Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank, Rambler & Co, a sizable Internet group, GHP Group, a wealth management and financial advisory, are joining forces to create a multi-function platform for the Russian restaurant and food delivery market. Also taking part in the venture are Grigory Gurevich and Evgeny Malakhov, who are the founders of restaurant automation software publisher UCS.
The deal, already announced this past summer, was closed on Oct. 4. Sberbank and Rambler & Co will own, respectively, 35% and 30% of the new company, the remaining 35% being divided between GHP Partners, Gurevich and Malakhov, according to a Sberbank statement.
Dubbed ‘Foodplex,’ the platform will allow customers to make online bookings, order dishes even before coming to the restaurant, split the bill between restaurant customers, settle the bill without waiting for the waiter, give tips by cashless payment, and order home.
The new venture aims to create a comprehensive service offer, combining assets brought in by each partner. These assets include the digital marketing and payment system Plazius, a startup backed by Sberbank; the media and booking service Afisha-Restaurants, owned by Rambler & Co; the booking and hostess work system Smart Reserve, also owned by Rambler & Co; and r_keeper, the flagship product of UCS.
The partners say they have already completed the integration of Plazius products with the r_keeper system, while the integration of Afisha-Restaurants and Plazius is now “in an active stage,” in order to provide guests with “a more user-friendly way to fully interact with the restaurants.”
Aiming at market leadership
Rafael Abramyan, a member of Rambler & Co’s Managing Committee, said: “We are not just talking about the combining several successful services within a single platform. With the to the integration of the technological and content-based capabilities of UCS, Plazius and Afisha-Restaurants, we are creating a new ecosystem that can provide a brand new restaurant visiting experience.”
Abramyan added he is “certain” that Foodplex will “radically change the restaurant market” and that, in the long term, “up to 70% of restaurants will use it.”
Several other large Russian players have focused on the food delivery segment. Yandex, the Russian search giant recently merged its taxi hailing and food delivery services with Uber in Russia, while Mail.Ru Group acquired several food delivery startups last year.
Among smaller players on the Russian food delivery market are ChefMarket.ru, which received investments from Mitsui, GrowFood, which is funded by AddVenture, and Elementaree, which raised $2 million in the summer of last year.
Last year, Russian consumers’ expenses in cafés, bars and restaurants amounted to some 1.14 trillion rubles (roughly $20 billion), the business Vedomosti reported recently.
