MadEats, a Y Combinator graduate, claims to be the Philippines’ first “full-stack” delivery-only firm, with its own virtual shop, ghost kitchens, and a fleet of drivers. They also create and promote their own brands, transforming them into a delivery-only restaurant conglomerate. JAM Fund, Crystal Towers Capital, Starling Ventures, MAIN, and Rebel Fund led the $1.7 million seed round, which was disclosed today.
MadEats, which opened in November 2020, now has three ghost kitchens: one each in Makati, Quezon City, and Manila. They plan to expand their coverage in Metro Manila’s north, as well as create physical stores. Before creating MadEats, CEO Mikee Villareal told TechCrunch that the crew worked for some of the Philippines’ most well-known restaurant companies, launching, managing, and working on more than 20 different restaurant ideas. “We were requested to operationalize these restaurants to be delivery-forward at the start of the epidemic owing to rigorous quarantine rules,” she added. “Dining-in concepts were severely impacted, and we identified a need for our company.”
She also mentioned that ghost kitchen have a different pricing structure than typical restaurants, which allows the team to build more delivery-friendly product concepts. Yang Gang (Korean fried chicken); Chow Time (Chinese takeout); Fried Nice (fried rice); Dot Coffee; MadBakes (a test kitchen for desserts); and MadMakes (bulk orders, corporate packages, and boxed meals) are among MadEats’ six brands. Smash burgers and Japanese cuisine are among the new brands being added to the firm.
MadEats’ method is scalable because of MadEatsOS, a set of internal tools. It has an automated order routing system that ensures orders are delivered at the closest location, as well as statistics that reveal which brands and food products are doing well. The firm has its own MadEats riders and has partnered with third-party logistics companies as demand for orders has grown. It’s accessible via third-party apps like GrabFood and Foodpanda, but Villareal claims that Madea’s. co accounts for more than half of its orders. MadEats, a Y Combinator graduate, claims to be the Philippines’ first “full-stack” delivery-only firm, with its own virtual shop, ghost kitchens, and a fleet of drivers.
