Grab offers its food delivery service in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and announced plans to expand this to at least six more Thai cities this year.
According to an official statement, the firm grew its pool of merchant-partners by 250 times from January last year to date. Among the restaurant partners of GrabFood in Thailand are chains like Bon Chon and Pepper Lunch, many of which operate under the roof of Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate, Central Group.
Grab took in USD 200 million from Central Group earlier this year, granting it a non-controlling stake in the Thai subsidiary. This deal is now starting to pay off as it allows GrabFood to quickly expand its restaurant network in the targeted cities.
GrabFood faces strong competition in Thailand from food delivery operators like Go-Jek’s Get, Foodpanda, Line Man, and Now Food Delivery. Get claimed to have 20,000 food merchants on its app in February.
GrabFood said 44% of participants in a survey done by market research firm Kantar voted GrabFood as the most used brand in Thailand, but didn’t include further details from Kantar’s report in its release.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad