COVID-19 means bonanza for food delivery

One of North America's largest Chinese and Asian food delivery app service providers, Fantuan, revealed an ambitious set of targets that it said will boost its presence among foreigner consumers and diversify its business scope in North America amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Fantuan doesn't want to stand still on business tailored for Chinese community in the region. So it is optimizing its full English app," said Zhu Xiang, Fantuan's chief technical officer, who based his office in the North China municipality of Tianjin, rather than in the company's headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"Its move to launch the full English app has brought order growth of almost 900 percent within three months in Vancouver, and the trend is being copied in other areas in North America," he said.

The move follows Fantuan's foray from Canada into the United States — in San Francisco, Chicago and Boston — since last year, adding its presence to 40 cities in North America.

"Last year, the company's revenue surged by nearly 400 percent and the COVID-19 pandemic, in fact, is accelerating this growth," he said.

This year the company expects the value of its gross merchandise volume to hit $800 million, doubling the figure from last year.

In addition, before last year, it had seen stunning annual growth. It began to be profitable just two years after it was set up in Canada in 2014 by a Chinese student, Wu Leping.

Previously, Chinese international students and young office workers were among the heaviest users of the app. However, the pandemic has encouraged many families to use food delivery service.

Fantuan expects to optimize its business in reviews, coupons, errands, content marketing and more, which thrives among Chinese food delivery apps such as Meituan, Zhu said.