Supplybunny raises funds from Gobi Partners to connect restaurants with food suppliers

Photo credit: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons

Many restaurants and cafes are stuck in the old ways of ordering kitchen supplies, either by phone or email, and paying by cash or check. Supplybunny, which secured US$300,000 in seed funding from Shanghai-based venture capital firm Gobi Partners, wants to change all that.

Supplybunny is an online marketplace that connects restaurant owners with wholesale food and beverage suppliers in Malaysia. Founded by Tham Kengyew last June, the company will use the money it just raised to grow its team, and boost its marketing efforts.

The company serves as a directory of verified food suppliers in Malaysia.

Supplybunny makes ordering food supplies as easy as how consumers order meals online. The site features an inventory of what’s available – from canned goods to meat, poultry, and fresh produce – and their prices per kilogram, pack, tin, or bottle. It also serves as a directory of verified suppliers, giving users the ability to filter the data on the site by suppliers’ names.

For wholesalers, the company simplifies the billing process by eliminating the need to manually collate orders and chase invoices. It also helps attract new customers, while reducing associated costs and manpower.

“Supplybunny offers a functional solution which fills an industry gap in reducing operational cost issues that suppliers regularly face while also providing a one-stop marketplace for restaurateurs to conveniently get all of their F&B supplies,” says Gobi Partners managing partner Thomas Tsao. “By providing meaningful benefits to both restaurants and suppliers in such a simple way, we believe that Supplybunny is well-positioned for success.”

Supplybunny has signed an exclusive partnership with Offpeak, a restaurant-booking startup in Malaysia that’s also part of Gobi Partners’ portfolio. Under the terms, Offpeak will introduce its existing base of over 1,600 partner restaurants to Supplybunny’s platform.

For now, Supplybunny is focusing on its home market but it has plans to expand to the region.

“Gobi Partners has a lot of experience in the online-to-offline food industry in both China and Southeast Asia, and we’re excited to learn from them,” notes Kengyew.