– What education did you receive and how did your career develop before the Foodpanda project?
– I worked in management consultancy, in the Moscow office of McKinsey. In parallel, I was studying at Harvard, where I obtained an MBA diploma. Before that, I worked in finance for P&G. On the whole, I was making my way in a corporate career.
– So what made you leave the broad corporate highway for the own-business path?
– I wanted to take all the decisions myself and have complete control of developing the business. I decided that this was more up my street than giving consultations.
– How was the idea of your startup born?
– I looked at the Western business models and considered which one would work best in Russia. I decided to go for a service startup in e-commerce. I studied two projects: Just Eat (Europe) and Seamless (USA). I analysed the corresponding sector in Russia and realised that although such projects already exist, the food delivery market was still in its infancy. There was plenty of room for two or three major players. I calculated the economics of the project, discussed matters with restaurants and thought: Let’s do this.
– How did you acquire the Foodpanda brand?
– Foodpanda is a global project, currently operating in 27 countries throughout the world. But actually each Foodpanda is a separate business with its own local team. I’ll try to explain. The business incubator Rocket Internet first opened a Foodpanda food delivery company in Singapore. The business did remarkably well, and a year later, Rocket Internet decided to spread this successful business model worldwide. This was entrusted to Ralf Wenzel, who was appointed to the position of global manager. I myself had worked for some time in the Bon Sport project of the same business incubator, which was how I got to know Ralf and acquired investments and the Foodpanda brand. That is, Rocket Internet, as the business incubator, invested assets and its already widely promoted brand. However, the legal entity to which the right to use the brand name Foodpanda in Russia belongs, OOO Rocket Russia, is an RF resident. We make use of certain analytical capabilities of the investor. But we are an independent project.
– What investments have you already attracted and what are the prospects for the development of the project?
– We received $20,000,000 from Rocket Internet, Phenomen Ventures and a number of other investors. The food delivery market is growing throughout the world. In a few years, most of mankind will be ordering food via mobile apps. In Russia, this trend is only just starting. Judging from the results of the first months of operation, the Russian food delivery market will become the biggest of all those countries where the Foodpanda project has been started, We have one of the highest average tickets and huge potential.
The food delivery market is growing throughout the world. In a few years, most of mankind will be ordering food via mobile apps.
– Tell us about the Foodpanda business model in more detail.
– We have concluded contracts with restaurants, and we place their menus (prices, pictures, descriptions) on our internet resource. We advertise on the internet and attract clients to our website or suggest they download a mobile app (available for iOS and Android). The client states his location, and he is offered a choice of all the restaurants in the city which deliver food to where he is located. The service is free to the users. That is, the food prices on our site and the restaurant’s site are absolutely identical.
– Why is it better for the client to order from you rather than directly from the restaurant itself?
– Firstly, we offer a selection of more than 200 restaurants. Secondly, it’s convenient. We show the restaurants which are nearest to the client. Finally, by ordering from us, the client earns bonus points which can be used later for a free order. This service is still under development, we shall soon start it up.
– How many people work in the company?
– It’s a small group, but a professional one. Many of them are young lads who generate ideas and bring them to life themselves. The main department is sales, which is concerned with attracting restaurants. There is also marketing, responsible for attracting food-ordering clients to our website. We have a call centre and ad administration office. Altogether, a little over 30 people.
– When do you plan to start getting a return on your investment?
– In two years time.