No longer must restaurateurs rent space for a dining room to serve diners, Oi speaks to Rukmini Makkar about her new business
What inspired you to start FEURO, and what does ” FEURO ” mean?
Saigon is a vibrant melting pot of cultures, and has a wide array of delicious cuisines to offer, the founders too are avid foodies with a passion for fine cuisine. While it is both refreshing and enjoyable to visit a restaurant, gourmet food comes with a price tag.
On the other hand, the pace at which our lives are transforming with longer working hours, rising cost of living and perhaps smaller disposable incomes. We want to offer consumers the option of being served gourmet food, using the finest quality and freshest ingredients, through a seamless delivery experience all while being gentle on the pocket.
FEURO is the “first ever virtual restaurant in Vietnam” and you can have the food delivered at your home, office or even at your favorite pop-up bar. We offer modern European cuisine and, therefore, the word itself has been derived from “food” and “Europe”. It represents the finest quality, freshest ingredients, lots of creativity for a modern appeal, with good value for money.
Can you tell us more about your chef, Milan Lam?
Our Executive Chef Milan Lam has 10 years experience working in France and Vietnam, although young, he is very driven and creates some of the most delightful dishes. Before joining FEURO, he was working at La Grande Cascade, a one-star Michelin restaurant in Paris.
He was also the opening chef for, what are now some of the most popular restaurants in Saigon, Marcel Burger and Poke Saigon. It is inspiring to see him strive hard every single day to perfect the art. Though he believes, perfection is not the final destination, it is a constant work in progress.
From where are the ingredients sourced?
“Farm to Table” is our mantra as far as ingredient sourcing is concerned, as we use the freshest quality and safest ingredients available in Vietnam. We work with multiple quality suppliers, one of which is Kamerau. Since we are a virtual restaurant and don’t have typical overheads as a regular restaurant, our focus is solely food quality and preparation, leave the consumer feeling content, assured and valued.
Explain how ordering from FEURO is different from ordering from food delivery apps that list many different restaurants.
Food delivery apps are very important for the continued success of the food and beverage industry in the world as they are aggregators. We are working with a few of them as well, such as NOW, Baemin and Grab, they have a very broad reach and can get us connected with our audience.
At FEURO, we offer the option to consumers to order directly with us, which allows us to ensure a seamless customer experience, from the moment an order is placed through our hasslefree online ordering systems, to the time the food is delivered to your doorstep, our friendly customer service staff check with the driver every 10 minutes to ensure they are on track. We aim to deliver the food within 30 minutes from the time the order is placed in Thao Dien and within 40 minutes for central D1 and D2.
Why is the focus just on European food? Will you expand to Asian cuisine soon?
Focus is on Modern European cuisine as that is where we see an opportunity to offer something new and interesting to our clients, we are not a French, Italian, German or Dutch restaurant. Rather, we offer an assortment of popular dishes from across Europe with an interesting FEURO twist to it. In the future we would love to provide our consumers with more interesting options, that will be determined by what consumers want.
How often do you change the menu?
We launched about 2 weeks ago with a full menu assortment. However, we offer specials of the week based on the freshest ingredients we can source, for example, one of our specials last week was spinach ravioli stuffed with feta cheese. Our menu is never constant, we are continuously working to introduce new dishes to adapt to seasonal tastes and consumer preferences.
What kind of reactions have you been receiving from customers?
Customer feedback have been very heartening and positive. We have received lots of great reviews on the quality of the food, freshness and great taste. Everyone appreciates the biodegradable packaging and the branding that it comes with, our smooth delivery experience as well as the great value for their money.
For more info, visit https://www.facebook.com/feurofoodsgn
Rukmini Makkar
Images Provided by FEURO
