Digitalisation of Operations Becomes Key to Culinary Business Growth
The rapid growth of food delivery services in recent years has transformed how culinary businesses operate. If digitalisation was previously utilised mainly to expand sales channels, players in the food and beverage (F&B) industry are now facing new challenges in the form of increasingly complex operational management.
Many restaurants, cafés, and even small and medium-sized culinary businesses still manage orders from various platforms separately. Orders from delivery apps are received via different devices, whilst transaction recording, stock management, and financial reports are handled using other systems. This situation often creates repetitive work that consumes time and increases the risk of operational errors.
As order volumes rise, these challenges become more pronounced. Errors in order input, discrepancies in inventory data, and time-consuming financial reconciliation processes can directly impact business efficiency and the customer experience.
This situation has driven an increased need for a system that can integrate various operational activities into a single platform. Business owners now require not just a transaction recording tool, but also a solution that can connect the ordering process, stock management, and financial reporting in real time.
Responding to this need, integrated business management software provider Odoo has introduced an integration feature with food delivery platforms GrabFood and GoFood. Through this integration, all sales activities from both platforms can be managed via a single system that is directly connected to business operations.
Previously, incoming orders from delivery apps generally had to be monitored through separate devices before being recorded into the cashier or Point of Sale (POS) system. With the Application Programming Interface (API)-based integration, orders can now be received automatically into the system without requiring re-entry by staff.
Beyond speeding up the service process, this integration allows orders to be forwarded directly to the Kitchen Display System, enabling food preparation to proceed more quickly and in a coordinated manner.
One of the most common challenges faced by F&B operators is stock synchronisation. When transactions occur across multiple sales channels, inventory updates that are not performed in real time can result in products that have actually run out still being listed as available. Consequently, orders risk being cancelled, reducing customer satisfaction.
Through this latest integration, every transaction occurring via GoFood or GrabFood will automatically update inventory data. This allows business owners to monitor product availability more accurately and reduces the risk of undetected stock shortages.
Ease of menu management is also enhanced. Price changes, new product additions, and product information updates can be made through a single system and applied automatically to the connected platforms. This step is considered capable of reducing the administrative burden whilst maintaining consistency of information received by customers.
From a financial perspective, the integration aids the transaction recording process, which has often been an additional task for administrative teams. All transactions from various sales channels can be automatically recorded into the accounting system, making it easier to track revenue, calculate platform commissions, and prepare financial reports.
Odoo Indonesia Director Benny Putra Sugito stated that the need for an integrated system is becoming increasingly important as the role of food delivery services grows in the culinary industry. “In the delivery industry, speed and accuracy are key. When the Odoo system is directly integrated with on-demand platforms, business owners can cut operational time and focus fully on the essence of their business, which is serving the best products and customer experience,” he said in a written statement received on Monday.