How leading restaurant Yummy Wok manages its food delivery operations across Riyadh
September 2, 2022
"Our operations are simpler since we started working with Otter, we switched to one device, so the flow of orders from all delivery partners is now centralised. It’s a huge help.”
Asian food is one of the most popular around the world, but that wasn’t always the case. Yummy Wok opened its doors back in 2011 with the goal of bringing a change in food culture across Saudi Arabia. More than a decade later, it has established itself as an Asian food icon in the country with five different restaurants in Riyadh (including 2 ghost kitchens). We spoke with Arvin Tobias, Operations Manager at Yummy Wok, to learn more about running a successful fast-food restaurant—and how they manage their delivery operations alongside Otter.
How Asian stir-fry made its way into Saudis’ diets
When Yummy Wok opened for business, thinking about fast food often meant burgers, pizzas, and fries. The restaurant is considered a pioneer in the wok concept in Saudi Arabia, which is now beloved by the locals. “We were the first restaurant in Riyadh to introduce fresh noodles”, Arvin explains, “our main advantage is that customers are able to create their own menu.”
Ordering at Yummy Wok means creating a custom recipe. First, you choose the base: a selection of different fresh noodles or rice. Then you move on to your toppings, over 10 different protein and vegetable options to add to your mix including chicken, beef, shrimp, mushrooms, green onion, snow peas, and more. Finally, you get to pick between soy, teriyaki, or oyster sauce. The result is a unique, fresh dish cooked right in front of you.
“We don’t have a set menu that you can order from,” explains Arvin. “The idea is that you can create your own dish as you like.” The fresh taste, the variety of options, and the years of experience have made Yummy Wok a staple takeaway meal for Saudis’. Queues are not uncommon in any of their restaurants and home delivery soon started to pick up.
Fulfilling orders from a ghost kitchen
“At the time, we were working with Talabat, Jahez, Careem, and Hungerstation, this meant managing a lot of different devices. It was a struggle to keep tabs with all orders.”
If you work in the restaurant industry, you’ve likely heard about a new concept called “ghost kitchens”. A ghost kitchen, also known as a dark kitchen, is a commercial kitchen optimised for fulfilling delivery orders. You can think about it as a restaurant without dine-in seating.
For Yummy Wok, operating from a ghost kitchen is the solution to the rise in delivery orders. COVID-19 prompted 40% of owners to add delivery tech solutions to their restaurants, making delivery platforms a hot topic in recent years. But as we re-emerge into a post-pandemic world, it’s clear that delivery is here to stay. In fact, according to a report from Reportlinker, the online food delivery market is set to grow by 10.05% annually until 2026 in Saudi Arabia alone.
However, as food delivery grows, so does the number of delivery services. Aggregators such as Talabat, Jahez, and Careem are just a few of the ways to order a meal. Most restauranteurs aim to be on more than one delivery platform to increase their sales. But using more than one service means balancing orders, notifications, menus, and multiple tablets.
How Yummy Wok runs its delivery business with Otter
“Data access is the most important feature for us. We like to keep track of how many orders we get from every delivery partner on a daily basis so we can see what’s working for us.”
Before learning about Otter, the Yummy Wok team was dealing with multiple delivery tablets. “At the time, we were working with Talabat, Jahez, Careem, and Hungerstation,” Arvin explains, “this meant managing a lot of different devices. It was a struggle to keep tabs with all orders.” For a restaurant making 70% of its sales from delivery, finding a delivery management solution was a top priority.
Otter’s Order Manager solution helps Yummy Wok consolidate its delivery services into a single place. This means managing all online orders from one tablet. Plus, Otter provides a range of features from order auto acceptance to menu management, storefront pausing, and more. “Our operations are simpler since we started working with Otter,” says Arvin, “we switched to one device, so the flow of orders from all delivery partners is now centralised. It’s a huge help.”
Relying on technology has allowed Yummy Wok to increase efficiency and sales. In their first three months working with Otter, the business increased its delivery orders by 15%. “We’re saving a lot of time in terms of preparation because once you get the order, it gets accepted automatically and prints in the kitchen. We no longer have to accept and print orders on different tablets.”
Otter’s auto-accept feature ensures Yummy Wok never misses an order, no matter how busy the team is. Plus, consistently formatted tickets printed in their kitchen mean fewer errors and maximum sales. The result? Quick prep-times, high order accuracy and high order acceptance rate. This translates into happier customers and a better ranking on delivery platforms, which is a huge deal when most people order from the apps’ homepage.
The importance of delivery data
In addition to handling orders with Order Manager, Otter’s industry-leading dashboard allows Yummy Wok to create unified reports, analyse performance data, and discover deep insights that can inform their business decisions.
Before, the team had to log into each delivery platform individually to see data about their sales. Now, the Yummy Wok staff can log into one single platform and see key figures from all their delivery services. “Data access is the most important feature for us,” says Arvin, “we like to keep track of how many orders we get from every delivery partner on a daily basis so we can see what’s working for us.”
Yummy Wok uses Otter in their two ghost kitchens and is planning to expand to the rest of their street mall locations. “I’d highly recommend other restaurants to try the Otter delivery management system. It’s a huge help regarding operations,” advises Arvin.
How to support Yummy Wok
If you are in Riyadh, you can support Yummy Wok by ordering food from their delivery platforms. Our suggestion? Creating your own custom stir-fry, of course.