Exivo reinvents delivery app system

Italian or Indian? Pizza or seafood? With millions of orders being delivered fresh from restaurants across the EU last years, consumers have never had more choice. But European delivery wars are heating up and business owners are the ones caught in the middle of the battle.

“While food delivery is very convenient for consumers, the current model is actually quite dangerous for our communities. For restaurants, the costs associated with being on these apps is so high that it’s leading to business closures.

More closures means fewer independent restaurants, less choice and an emptier high street. Simply put, restaurants can’t afford not to be on these apps because of how popular they are, but the high fees associated with being on these platforms means they are making almost no profit. They can never get ahead, explains Eman Borg, CEO of Exivo.

Zaype, a new Malta-based food delivery app, aims to correct the issues associated with other delivery platforms. Instead of a per order fee as well as a 20-30% commission on the total price of the order, on Zaype, restaurants are charged a flat monthly fee of only €20. The app is free to download and lets consumers order in six languages including English, Maltese, Dutch, Italian, Latvian and Russian. Zaype is proving popular with Malta’s restauranteurs with dozens having already signed up for the platform.

“Years ago, there was a formula in the restaurant industry; one-third of the price of the menu item was the food cost, another third was the cost of rent, labour, packaging etc. and the other third was the profit. It was the reward to the owners for all their hard work and it ensured that these restaurants stayed afloat and were around for a long time. Now food delivery companies are charging businesses almost one-third of the cost of an order just for being on their platforms and those profits that used to keep restaurants going, have evaporated. We saw this phenomenon and we knew we had to change it. We’re happy to see that business owners agree with us.”

Zaype is even proving popular amongst non-food related businesses in Malta.

Borg laughs, “Yes, Zaype is the perfect platform for tourists on holiday in Malta. Let’s say you’re sitting in your AirBnB after a long day of exploring with your family. You’re hungry so you launch Zaype on your phone. You pick a wonderful meal to enjoy then you notice ‘wow! There’s even a cleaning service that will come and clean the baby stroller and get rid of all those crumbs that have accumulated during the holiday.’ Then you see that a florist can deliver to you as well, so you order a bouquet in secret and surprise your love. One app and you’ve ensured you have a very happy family holiday.”

For more information about Zaype, to sign up as a business on the platform or to download the app, visit www.zaype.com.