The founders of take-away website Menulog today announce the expansion of FoodByUs, launching a new B2B marketplace for Australia’s top eateries and local suppliers. FoodByUs will offer food distribution using market-first technology providing a “one-stop-shop” combining a dynamic sales force, an online ordering system and logistics all in one platform to disrupt Australia’s $8 billion café sector.
Australia’s rapidly growing café culture has nearly doubled over the past two years in revenue. With cafés and coffee shops booming, distributors are struggling to evolve their product range and technology to meet demand and offer a fully integrated marketplace to easily connect cafes and suppliers in seconds.
“Both cafés and suppliers are frustrated with the current distribution system. Time-poor cafes are stuck using one distributor, with a limited product range, that can only be ordered at certain times and at fixed volumes over the phone. The new B2B marketplace offers both suppliers and cafes a smart distribution solution, with a fully integrated system combining sales and logistics, backed by an incredibly easy online ordering system,” says Ben Lipschitz, co-founder and Managing Director, FoodByUs.
The platform offers quality local suppliers a ready-made platform to market and sell their products wholesale, along with an order management system, while cafes can search for high-quality, fresh and local products suited to their needs. It also offers GPS tracking for deliveries and mobile ordering along with an integrated payment system.
“We offer an ever-changing marketplace of suppliers catering for all dietary requirements and products to hit any price point. Our state-of-the-art technology is mobile-friendly and can easily place one-off and recurring orders to save café’s and suppliers time. The final piece of the puzzle is the solution to every supplier’s biggest challenge – logistics,” says Lipschitz.
FoodByUs’ driver network delivers to cafes on behalf of suppliers taking advantage of a purpose-built solution that ensures the café gets their deliveries on time, whilst simultaneously communicating the whereabouts of the driver’s status in real time.
Launched as a B2C platform to connect talented home-based cooks with hungry locals in 2016 by former Menulog founders Gary Munitz and Tim Chandler, alongside Ben Lipschitz, this is the second phase of the business – with investment from Maquarie Capital – concentrating on distributor solutions for B2B, that’s now available in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
