Vietnam food delivery hotting up

Workers of local food delivery service Delivery Now. The number of users of food delivery services has also grown rapidly, although the services are still limited in urban areas which have a large number of office workers.- Photo quantrimang.com

According to market research firm Euromonitor, the sector has grown around 15 per cent per year in Asia. In Vietnam, the food delivery market is currently valued at US$33 million and may exceed $38 million by 2020.

The percentage of users of food delivery services has also increased rapidly, although it is limited to urban areas where a large number of office workers are employed .

According to statistics from the Association of Vietnamese Retailers, only 30 per cent of urban residents used food delivery services in Hanoi and HCM City last year, but this number has risen to more than 70 per cent in the first six months of this year.

Nguyen Manh Hung, manager of Cowboy Jack’s Tay Son restaurant, told Vietnam News the restaurant was using Now and Lala delivery services.

“These applications help our restaurant find more customers so that we can sell more food,” said Hùng.

These kinds of apps not only benefit large restaurants but also small or street food establishments.

The owner of Pho Chien Gion restaurant at 206 Kham Thien Street, told the Thoi bao Kinh te Sai Gon Online (Sai Gon Economic Times Online), the restaurant registered the service via the GradFood app. As a result, the restaurant had to recruit more staff but sales and customers increased.

The online newspaper quoted Jerry Lim, director of Grab Vietnam, as saying the number of customers and stores participating in the GrabFood has increased.

Online food delivery in Vietnam has been operating for several years through Vietnammm.com, and GrabFood.

The Now app has the widest coverage in the country nationwide including Hanoi, HCM City, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hue, Quang Ninh, Can Tho, Hai Phong, Dong Nai, Nghe An and Binh Duong.

Meanwhile, Grab has the advantage of being a technology platform starting with car and motorbike booking services, which have a regular customer of 20 per cent of the Vietnamese population.

Grab launched GrabFood along with many programmes connecting with shops, restaurants and co-operating with e-wallets as well as other promotions.

Go-Viet recently piloted Go-Food, intergrated with its ride service.

A representative told VnExpress it had co-operated with hundreds of thousands of food partners nationwide from street food, fast food chains to large restaurants.

The service would be implemented nationwide after being piloted in HCM City, said the representative.