Modelled after food delivery apps in China, a Canadian company is helping Asian restaurants in Halifax get through the pandemic by offering lower commission fees.
Compared with major food delivery companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats, Fantuan Inc. and a few small players are focusing on a niche market: small, local Asian restaurants.
“We know there’s a certain percentage of Chinese population in Halifax,” said Shan Li, public relations manager for Fuantuan Delivery, explaining the Halifax expansion for the Vancouver startup.
Fuantuan Delivery was founded in Vancouver by a Chinese student Randy Wu in 2014. The company entered the Halifax market last July during the pandemic. Li said the app currently has about 100 local restaurants with the majority of them being Asian and including some of the busiest, like Truly Tasty and Sushi Jet.
“We have an efficient operating model that allows us to offer a lower commission fee of 15 per cent. So a lot of small Asian restaurants are willing to partner with us,” said Li.
A few local Asian restaurants, including Jean’s Chinese Restaurant and Jacky’s Cafe, as well as Li, confirmed that while delivery apps like Skip The Dishes and UberEats charge from 25 to 30 per cent, Fantuan takes 15 per cent instead.
Another similar Canadian company that has expanded to Halifax is Food HWY. A Toronto-based company, founded by Chinese graduate Han Di, it was recently acquired by Facedrive Inc., a Canadian tech ecosystem.
“It's been helping us really well, especially during the lockdown; we have more orders.” Minori Watanabe, a longtime staff member at Gangnam Korean BBQ Halifax said Food HWY has been offering a lower commission fee to the restaurant.
Fantuan has the standard features that most food delivery apps have: restaurant rating, sorting by certain criteria, and delivery tracking. Modelled after its Chinese counterparts, it also provides customer service to its users, allowing them to interact with an actual human being in both Chinese and English.
Li said the technology and customer service teams are located in China -- a cost-effective business model that brings the company profits while offering lower commission fees to restaurants.
As of 2020, China’s online food delivery market generates the equivalent of $45 billion USD yearly — nearly double that of the U.S.
