As Al Baik India grew, more of its digital sales ran through third-party delivery apps, with commissions, extra charges and little access to its own customers. HowinCloud designed a branded ordering platform around the way its outlets already work, to give the brand ownership of its digital sales.
- Directordering, owned by the brand
- 0parts of digital sales brought in-house
- 0parts in one planned platform
- Client
- Al Baik India, quick-service restaurants. Contact: Mr. Abdul Wahid
- Business
- A multi-outlet quick-service restaurant brand
- Before
- Digital sales ran largely through third-party apps such as Swiggy and Zomato, with commissions, extra charges and limited access to customers
- What we designed
- A branded, first-party ordering platform with outlet detection, POS integration, in-house delivery, central admin and a proposed analytics layer
- Status
- Planned. The value below is expected, not yet measured
The problem
As Al Baik India's restaurant operations expanded, more of its digital sales ran through third-party delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato.
Every order there came with commissions and additional platform charges. And the customer relationship sat with the marketplace, not the brand: Al Baik had limited access to who its customers were and what they ordered.
Mr. Abdul Wahid came to HowinCloud with a clear objective. Al Baik needed its own branded ordering platform, designed around the way its restaurants already work rather than the limits of a third-party system.
The goal wasn't another food delivery app. It was ownership: of digital sales, of customer relationships, and of the data behind them.
Today
Digital orders arrive through marketplaces. The customer stays theirs.
- How many of today's orders came through the delivery apps?
- A lot of them. Commission and charges come off each one
- Who are our regular customers online?
- We can't see that. The app keeps the customer details
- Can we run an offer just for our own customers?
- Only through the platform, on their terms
The brand's own digital sales, run on someone else's terms
The plan
A branded app. Each order goes to the right outlet and an in-house rider.
- Nearest outlet detectedThe menu shown is that branch's menuAutomatic
- Order sent to the outlet's POSFits the workflow the outlet already usesIntegrated
- In-house rider assignedDelivery managed by Al BaikIn-house
- Demand by outlet and hourAl Baik's own customer dataProposed
Designed to keep the customer relationship with the brand.
Pain points
What depending on third-party marketplaces was costing the business.
- 01
Commission on every order
Each marketplace order carried a commission.
Margin lost on the brand's own sales
- 02
Extra platform charges
Additional platform charges on top of the commission.
Digital sales costing more than they should
- 03
Customers belonged to the marketplace
Limited access to who ordered, how often, and what.
No customer relationship the brand controls
- 04
Rules set by someone else
Ordering and offers ran within the restrictions of third-party systems.
The restaurants' workflows bent to fit the platforms
- 05
Data out of reach
Sales, demand and delivery data sat with the platforms.
Growth decisions made without the full picture
- 06
More outlets, more dependence
Each new outlet's digital orders depended on the same external marketplaces.
The problem grew with the business
How we worked
We didn't design a generic food delivery app. We designed around Al Baik's restaurants.
- 01
Start from the objective
With Mr. Wahid, we set the goal: a branded ordering platform that gives Al Baik ownership of its digital sales, customer relationships and operational data.
- 02
Map the outlets
We worked from how Al Baik's outlets already run: their menus by location, their POS workflows, their payments and their delivery.
- 03
Design to the workflow
The platform was designed around those workflows, from outlet detection to in-house riders and central administration, with an analytics layer proposed on top.
What moves in-house
Five parts of digital sales the brand takes back from the marketplaces.
Each line below is something a third-party platform controls today. The planned system is designed to bring it back to Al Baik.
- Where customers place their orderThird-party delivery appsAl Baik's own app
- What each digital order costsCommission and platform chargesDirect orders
- Who owns the customer relationshipThe marketplaceAl Baik
- Who delivers the orderArranged through the platformsIn-house riders
- Who sees sales and demand dataLimited accessCentral admin
What stays the same: the outlets, their menus and the POS workflows they already use. The platform is designed to fit the restaurants, not the other way round.
What we designed
A first-party ordering ecosystem for a multi-outlet restaurant brand. Each part is planned to take over something a marketplace controls today.
Branded mobile ordering
Customers order from Al Baik's own app, not a marketplace listing.
ReplacedOrdering through third-party delivery apps
Nearest outlet and its menu
The app detects the nearest outlet and shows that branch's menu.
POS integration
Orders flow into the POS workflows the outlets already use.
In-house delivery
Al Baik assigns its own riders and manages delivery.
ReplacedDelivery arranged through the platforms
Branch-wise payments
Payments handled branch by branch.
Central administration
Outlets, menus, orders and riders managed from one place.
Analytics (proposed)
Insight into customer demand, sales performance, delivery operations and growth opportunities.
ReplacedData held by the marketplaces
Expected value
Designed to put Al Baik's digital sales back in Al Baik's hands.
- More orders placed directly with the brand, and less dependence on third-party marketplaces.
- A customer relationship Al Baik controls, not one held by a platform.
- Sales, demand and delivery data in the brand's own hands.
- Ordering that follows how each outlet already works.
How HowinCloud works
We build around how your business already works. For Al Baik, that meant designing an ordering platform around its outlets, POS and delivery, instead of fitting the restaurants to a marketplace.