Piccolo Me introduces its virtual brands' marketplace Munchiverse
It allows customers to order from different restaurants under one checkout.
Ordering a bubble tea with a pizza and a burger usually means using three different ordering platforms or multiple checkouts in one app but Piccolo Me’s Munchiverse marketplace could have the potential to change all that.
In a quick interview with Piccolo Me founders Charlie and Roy Hachem, since opening in 2012, the brand went through several changes, from becoming a seven-day business to a five-day business, powered by their Go Dark initiative.
Go Dark, which they launched in 2021, is a virtual brand company which designs brands for online ordering through a delivery platform. Since its inception, these virtual restaurants have generated around 20% to 30% revenue for Piccolo Me.
What Charlie and Roy did was unite every one of its virtual brands, around eight, into one existing marketplace which is the Munchiverse.
“The Munchiverse is kind of like a home for all our virtual brands. It’s a unique food concept in the market,” Roy said. The marketplace will allow users to order from multiple restaurants in one checkout process.
Charlie explained that, unlike traditional marketplace, the Munchiverse will also act as a loyalty programme for these brands. This means that even if you order from different restaurants loyalty points are earned as one.
“We’re trying to gamify the whole experience. No more boring apps and marketplaces anymore. We wanted to do something a bit more fun. We found that marketplace apps now are very generic so we wanted to do something that reflected our personality and resonate with the younger demographic,” Charlie said.
The app will also hold events where customers can win gaming consoles, shoes, or more.
For their growth plans, Charlie said they want to be 200 outlets strong in the next five years and add more virtual brands under Go Dark. They are also thinking about getting a capital raise via private equity. Piccolo Me is also going to explore expanding to Asia, US, and the Middle East.
