Ordering food made easy
Gunnar Kaplick and Romy Schönherr
A team of young people from Chemnitz want to support the local catering industry. With the online ordering service Chemnitz.express, they offer an alternative to the big, well-known delivery services. Gunnar Kaplick and Romy Schönherr reveal what's behind it and what the advantages are in the Macher der Woche interview.
Explain to us in two or three sentences: What is Chemnitz.express?
Gunnar: With Chemnitz Express, we want to create a fair alternative to other online ordering services. We realised last year that, despite all our efforts, there is still no really good and, above all, profitable solution for the catering industry. We therefore decided to set up such a service ourselves without further ado. We have been developing the project since December and have now been live since mid-March.
Romy: It's an online ordering service that forwards orders directly to restaurants. We offer restaurateurs an easy way to offer their dishes and give customers the peace of mind that they are actually supporting their favourite restaurant with their order. In addition to the website, we also want to establish a restaurant guide in which the restaurants can introduce themselves and tell their story.
What distinguishes Chemnitz.express from the large, nationally recognised delivery services?
Romy : We deliberately want to keep the fees low. With us, there are no set-up fees, rental costs or monthly basic fees. We offer a "real-time system" in which restaurants can update their dishes on a daily basis and change them at short notice. We have also thought about ordering systems from the customer's point of view. Normally, in the ordering process, you first decide on a restaurant and then on the dishes. We offer hungry visitors an alternative entry point. They can be inspired by the dishes we have listed in various categories and automatically end up in the restaurant of their choice. Of course, we also offer the usual direct access via the restaurants.
How big is your team?
Gunnar: There are five of us in total. In addition to the two of us, we have another developer, a business lawyer and a designer in the team. We are doing this as a "heart project by Chemnitz residents for Chemnitz residents". So far, we have all been working on the restaurant portal on a voluntary basis. Due to the lockdown, many leisure activities, such as playing billiards, going to the cinema and eating out, have been cancelled. This time is currently benefiting our project.
Which restaurateurs will be involved at the start?
Romy: There will be almost 20 participating restaurants at the start. We are in talks with others and are supporting them in setting up their shops. Everyone is welcome to join us. From pizzerias and small cafés to traditional restaurants. Some of our first restaurants include Shahba Rose, Mylo, Superhelden-Burger, Vegan on the run, Jackies Gartenglück, Nuova Italia and TakTakTak. In principle, we are open to all caterers. We've even included a garden pub, because there really are culinary gems to be discovered that offer great food with passion. What we are still missing is an Indian or Greek restaurant, which would be great. That was also a big wish of the people of Chemnitz, who we asked in advance.
Personal question: What flavour do you miss in Chemnitz, something that is missing - but should definitely be there?
Gunnar: I actually don't miss much. I think the city's gastronomy has experienced a real upswing in recent years.
Romy: You know a lot from your holidays. I lived in South East Asia for a long time and got to know the cuisine there. That's why I miss dumplings, for example, which I love. These are small filled dumplings in all varieties, from sweet to savoury. I would love that in Chemnitz, as well as Cypriot or Romanian cuisine.
Are you purely an ordering platform, not a delivery service?
Some of our restaurants are already well positioned themselves and have a delivery service. They can decide for themselves whether they want to offer delivery or just takeaway. However, we are already in talks with regional partners who handle delivery for "CHEMNITZ.express" so that we can completely outsource this issue and thus offer the restaurants an even better alternative.
What problems have you encountered along the way?
Gunnar : The whole project is one big problem (laughs). Which gradually explained why nobody had done it before. But in the end, it was clear from the start that there was a solution to every problem. We have all learnt an enormous amount. We have now created a solid basis that allows Chemnitz residents to order easily from our participating restaurants. From now on, we will continue to develop the project. As we don't seem to fit into any funding programme at the moment, even though our aim is to promote gastronomy, we are of course happy to receive publicity of any kind - even if it's just "spreading the word".
And what has worked well?
Romy: The idea came about more or less spontaneously at the end of last year. We got together on the phone to see who could do what - and then we got started. That's our advantage. Thanks to our small team, we have short lines of communication and can act quickly. If restaurateurs want additional ideas and functions for the platform, we check whether this is feasible and, if in doubt, we can implement it quickly. Whether it's a map view for orders so that delivery can be better planned or a percentage discount for self-collection - all these features will be coming in the next few days and weeks.
Our two final questions: Chemnitz is European Capital of Culture 2025 - what do you think?
Romy: That's really great! I've already visited a few former Capitals of Culture on holiday, for example Wroclaw or Pilsen. That's why I think it's wonderful that visitors are now coming to Chemnitz and want to discover our city as a Capital of Culture.
Gunnar: It's also a great sign of a new beginning. We are not yet the Capital of Culture, but the road to it will certainly be very exciting. With the planned restaurant guide, we want to do our part to help visitors discover Chemnitz. Because for us, gastronomy is culture for eating.
Where do you see yourselves in 2025?
Gunnar: The agenda is pretty full until 2025. By then, we want to have established our delivery service as well as offering separate iOS and Android apps for customers and restaurants. Strictly speaking, of course, we don't want this to be realised by 2025, but much sooner. By 2025, we hope to have firmly established ourselves as a popular support-your-locals platform in Chemnitz.
Romy: Our restaurant guide will hopefully be well established by then and will help both tourists and Chemnitz residents to find their way around the culinary scene. And, of course, that we have as many of the city's restaurateurs as possible on our platform by then.