Editor’s Update for 27 September 2018: Sadly we’ve had numerous reports from our readers of poor service from MyFoodness in recent weeks. Please proceed with caution! We hope that they improve their handling of customer issues soon, though we still wish them all the best of success.
There’s an age-old question we all battle with: What’s for dinner? Some days the struggle is real. For instance, in the last month have you:
– Been sick and can’t cook a nourishing meal for your family?
– Had a spouse out of town?
– Long day at work?
– Busy activity schedule?
– Needed to work from home to meet a deadline?
– Felt lazy?
– Wanted more quality time with your family?
Sometimes getting food on the table feels insurmountable. Especially if you’ve found yourself in any of the above scenarios. Never fear! I have a convenient solution for you. Let me introduce you to MyFoodness.
Launched in January of 2018, MyFoodness is an app (for smartphones) that you can download (android and iphone) from the app store. You can order a meal from any of the restaurants they feature and have a meal delivered to your home (work, school, etc.) and solve the problem of “What’s for dinner?”.
Gone are the days of having to call in an order, fight traffic, and go pick up your own food in Gaborone. Warm food within an hour? Yes, please! Like any good researcher, I have thoroughly tested this service and I give it an unwavering TWO THUMBS UP!
Pros:
– The app found my location easily and allowed me to update my plot number to the correct one (my plot is split into an A/B plot)
– Several family-friendly restaurant options (e.g. kids menu from Bull n Bush)
– Saves your credit/debit card to the app’s payment gateway
– No minimum order charges
– Affordable rates for delivery based on proximity of restaurant to your location
– Friendly drivers – one forgot my drink once, apologized profusely and promptly returned to get it for me
– Halal options
– Add drinks/alcohol to your order (have your ID handy as they will photograph it for alcohol purchases)
– Customer service rep called to verify my address once
– Track GPS location of driver in real time
Cons:
– Prefer to see more food choices – Asian, Indian, or even some of the chain restaurants
– No ability to pre-order from restaurants before they open
As with any new company in Gaborone, I was curious about the business. So I recently interviewed, Founder and CEO, Boi Kgathi Rasmussen, about the business.
The Interview
Where did the name MyFoodness come from? Any story behind the name?
Boi: We wanted a name that is quirky and different. There’s no real story behind the name Myfoodness – except that we thought it would be cool, different and easy to remember.
What sets MyFoodness apart?
Boi: We focus on what we set out to do: offering convenience to customers in as far as food ordering goes. As well as driving cashless transactions (something that benefits all, i.e. customers, merchants and us). We are a tech and logistics company at the core. We are here to disrupt the tech landscape and improve people’s lives by making it easier, simpler and faster for them to do everyday things. That’s our story and path.
What is your background?
Boi: I’m an innovator and long-time entrepreneur. I am also an entrepreneurship educator through my non-profit organisation in South Africa.
What area of Gaborone is served? Any plans for expansion if certain areas are not included?
Boi: We cover Gaborone (including Mogoditshane, Notwane, Phakalane, Gabs North). We do have expansion plans to two more locations in Botswana and two countries in Africa.
When did you start the business? How long did it take to develop the app/get the business off the ground before you started?
Boi: We launched in January 2018. We worked on this for about a year before launching.
I haven’t seen that many chain restaurants on your app. Any reason why? Is there a plan in the future to allow customers these options?
Boi: We would love to sign up all restaurants in Gaborone. It is not up to us to decide if a restaurant signs up or not. It is up to the restaurant owner as to whether they want to be part of tech developments, take advantage of our platform to get additional orders, as well as access to frequent & repeat purchases (due to the convenience offered by our product).
If local businesses or chain businesses are interested in joining MyFoodness, how do they go about it and what is the process for them to start participating?
Boi: It is really easy. Simply contact us (contact details on our website) and we assign someone to help on-board your restaurant.
What is the average time from order to delivery?
Boi: We aim for 1 hour. And over time, we look to reduce this even more. Currently, there are times when we go over an hour and we are working tirelessly every day to improve this. The whole team feels absolutely terrible and gutted when we have longer delivery times than what we’re comfortable with. That empathy is good because it keeps us on our toes to make things even better.
Do driver’s make more than one delivery at a time?
Boi: We have a whole control room where we do smart dispatch. So yes, one rider can do more than one delivery at a time; however, it is all planned. Without giving away too much info, I’ll give one example: if a rider is hubbing at a certain restaurant and gets assigned a new order from there, we check the meal prep time in our system. If meal prep time is 40 min (i.e. typical for the sit-down restaurants), the rider can be assigned another order from a restaurant with a 10 min meal prep time. By the time the rider is done with the shorter prep time order, the other meal is almost ready.
My Final Thoughts
As a final note to convenience, I noticed some bakeries are available for cakes/cupcakes. I believe there is a minimum turnaround time to consider. However parents could use this for delivery of cupcakes to school classrooms or to a spouse’s place of employment for birthday celebrations! Enter the delivery address into the app and use the comments section to add the child’s name/classroom.
Please give the app a try and let us know your feedback! Also, if you’d like to see more restaurants that you frequent on the app, then let the restaurants know you want to be able to order from home on MyFoodness! I’d love to see some of my favorites (Mugg and Bean, Nandos, Simply Asia, Europa, Jessy’s Bistro) join, though I may never leave my house again if that becomes the case!
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I would like to discuss a potential social media collaboration.
Please get back to me via email or +27791333428