Pedram has been the COO of foodpanda APAC since January 2019. Pedram began his career within the food delivery industry more than six years ago, starting his own food delivery company in the Middle East. He then moved to Dubai as Head of Operations in Uber. In his current role, he oversees ongoing business operations in the region. Prior to his work in the food delivery industry, Pedram spent three years working for Amazon.
As part of global leader Delivery Hero, foodpanda APAC now features over 150,000 restaurants on its platforms region-wide and spearheads sustainability activities in the food delivery industry.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Pedram Assadi: Linkedin
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- Onboarding 15.000 new restaurant partners and 50.000 new rider partners
- Entering the Quick-Commerce industry becoming a hyperlocal service company
- Pandamart and the grocery space – 1000 Cloudstores in APAC
- How did the COVID-19 crisis affect foodpanda’s operations
- Giving time back to customers – foodpanda’s most important currency is ‘time’
Show notes:
- [01:25] Can you share with us a little background about yourself?
- [03:26] Together with two mentors of mine we closed a small round of 400, 000 Euros and we launched within 2.5 months the first food delivery company in Iran.
- [06:32] How was the journey of Delivery Hero and foodpanda? How did foodpanda become part of the Delivery Hero family?
- [08:31] When you’re walking the streets of Pakistan or in Taiwan, the customers really think that foodpanda is a local company and that’s one of the big achievements of that company. We are a global company but run very locally.
- [09:03] How is the pandemic crisis impacting foodpanda, especially in the APAC region?
- [10:43] We are supporting the government in their visions and their plan to execute, either it is us being essential service providers or if we are not going to operate for a few weeks.
- [11:15] There is a trend when it comes to onboarding both new restaurant partners or small business partners and new riders. I think you can see this clearly from where you’re sitting, can share more about it?
- [12:29] We have built a fast onboarding process in order to onboard restaurants, in order to bridge the gap that they’re currently experiencing in their top-line revenue.
- [14:06] foodpanda is delivering more than just food for quite some time now, the grocery space has been very interesting for you as well. What’s your plan there? How has the journey been so far? And what do you see as the next step for you?
- [18:25] We are focused now on building thousands of DMarts around the world and specifically in APAC and partnering with shops in any category to be able to deliver any product.
- [19:58] How was the feedback of small shop owners regarding quick commerce?
- [22:00] How is Pandamart spread geographically?
- [23:08] What do you see are foodpandas’ differentiation? How do you stand out from your perspective?
- [25:57] We’re delivering 5 to 10 minutes faster than any other competitor that we have on average in all of our markets.
- [27:20] How does the business economy work and how can you stay healthy when there is such a big competition out there?
- [28:10] There has to be a commission made on every order else you will go out of business.
- [30:31] What can you tell us about the importance of technology for foodpanda?
- [32:01] How does technology work within the company, from a skills perspective? How much of the company’s focus is on the tech side?
- [33:29] How is all this situation, the COVID-19 crisis, impacting hiring for foodpanda?
- [36:05] Are there certain principles you follow when you are onboarding or when you’re training your employees on the customer-facing side?
- [37:35] No matter how brilliant or good you are, I think humbleness is a key attribute that can help in our current way of working with different countries, different verticals, especially the matrix organization.
- [38:33] How do you see the importance of the time you are connected to servicing your customers, for example, changing their orders?
- [40:23] The reason why food delivery is now growing so fast is not food itself anymore, it’s really the time efficiency gained by our customers.
- [44:02] How do you manage situations when the promise of 20 mins. can’t be kept or something happens, like the restaurant is closed. What is the thinking process on your side to manage that kind of situation?
- [46:19] How do you see this human connection and human touch between you and your customers?
- [49:25] The depth of the customer experience has to be one of the things that cannot be compromised and it is our mission to constantly raise the bar.
- [50:26] How would you define your own management and leadership style?
- [50:32] Somebody asked me, “How do you manage this number of people?” And I would say, you don’t manage them and basically just support them and maybe manage from the back.
- [53:03] What was one of the best pieces of advice that you got or you take at heart when it comes to building a successful career?
- [53:26] I always look at what is in my control and what is not in my control. What are the macro or political factors that I cannot change, that will be against or in favor of me?
- [56:10] What are some of the next steps for foodpanda? What are the things that excite you and what should we expect?
- [58:50] I think the customer would be happier if food is delivered in 15 minutes by the rider than 35 minutes by a drone.
Quote from the Episode:
About the Host:
The host, Andrei Palamariu is the founder of Supplify where he and his team works on building a platform to connect the supply chain tech ecosystem. His most interesting discussions with the clients are focused on implementing the best technology, digital transformation, company growth and expansion, turnarounds, and product and business development.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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