Grab Announces Initiatives to Boost the Businesses of Small, Independent Restaurants and Hawkers in Yangon
- More than 100 small, independent restaurants and hawkers to receive promotion subsidies from Grab, as well as marketing support for increased visibility
- Unilever Food Solutions to provide Grab’s food merchant partners with complimentary cleaning items and discounts on cooking items
The 100 merchant-partners have been selected according to the criteria of being a small restaurant or hawker which is not part of a franchise or group, and with monthly average sales of less than MMK 500,000 in orders facilitated through the GrabFood delivery service.
The initiatives launched as part of the #SupportLocal campaign include:
1) Grab Small Business Promotion Subsidy Programme: To help the selected small, independent restaurants and hawkers generate more orders, Grab Myanmar will provide funding of an exclusive 20 percent discount on all menu items from 1 to 31 May 2020. GrabFood customers can enjoy the 20 percent discount by using the promo code ‘SUPPORTLOCAL’, with no minimum order value required. Grab Myanmar will bear the full cost of the discounts in order to support these small, independent merchant-partners which are staples to local neighbourhoods.
2) ‘Local Heroes’ Campaign: Grab Myanmar will be marketing a ‘Local Heroes’ campaign in the Grab App and across various digital channels to increase visibility and awareness for the 100 selected merchant-partners. The marketing efforts commenced on 1 May and is intended to rally people in Yangon to patronise these small food establishments, many of which are neighbourhood favourites, by ordering through GrabFood and having meals delivered right to their doorstep.
3) Strategic Partnership with Unilever Food Solutions (UFS): Grab Myanmar is partnering with UFS to alleviate the operational costs of the selected GrabFood merchant-partners. UFS will offer the merchant-partners significant discounts on food ingredients and spices such as seasoning, sauces, dressing, and bouillon. In addition, UFS will contribute complimentary UFS Hygiene Kits which will include hand washing soap, food safety handbook and kitchen aprons.
“With our #SupportLocal campaign initiatives, we hope to be able to lend some support to our local food businesses. Just like our delivery-partners who put themselves out there everyday to serve, our restaurant partners still strive each day to continue to feed us and their own families. With more people staying at home, the demand for food delivery is expected to increase significantly and with GrabFood, we are able to provide local food businesses a platform to serve that demand,” said Cindy Toh, Country Head, Grab Myanmar.
With a large base of local small, independent eateries already on board its platform, GrabFood has committed to increase resources three-fold to onboard local merchants who have been affected by declining customer traffic because of COVID-19 and are now heavily reliant on delivery services to generate revenue.
“In recent few weeks, we refined our merchant onboarding programme and ramped up operations such that more F&B merchants can list themselves and start their new digital businesses on the GrabFood platform quickly,” added Cindy Toh.
One of the selected GrabFood merchant-partners who will be supported by the #SupportLocal campaign is Café Salween, which sells specialty coffee grown and roasted locally in the country, Myanmar traditional desserts, local fusion food such as laphet rice burgers, Kachin pasta, house-made pizzas with local products and more.
Said Ko Ye Min who manages Café Salween, “As a food and coffee business in this “new normal”, we have to adopt technology and adapt our business model for takeaway and delivery orders so as to stay open. The lifestyle of our customers has changed significantly but there is a strong demand for quality food and drinks. GrabFood’s platform, built on a strong technology foundation, allows us to continue serving our customers wherever they are in Yangon. We are grateful to have the opportunity to optimise our business model for online sales. We hope more people will support small food businesses. Every order, big or small, helps us to continue our business during challenging periods like this.”
GrabFood customers and the wider public are encouraged to participate in the #SupportLocal campaign and to place orders from Yangon’s small independent food establishments and hawkers. They can look out for the ‘Local Heroes’ section in the GrabFood tab within the Grab App to view the list of local merchant-partners to order from.
Small, independent food establishments and hawkers who wish to be a GrabFood merchant-partner can contact +959765421049 or email gf.mm.merchants@grab.com.