You probably know BidFood from the trucks you see driving around town, from restaurant to restaurant. Surely focussed on the hospitality industry BidFood was confronted with the consequences of the COVID-19 lock down and subsequent loss off business and had to innovate. During the lockdown they launched BidFood Home using existing systems catering for a new market in a matter of weeks.
How to innovate fast
How did they do that so fast? By using existing systems and mantronics. A classic case of efficiency versus effectiveness. Their focus being clearly on seizing the opportunity they made use of existing proven technology. That approach achieved the shorted go to market speed.
The website they established https://www.bidfoodhome.co.nz/ is built using Wix, a simple online tool that requires no code to be written or development done. It comes with a lot of plugins and simple tools to do complicated things fast. I am sure there are limitations to what you can do with Wix and there might be changes they’d like to make but hey focussing on the go to market means you have to cut corners.
Signing up through their website uses simple Google forms. They are quick to make and easy to change, a clear innovation compared to more traditional systems. No complicated integrations with mapping systems to determine if you are in their service area but merely a long list. Still, it works. Now this is the part where the mantronics come in as someone will make an account for you to give you access to their existing platform but again, a faster and more scalable way in the short term to get people on board.
When it come to their service offering they have plenty of issues you normally don’t come across in the hospitality industry such as prices being exclusive of GST, the lack of an online payment gateway, no delivery timeframes and selling large boxes not individual packages. But all things we can overcome if it helps go to market. That behaviour of accepting
Now, obviously there will be challenges with this approach. Things that come to mind are security, maintainability, scalability to name a few. But what they have achieved is a very rapid experiment into what the market is able and willing to do and accept.
What if out of this Bidfood could rise as a challenger of the duopoly in our supermarkets. Would that not be a good thing thing to come out of this?