TiffinLabs has established a $2-million subsidy program to underwrite local restaurant and hotel owners who want to introduce new food delivery-focused virtual restaurant brands at their properties.
“As the hospitality industry enters a third year of pandemic challenges, restaurants and hotels are struggling to stay relevant, regain economic momentum and return to profitability,” said Shaun Smithson (shown above, left), cofounder/president, TiffinLabs US. “We offer a powerful and proven business model that achieves all of these objectives and that will change the hospitality industry. Now our new program will extend meaningful financial support so owners can put our restaurant brands into place conveniently and efficiently with no upfront investment or costs and with no repayment of these start-up grants.”
Specifically, the TiffinLabs fund will pay for all onboarding technology hardware and monthly fees for the first year of the operator’s partnership, including activation support fees by food delivery platforms. Also covered for qualified operators will be all virtual and on-site training as part of set-up and start-up.
To operate as a TiffinLabs site, a restaurant or hotel uses its existing brick-and-mortar kitchen, existing staff and existing purchasing procedures to tap into the growing food delivery market. Within as little as 14 days, a location can launch between one and four food concepts that each can deliver $8,000 or more per month of incremental revenue.
“Our innovative culinary team, which includes representatives from around the world, then carefully develops one or more virtual restaurant brands for your property so you can offer great-tasting meals for on-premise and in-hotel room dining, as well as for online ordering through exclusive delivery services such as DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats,” added Smithson.
According to Smithson, TiffinLabs uses a proprietary food-trend analytics model to forecast customer demand and to create brands that consumers find appealing and that partners find easy to integrate into their operations and implement profitably.
“The actual results have been dramatic for many TiffinLabs operators, driving up to four-fold increases in on-premise and delivery revenue and 30% increases in overall profit, plus a 50% drop in labor costs,” said Smithson. “These kinds of results add huge value to the owner’s holdings at every individual site and especially across a multi-location portfolio.”
Hotel developer NewcrestImage recently invested in TiffinLabs to help grow the concept in the U.S.
“TiffinLabs enables hotels to offer innovative and great-tasting concepts with minimal initial costs and by using existing staff and kitchen facilities,” said Mital Patel, managing partner, NewcrestImage. “It’s a turn-key way to attract new customers and earn both higher revenues and better margins.”
TiffinLabs is a Singapore-based food tech company and virtual restaurant group that has introduced numerous virtual brands across Singapore and Malaysia since its founding in 2020. Its brands include RBL Burgers; La Takorea, which was created as part of TV’s “The Apprentice: One Championship Edition”; and Phat Fingers, a Korean fried chicken concept.
Hotel properties currently using the TiffinLabs concept operate under such brands as Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree, Hyatt Place, AC Hotels, Courtyard and Best Western. Hotel companies that are TiffinLabs operating partners include HP Hotels, Murphy Asset Management and the aforementioned NewcrestImage.
The U.S. operations of TiffinLabs are based in Dallas, with other company offices are located in Singapore, Kaula Lumpor and Bangkok.
The $2-million TiffinLabs revitalization program is funded by the TiffinLabs Foundation, which was established by the firm’s founders to support communities and businesses that were most severely impacted by the pandemic.
