Shawn Yi is co-founder and CEO of Foodifox. Foodifox is a new food label embracing advanced technology systems to create a contactless and convenient meal delivery framework.
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Utilising Tech To Address Consumer Appetites In Food Delivery Market
Shawn Yi co-founder and CEO of Foodifox
Digitalisation of food delivery was a huge step forward, but it was just the start of the industry’s journey.
In business today, it is too easy to be one of many with a slight point of difference. That is not the vision I had when I embarked on my journey to create a new food delivery service in the Australian market.
I wanted to break ground on a new model and a new identity, utilising technology in a way that hadn’t yet been done in this sector to address the consumer needs our research had identified.
The great technological revolution in recent years has seen the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for the benefit of a whole range of industries, including hospitality.
The 2019 ”Future of food, How technology and global trends are transforming the food industry” report conducted by Deloitte APAC found “Increasingly time-poor consumers have more options than ever before, and we are witnessing a shift in the composition of food spending. A greater share of food budgets is going towards food that is prepared outside the home. Around two in five Asian consumers say that dining out is one of their five fastest growing expenses.”
When founding Foodifox in September 2019, my co-founder Tangent Wong and I had reason to be optimistic we were setting off on a successful venture -- we knew the online food ordering and delivery platforms industry was in the growth stage of its life cycle.
For over 6 months we studied the market and consumer trends. Our research substantiated our initial thoughts -- that there was an appetite for a new type of model in the industry.
Our research showed that consumers were largely time poor and cost conscious, yet they still expected assurance around variety, environmental impact and nutritional benefits of their orders.
Before Foodifox, I worked at a number of architecture and property development firms. This, combined with my master and bachelor’s degrees in architecture, has given me the transferable experience of understanding how the Melbourne CBD’s grid layout can be leveraged to optimise food deliveries.
The uniqueness of Foodifox is in the delivery model and combination of technology used to deliver the food. Orders are place on an APP, cooked in a centralised kitchen then delivered to 20+ different delivery points throughout the CBD and surrounding areas where it is placed in state-of-the-art thermal lockers that are accessed by customers using a QR code.
The model works because it reflects what people wanted in the industry and everyone buys into it, from the chefs and drivers to the consumers; all of whom have their own app feeding into our custom integrated Platform.
The optimised routes and plastic-free packaging address the environmental concerns, the quality and variety of food satisfies consumers and employing key staff promotes security and job satisfaction for the team.
The nature of the model not only appeases consumer interests but is also congruent with a covid-safe environment through its contactless and convenient transaction process.
As the pandemic rages around Australia, we are confident this model of food delivery will stand out and provide a new benchmark of innovation for the industry in Australia and overseas.
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In 2016 I published a blog article titled Moonshots for Australia: 7 For Now. It’s one of many I have posted on business and innovation in Australia. In that book, I highlighted a number of Industries of the Future among a number of proposed Moonshots. I self-published a book, Innovation in Australia – Creating prosperity for future generations, in 2019, with a follow-up COVID edition in 2020. There is no doubt COVID is causing massive disruption. Prior to COVID, there was little conversation about National Sovereignty or supply chains. Even now, these topics are fading, and we remain preoccupied with productivity and jobs! My motivation for this writing has been the absence of a coherent narrative for Australia’s business future. Over the past six years, little has changed. The Australian ‘psyche’ regarding our political and business systems is programmed to avoid taking a long-term perspective. The short-term nature of Government (3 to 4-year terms), the short-term horizon of the business system (driven by shareholder value), the media culture (infotainment and ‘gotcha’ games), the general Australian population’s cynical perspective and a preoccupation with a lifestyle all create a malaise of strategic thinking and conversation. Ultimately, it leads to a leadership vacuum at all levels. In recent years we have seen the leadership of some of our significant institutions failing to live up to the most basic standards, with Royal Commissions, Inquiries and investigations consuming excessive time and resources. · Catholic Church and other religious bodies · Trade Unions · Banks (and businesses generally, take casinos, for example) · the Australian Defence Force · the Australian cricket teams · our elected representatives and the staff of Parliament House As they say, “A fish rots from the head!” At best, the leadership behaviour in those institutions could be described as unethical and, at worst….just bankrupt! In the last decade, politicians have led us through a game of “leadership by musical chairs” – although, for now, it has stabilised. However, there is still an absence of a coherent narrative about business and wealth creation. It is a challenge. One attempt to provide such a narrative has been the Intergenerational Reports produced by our federal Government every few years since 2002. The shortcomings of the latest Intergenerational Report Each Intergenerational Report examines the long-term sustainability of current government policies and how demographic, technological, and other structural trends may affect the economy and the budget over the next 40 years. The fifth and most recent Intergenerational Report released in 2021 (preceded by Reports in 2002, 2007, 2010 and 2015) provides a narrative about Australia’s future – in essence, it is an extension of the status quo. The Report also highlights three key insights: 1. First, our population is growing slower and ageing faster than expected. 2. The Australian economy will continue to grow, but slower than previously thought. 3. While Australia’s debt is sustainable and low by international standards, the ageing of our population will pressure revenue and expenditure. However, its release came and went with a whimper. The recent Summit on (what was it, Jobs and Skills and productivity?) also seems to have made the difference of a ‘snowflake’ in hell in terms of identifying our long-term challenges and growth industries. Let’s look back to see how we got here and what we can learn. Australia over the last 40 years During Australia’s last period of significant economic reform (the late 1980s and early 1990s), there was a positive attempt at building an inclusive national narrative between Government and business. Multiple documents were published, including: · Australia Reconstructed (1987) – ACTU · Enterprise Bargaining a Better Way of Working (1989) – Business Council of Australia · Innovation in Australia (1991) – Boston Consulting Group · Australia 2010: Creating the Future Australia (1993) – Business Council of Australia · and others. There were workshops, consultations with industry leaders, and conferences across industries to pursue a national microeconomic reform agenda. Remember these concepts? · global competitiveness · benchmarking · best practice · award restructuring and enterprising bargaining · training, management education and multiskilling. This agenda was at the heart of the business conversation. During that time, the Government encouraged high levels of engagement with stakeholders. As a result, I worked with a small group of training professionals to contribute to the debate. Our contribution included events and publications over several years, including What Dawkins, Kelty and Howard All Agree On – Human Resources Strategies for Our Nation (published by the Australian Institute of Training and Development). Unfortunately, these long-term strategic discussions are nowhere near as prevalent among Government and industry today. The 1980s and 1990s were a time of radical change in Australia. It included: · floating the $A · deregulation · award restructuring · lowering/abolishing tariffs · Corporatisation and Commercialisation Ross Garnaut posits that the reforms enabled Australia to lead the developed world in productivity growth – given that it had spent most of the 20th century at the bottom of the developed country league table. However, in his work, The Great Reset, Garnaut says that over the next 20 years, our growth was attributable to the China mining boom, and from there, we settled into “The DOG days” – Australia moved to the back of a slow-moving pack! One unintended consequence of opening our economy to the world is the emasculation of the Australian manufacturing base. The manic pursuit of increased efficiency, lower costs, and shareholder value meant much of the labour-intensive work was outsourced. Manufacturing is now less than 6% of our GDP , less than half of what it was 30 years ago!
