Gojek’s food delivery arm launches subscription service in Indonesia

Indonesian unicorn Gojek has launched new features for its food delivery arm, GoFood, including a subscription plan, a pickup option, and guaranteed food delivery time.

GoFood / Photo credit: Gojek

The new subscription service, called GoFood Plus, allows signed-up users to receive discounts on all food orders within the period of subscription.

GoFood Pickup allows customers to order meals through its app and pick up their orders at the restaurants at a later time. GoFood Turbo, on the other hand, guarantees food deliveries under 30 minutes.

GoFood Plus and GoFood Turbo will be available through the shuffle cards under GoFood on the Gojek app, the company said.

GoFood is also working with Google to enable users with Android phones to place orders and track deliveries through Google Assistant. The collaboration marks Google Assistant’s first partnership with an online food delivery platform in Indonesia, according to a statement.

“The online food delivery industry has changed massively since we launched as the first Indonesian app-based food delivery service in 2015. Consumers now have higher expectations […],” Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, Gojek’s chief food officer, said.

According to a 2019 report by data company Nielsen on consumers in Indonesia, convenience and time savings are voted the top reasons for ordering food online, beating out promotions and discounts.

“They don’t expect to have to wait long for their food to arrive. They also want value and a frictionless ordering experience,” the Gojek exec added.

GoFood launched in March 2015, more than a year ahead of rival Grab’s GrabFood. According to its website, GoFood now has more than 550,000 registered merchant partners on its platform, with a presence in 74 cities in Indonesia.

Update (January 17, 12:00 pm): This article was updated to reflect a change in Gojek’s press release regarding the GoFood Plus subscription service.