. Delivery only internet kitchens or dark kitchens are the future of the food business,” said Rishabh.

The increasing interest of today’s society to make food purchases online, has driven the growth of DishServe which has been functioning as a ghost kitchen.

The company noted sales have grown nearly 20x since its inception. Currently, DishServe has around 25 brands that have joined the platform.

Strategic Partnerships with Various Brands

Apart from forging strategic partnerships with brands such as HongTang, Healthy Box by M Kitchen, and Chicken Pao by FoodStory, DishServe is also working with cloud kitchen platform providers such as YummyKitchen and Grab Kitchen who are leveraging their platform to scale their operations across Jakarta.

As for delivery, currently DishServe has partnered with third-party platforms such as GrabFood, GoFood, ShopeeFood, and TravelokaEats.

Through this partnership, DishServe claims to be able to increase the visibility and exposure of its F&B partners while helping them get more orders.

Over the past year the company has forged deep partnerships with these players which gives DishServe and partner brands more exposure and visibility compared to other brands listed on the platform.

“For example if you open the Traveloka app and continue to eat, you will find a DishServebanner on the home page which gives us more exposure,” said Rishabh. In particular DishServe also provides relevant technology services to their partners.

Among these are branding and marketing, inventory management, procurement, enterprise POS solutions, logistics services and warehousing expansion, and logistics services without capital expenditure and low fixed costs.

Partnering with Several Famous Chefs 

Apart from SMEs, DishServe has also partnered with several well-known chefs in Indonesia, to curate savory dishes that are planned to be sold under their own brand names. Currently, Dishserve sells the Asian Fusion Rice Bowl and a unique blend of cold teas under their own brand.

“There are no big players in the F&B segment after KFC, McDonalds, Pizzahut, Hokben. We have the opportunity to grow a top group of small-scale F&Bs that have an annual income of less than $100k and have the potential to generate more than $1 million per year,” concluded Rishabh. India’s ‘Ghost Restaurant’ Startup Strategy Battle

Gojek’s startup, Rebel Foods, is targeting the Indonesian market. This new unicorn from India is competing with local start-ups in the cloud kitchen field, also known as ghost restaurants, such as DishServe and Hangry.

Cloud kitchen is a restaurant service term based on cloud computing (cloud). Consumers cannot buy and enjoy food or drinks in restaurants, because products can only be ordered online.

DishServe CEO Rishabh Singhi said the company is focused on collaboration with the digital ecosystem. This is because the growth of cloud kitchens is driven by the growth trend of food delivery services.

In addition, increasing engagement with consumers. According to him, companies need to communicate with users about the latest products through social media.