With Moritz Fischer

Food has long been a key ingredient to Moritz Fischer's life ever since he was a young boy. Growing up in Ulm, Germany, he loved going grocery shopping and cooking with his family. Years later the 32-year-old is busy pursuing his passion for food in the form of an online grocery-delivery business in Shanghai.

Seeing a growing market for the service in the city, the former owner of Italian restaurant Pasti on Beijing Road W. decided to launch his website Smartdirect.cn last year. Catering to mostly expats with an eye on growing his Chinese clientele, his business specializes in imported foods items, including a variety of spices, condiments and luxury selections like caviar.

He also promotes home-cooking by offering simple recipes and pre-packaged meals, which make it easy for customers to quickly whip up no-hassle meals. To encourage more Shanghai residents into the kitchen, he is currently working on a cooking show that will teach people how to make simple Western meals. Shanghai Star Weekend reporter Cristina McComic caught up with the food guru to find out more about his business.

Q: What made you want to start a grocery-delivery service in Shanghai?

A: I found that more and more people were shopping online and there was a considerable market for online grocery-delivery services. Having previously owned and managed a restaurant in Shanghai, I had all the necessary contacts with food suppliers to start the online business.

And though I was never trained as a chef, I have developed an educated palette from my many dining experiences around the world. Through SmartDirect.cn I can also share my passion for home cooking while providing a convenient service to those who do not want the hassle of going to a grocery store.

Q: How did you initially attract customers?

A: We first placed advertisements in the usual places: newspapers, magazines and websites. Then we started getting creative and went door-to-door hanging colorful advertisements in the shape of "Do Not Disturb" signs. Our newest idea is to have an ad that looks like a survey with a check box for "yes" or "no" questions such as "Do you like waiting in long lines at grocery stores and carrying heavy bags?"

Q: So, has it worked?

A: Yes, our website is becoming more and more popular each week. Right now our customers are made up of 80 % foreigners and 20% Chinese. We hope to expand our Chinese market and we are even in the process of filming a cooking show to demonstrate to Chinese people how to make simple Western dishes.

Q: What are the most popular choices among customers?

A: The website offers a number of different easy-to-make recipes and packaged deals to help people in the process of choosing and making a dish. The "Buy a Meal and Save" options include all the necessary ingredients to cook a certain dish while the "Heat and Eat" options consist of pre-packaged instant meals. So far, our most popular dishes are Insalata Caprese and Gnocchi with Creamy Pesto Sauce pastas. Our customers seem to be very fond of Italian food.

(China Daily 07/25/2009 page14)