The Global Hack Finalist Nosi.ee To Bring Down Commissions On Food Delivery
According to Ivar Jaanus, co-founder of Nosi.ee, they decided to participate in the hackathon to contribute to the development of practical solutions to overcome the current crisis and to validate the concept at the international level. “Only a week before the hack, we had just launched the Nosi.ee platform in Estonia, where we saw immediate interest from restaurants. This prompted us to develop the environment even faster and to validate the concept with the help of experienced mentors in the global community,” said Jaanus.
In the course of the two-day hacking weekend, the focus was on creating the client-view environment for the end users and developing the international platform so that the system could be easily scaled outside Estonia. "In the world today, a large number of restaurants have been forced to suspend their operations, and like Estonia, they are faced with a situation where home delivery couriers charge large commissions, which restaurants cannot afford in a crisis situation. We decided to offer an online solution that on one hand helps to preserve jobs for the restaurants, as they organize their own deliveries and also allows the community to support their local restaurants when ordering through Nosi platform,” Jaanus explained.
Many restaurants have joined
More than 60 restaurants have already joined the platform in Estonia, including, top places like, Lore Bistro, Tai Boh, Tokumaru, Poke Bowl and Kius. "During the hack, we also developed the environment for the end-user, which we just launched today, where most restaurants all over Estonia already are accepting orders,” said Jaanus. He added that from now on, it is no longer necessary to visit the websites or social media channels of all restaurants and cafes to understand whether they are still open or how it is possible to order food at home. The co-founder of Nosi.ee emphasized that new cafes and restaurants are joining the platform every day and the service is a quarter cheaper than food ordered at home with Bolt or Wolt.
Kristjan Peäske, owner and manager of Lore Bistro and restaurant Leib, pointed out that the solutions developed in the current crisis to help the restaurant business are very important to ensure the survival of the restaurant industry. "Elsewhere in the world, food couriers have drastically reduced commissions due to the crisis, but unfortunately this is not the case for us. If home delivery of food is currently the only way for any catering establishment to continue operating, it is unthinkable to give 30% of turnover as a service fee to courier companies such as Bolt and Wolt. It is not sustainable and motivating for any restaurant," said Peäske.
He added that at the moment there are several offers of alternatives on the market who clearly want to take advantage of the situation in the form of service fees. "Nosi.ee caught our eye because of their small service fee - the 5% service fee, which also includes the payment link fee, is almost a 25% win for us. In addition, they were very flexible and helpful in creating the additional developments we needed so that we could differentiate between different home delivery fees in different regions,” explained the manager of Lore Bistro.
The co-founder of Nosi.ee emphasized that the high place and recognition achieved at the hack is a clear indication that the solution could also work in foreign markets. "Right now, our focus is on the Estonian market so that the whole system works well here and that both restaurants and customers would be satisfied with the platform and service. Then we will look at how to move outside Estonia and help restaurants in further countries to continue operating in the crisis situation," said Jaanus.
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The Global Hack is a volunteer-led initiative that grew out of Estonia and calls on people around the world to come up with new solutions to combat the crisis. The Global Hack involved more than 12,000 people from more than 100 countries to come up with new and useful solutions in 48 hours to overcome the current global crisis and be ready for the future. A total of 1,032 ideas were sent to the hackathon, forming 507 teams.
The movement brought together the world's brightest thinkers, including Kersti Kaljulaid, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Garry Kasparov, Steve Jurveston, Carmen Kass, Brad Feld, Anne-Marie Tapmine, Billi Thailand, Christopher M Schroeder, Kaimar Karu, Charles Nader, Mikk Vainik, Enrico Giovannini, John Robb, Viljar Lubi, Mitch Sinclair, Samantha Cristoforetti, Sophia Bush and many others.