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noon.com, the region's homegrown digital marketplace, has announced during an exclusive webinar with Mohamed Alabbar that it plans to launch a new platform dedicated to supporting local food and beverage businesses.
Local F&B representatives who joined the webinar, which was held in Dubai at 11am on Sunday 26 July, listened to the founder of noon.com as he spoke passionately about the need for change and the importance of protecting the region’s local businesses for future generations:
“There is no denying the impact of the Coronavirus crisis of 2020. This year has been a challenge on all fronts. Small and local businesses that have been built over decades with love have been badly impacted,” said Alabbar. “When the virus hit, our F&B industry had little choice but to turn to aggregators who were charging up to 35 percent commission structures. Can we, as businessmen, survive with this? No. We have been held ransom by food aggregator platforms. And that's not acceptable. Our F&B industry is a part of the beating heart of this economy, and it has been severely impacted. We must do all we can to support and protect it. This is out of love for our businesses, families, nation and economy. We must think beyond profit. ”
F&B and small businesses have been in the eye of the COVID-19 storm, struggling to survive due to decreased footfall, depleted resources and an understandably nervous consumer market. Those that were able to pivot to provide delivery during COVID-19 have been at the mercy of established aggregate food delivery platforms, who have charged up to 35 percent commission fees during crisis times. These platforms also apply charges to consumers - an average of 5 AED per order. Charges such as this can be crippling, even fatal, to a small business. Every single dirham spent is scrutinized for survival.
“noon was born to serve the people of this region,'' Alabbar continued. “35 percent commission on food delivery services cannot be right. We will not allow food operators to be held at ransom. We will not accept that. We will work with you fairly and openly. Our people, businesses and region deserve better.”
noon Food will be built into the noon.com app. It will be a restaurant-first platform, dedicated to giving local businesses the opportunity to thrive beyond these times thanks to a simple and equitable program. noon Food promises to ensure fair commissions that will dramatically alter the playing field for F&B deliveries. The platform will also have many attractive additional incentives for businesses who choose to onboard with them.
Faraz Khalid, noon, said of the new venture: “noon has a passionate team that has worked relentlessly to build a series of services and products to serve the region.”
“We have all seen what's happening in the post-COVID-19 world - there is a real need to support the F&B industry and small businesses. noon Food really will be a restaurant-first platform. It has been built specifically for food operators,” Khalid said. “We've tried to reimagine the cost of food distribution, and we will be passing on benefits back to the restaurant operator so you can reinvest it in your businesses. We want you to grow your restaurants and customer base. We're not an aggregator trying to become a restaurant. We are here to help you succeed.”
noon.com was created to serve the region, empowering and championing local businesses with innovation, technology and support. Local businesses can choose to use noon Food to support their brand either as a host platform for their business, tapping into noon’s mass customer database and utilizing the secure payment platform. Or they can choose to opt to use noon’s already established world-class delivery associate network, too.
F&B partners exclaimed happiness and excitement during the webinar shared comments such as, “Very innovative and conscientious mission!”, “No dark kitchens is a key promise,” and “This will be a real game changer, thank you for doing something to help our struggle.”
noon Food will be rolling out across the region in the coming months. Businesses wanting more information about joining the app can register their interest at food.noon.com. A noon Food associate will be in touch with more details very soon.
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