FoodZaps co-founder Rina Loh shares five tips that helped her build Singapore’s fastest growing F&B POS provider

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Since its official app launch, FoodZaps has been adopted by over 80,000 businesses, both local and international.

Co-founder Rina Loh shares five tips that helped her build Singapore’s fastest growing F&B POS provider.

Target franchises over SMEs

One key decision for FoodZaps was to work with franchises rather than SMEs. As FoodZaps is highly scalable, it’s able to grow with the franchises that adopt its POS system. This means that franchises won’t have to change their systems every time they expand – making for added convenience and efficiency.

Rina highlights one of FoodZaps’ clients as an example.

“Cedele had twenty years of business without changing their POS system, which was a legacy POS system. While legacy systems are reliable, they’re clunky, whereas modern cloud technology depends too much on internet connection.”

“With Foodzaps, you get the best of both worlds.”

In the light of the rise of mobile cashless payments, Cedele’s manager decided it was time for a technology change – which is why they decided to use FoodZaps at their subsidiary Greater Lot at Sentosa Cove.

With the aid of FoodZaps, other franchises such as Five, Old Tea Hut and Thai Boat Noodle have begun to use the app to automate processes.

Also read: FoodZaps helps restaurant owners tackle diners’ ordering woes

Tap into a government grant

Another factor that boosted FoodZaps’ development was when it was awarded the Innovation Capability Voucher, worth $5,000, from statutory board Spring Singapore. SME companies were able to use these funds to advance their operational needs, which Rina believes plays a critical role in furthering FoodZaps.

Aligning with FoodZaps’ interest in government funding is an upcoming event organised in collaboration with Lithan and Revel. The event will see the likes of Samsung Asia, SME Centre, e2i and UShift.

Key topics that will be discussed at the event include security and government grants available locally, such as the Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP), and grants available under Workforce Singapore such as the P-Max and Work Trial initiatives.

The founders are industry veterans

Adding to the development of FoodZaps is the founders’ combined expertise. With more than 20 years of experience in tech development, Winson is the visionary behind the company. On the other hand, Chelsea has experience in IT and project management, while Rina manages the marketing end of the business.

“In the beginning, I worked remotely to generate leads. Chelsea would be the one to face clients. Now, we have a different dynamic – for instance, all three of us work extensively with clients,” says Rina.

“We’re three friends from diverse backgrounds who respect and encourage each other in what we do.”

File for a patent

Making FoodZaps’ technology proprietary was a major concern for its founders. Rina explains that applying for a patent is a highly strategic move.

“There are so many POS systems out there that we wanted to differentiate ourselves. We’re also thinking of entering China and India’s markets, so the patent would be able to protect our technology.”

Using iPad-based POS system Revel as an exemplary model, Rina explains her vision for FoodZaps as a proprietary system for Android-based POS system.

“I want FoodZaps to be on par with Revel in terms of brand equity – especially since they have international acclaim. We want to elevate Foodzaps – a Singaporean brand – to the same level of excellence.”

Consider the ecosystem

In the jungle that is the F&B industry, FoodZaps considers itself a single puzzle piece that seeks to help others streamline processes.

“We already know how many eggs it takes to make an omelette, which is why we want to look into machines. In future, a lot of processes can be automated – including managing the inventory system,” says Chelsea.

A future consideration for FoodZaps is to become a marketplace that offers a wide variety of food supplies options for F&B businesses.

“With machine deep learning, we can develop a goods and trading platform for food supplies companies – hence doing away with the need for procurement teams. Think of it as the Agoda for the F&B industry.”

How FoodZaps works

The B2B app, which is Android-based, takes menu-ordering with a finger’s tap. In the app, there are options to customise an order, print a receipt from the mobile billing system, and track transactions for security – everything is centralised on FoodZaps.

What really sets Foodzaps aside is its hybrid system – at any time, up to a week’s worth of data is backed up to the Cloud, meaning that processes can continue even without internet connection.

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