AI startup Easy Eat aims to transform restaurants into tech firms and make dining more interactive

In the food and beverages industry, most of the innovation is centred around delivery and takeaway, but it is just 20 per cent of the global US$3.5 trillion markets, as per an estimate. Approximately US$2.5 trillion sales are through in-dining, yet there hasn’t been any significant innovation to bring about a drastic change to customer engagement and experience.

“We have a startup in the making, which focuses on creating an exciting future for diners,” says its founder Mohd Wassem. “Easy Eat is working on creating a solution to transform restaurants into a technology company.”

Easy Eat is an Artificial Intelligence startup. Using its QR-based solution, which will be available with its restaurant partners, in-dining guests can browse menus online, search for items, and review description and nutrition value. Patrons will also be able to place and track orders, make payments through an integrated interface and keep a record of their dining history.

“It will make dining a more interactive experience, giving customers better control over what they buy and customise rather than being restricted by the restaurant’s creativity, or lack of it,” he adds.

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On the other side, restaurants can save time and money and better manage the footfall. They will also have access to advanced user analytics (the equivalent of Google Analytics for offline businesses). It will give a fillip to their marketing intelligence, customer strategy and business efficiency, claims Wassem who recently quit his previous venture Bobble Keyboard, which provides an AI keyboard app for smartphones.

“While this innovation may not compete with restaurants as an alternate supplier, it certainly has a vast potential to transform the way customers buy and experience dining. Restaurants don’t have to incur any additional cost to use the solution. More importantly, this will increase their bottom-line by 40 per cent,” he elaborates.

Easy Eat, which will have offices in Singapore and Malaysia, primarily targets the Southeast Asian market, the size of which is approximately US$100 billion. Majority of the people prefers eating out; in some countries, more than 90 per cent of the people consume at least one meal outside a day. Plus, the region has a high female working population.

“I see a big opportunity in Southeast Asia, where 40-50 per cent of the working population is female. In countries like Malaysia and Singapore, the average money spent on dining out is approximately US$200 per month,” he says. “Plus, diners are cost-, time- and health-conscious. I see a lot of time is spent on non-dining activities, like scanning menu, understanding menu, waiting for the bill and change. This presents an opportunity for us.”

According to him, there is enough innovation happening in food, health and payment. Now is the time to bring them together on a common platform and create an engaging experience for users.

Easy Eat, which plans to commercially roll out in January 2020, has already started signing agreements with a few restaurants  — local and international chains — in Singapore and Malaysia.

As for revenues, Easy Eat will take a transaction fee from the restaurant (a fixed slab-based fee for every item ordered through the solution). It will also have a revenue-sharing agreement with payment gateways and will charge a subscription fee for advance analytics.

“I foresee a competition from existing players in the delivery space, but I am confident that I can partner with a few of them to better serve customers,” he says.

Easy Eat has already received financial commitments from a few angels, who had supported him in his earlier venture. “We look forward to closing our first round by the end of November,” he says.

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