Oddle built a profitable food delivery business. Here’s how

As food delivery platforms struggle to become profitable, a low-key restaurant tech startup in Singapore has got there within just two years of launch.

Founded in 2014 as a “Shopify for restaurants,” Oddle (a play on the word “order”) got its big break amid the pandemic with a food delivery solution it launched in June 2020, when F&B operators were scrambling to get online.

From left: Oddle founders Alan Goh, Jonathan Lim, and Yong Xiang Pua / Photo credit: Oddle

In the past two years, between March 2020 and 2022, its revenue has grown 9x. The firm also logged S$24.3 million (US$17.3 million) in revenue in its latest financial year ended 31 March 2021, Oddle founder Jonathan Lim tells Tech in Asia.

“From Oddle’s perspective, that was the opportunity… we definitely got lucky but it wasn’t an accident,” Lim says.

On a group level, Oddle is not yet profitable – it recorded operating losses of US$578,000 in its latest financial year, according to VentureCap Insights. Still, its delivery arm is and has been in the black since 2020.

While other food delivery marketplaces were charging restaurants high commission fees of up to 35%, Oddle won them over with a more palatable 10% commission, which it maintains to this day.

That strategy has paid off: Today, Oddle handles delivery and takeaways for 7,000 restaurants across Southeast Asia. In Singapore, “almost 70%” of its leads still occur through word-of-mouth, Lim says.

While the city-state drives the bulk of the firm’s revenue, Lim says its operations in other markets – Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan – are growing fast.

With a profitable food delivery business, Oddle is channeling resources into dine-in solutions it introduced earlier this year, including reservations, QR code-based ordering, and payment terminals. It’s also in the early stages of scaling up a lending business.

Building a profitable food delivery business

Despite their apparent similarities, Oddle operates a vastly different business model from food delivery platform alongside GrabFood, Foodpanda, or Deliveroo. It also targets a different set of restaurants and end-customers.

According to Lim, Oddle’s services complement food delivery marketplaces. “We’re trying to cover the gaps that marketplaces are not able to fill,” he explains.

Unlike many F&B brands, which look to tap delivery marketplaces’ extensive user bases, many who work with Oddle already have a strong brand following and simply need help going digital.

Meanwhile, consumers who land on Oddle Eats, its online restaurant directory, typically aren’t searching for food on demand but looking to host a dinner, arrange a planned family meal, or are craving dishes from a specific restaurant.

Oddle’s ‘utility’ model

The next step: financial services?