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Urban Piper: Leading the way in UAE’s tech-driven HoReCa market

UrbanPiper is a full-stack restaurant management platform that assists F&B merchants in running and scaling their businesses with minimum hassle.

Imagine a scenario wherein at dinner time your restaurant has to manage multiple points of sales (both online and offline) and cater to over 100 orders simultaneously. Sounds brutal, right? The vision of easing this entire process is what led to the birth of Urban Piper — a full-stack restaurant management platform, which is based out of India. The platform entered the UAE market back in January last year and has been steadily revolutionising the food-tech space with its cutting-edge products.

To remain competitive these days, restaurants have had to adopt online delivery as one of their primary revenue channels. And more so after the pandemic, this transformation from relying solely on dine-in orders to now takeaways and deliveries has had its fair share of challenges. The need for restaurants to be present on all the channels that customers are using and juggling various things in a time-bound manner has taken a severe toll on their operational efficiency. For example, handling different machines and managing online orders from different aggregators has led to errors, missed orders, cancellations, and other such issues. UrbanPiper has been solving all this by providing one comprehensive dashboard where restaurants can manage their entire online business.

The UAE food delivery industry has grown from strength to strength, and the numbers themselves speak volumes. This is because restaurants have had to embrace online delivery as one of their mainstays. With higher demand from customers, there have been more food delivery apps that have propped up from time to time. Moreover, considering the fact that the food delivery app market, globally, typically consolidates with a couple of players dominating their respective markets. The UAE arena also appears to be no different and we might witness consolidations, with the market continuing to grow.

Khaleej Times interviewed Renjith Prahladan, deputy general manager for the Middle East and North Africa region for UrbanPiper to understand their offerings further in the UAE market and how they are bringing in a paradigm shift in the industry.

What is UrbanPiper's business proposition?

In order to remain competitive these days, restaurants have had to adopt online delivery as one of their primary revenue channels. This transformation, from relying on dine-in orders to now takeaways and deliveries, has had its fair share of challenges. Restaurants need to be present on all the channels their customers are in. This has led to restaurants signing up for various aggregators, without thinking about the impact on its operations.

Restaurants have to juggle multiple tablets in order to handle online orders, leading to errors, missed orders, cancellations, and other issues. UrbanPiper solves for this by providing one comprehensive dashboard where restaurants can manage their entire online business. Restaurants can now manage aggregators such as Talabat, Deliveroo, HungerStation, and more from one place.

They can now manage online orders from their POS, control all online menus at once, update stock availability in real-time, and access analytics across all platforms from one place. This allows them to save time, increase profitability, eliminate errors, and reduce cancellations.

How is UrbanPiper’s technology enabling the HORECA industries in the UAE and Indian markets? What are the differences between the two markets?

One of the primary differences between the two markets is the average order value (AOV). This might be due to the fact that the purchasing power differs between the two markets as the UAE witnesses a higher AOV than India. In India, online delivery is volume-driven with lower AOV. The above fact makes global software such as UrbanPiper way more accessible to restaurants in the UAE.

Another huge difference is the cost of labour in both countries. In India, the lower cost of labour makes the industry more human-driven, whereas, in UAE, with higher labour costs, restaurants have to be tech-driven.

What are your thoughts on the UAE food delivery industry, how has it evolved in recent years?

The UAE food delivery industry has grown from strength to strength and the numbers speak volumes. The industry is pegged to grow at seven per cent and reach a market volume of nearly $3 billion by 2026. This is due to the fact that restaurants have had to embrace online delivery as one of their mainstays. With higher demand from customers, there have been more food delivery apps that have propped up from time to time.

The food delivery app market, globally, typically consolidates with a couple of players dominating their respective markets. The UAE appears to be no different and we might witness consolidations, with the market continuing to grow.

When did you launch your operations in the UAE and Middle East? What is the current team size for the UAE division and what are the expansion plans for UrbanPiper in the UAE?

UrbanPiper launched in the Middle East in January 2021 and has been expanding since with a strong team of 20 team members across account management, business development, and partnerships in the region. UrbanPiper has ambitious growth plans and is looking to power 10,000 restaurants by mid-2023.

What are the expansion plans for UrbanPiper in the other markets and where all is it present?

UrbanPiper wants to build a foothold in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, and Oman. The entire GCC region is a focus and putting dedicated teams in the region. UrbanPiper is currently present in eight countries across three continents namely India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, UK, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mexico, and Chile.