With over 350 stores around the Kingdom, Herfy is Saudi Arabia’s main fast food chain. The company will soon give its customers the extra convenience of ordering their burgers and fries with native iOS apps leveraging  SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS and mobile services on SAP Cloud Platform.

Along with its sands and high mercury levels, Saudi Arabia has a young society that uses social media technology extensively in their daily life: over 30 percent have a mobile social media account. No wonder though — of a population of almost 32 million, more than two-thirds of the Saudis are under 25 years old.

Herfy uses this high penetration of smartphones to keep pace with its customer’s desires. Based on SAP Cloud Platform, the company is establishing iOS apps with SAP Cloud Platform software development kit (SDK) for iOS, which will monitor the complete ordering process and delivery of products.

“We had to catch up with the use of mobile apps,” explains Khalid Al Saeed, Investment director of Herfy. And his point here is clear: “With SAP, we are expecting to reach the highest standard of technology in the Saudi Arabian market and get the best value of user experience.”

Those are big words, and Herfy is acting big, too: With more than 6,000 employees Herfy is the largest and one of the fastest-growing fast-food chains in the Middle East, expanding to 30 new stores each year nationally, from Kuwait to Oman. All major ingredients are produced directly by Herfy themselves,  not outsourced to suppliers. Meat production is handled by Herfy in its own meat factory, its two large bakeries bake the buns for the burgers, and sauces are homemade too. More than 200 vans deliver the Herfy meat and bakery and meat products to  supermarkets and grocery stores, where Herfy also sells in addition to their usual restaurants.

Home Delivery Thrills

But what really thrills customers is the home delivery. The customers can call a toll-free number and reach a call center. However, in the near future, this service will be available via world-class mobile apps. Hungry customers will be able to order their individual meals, which will automatically appear on the nearest restaurant kitchen. The staff will then immediately start preparing the meal – a burger with or without onions or cheese, double tomatoes, a large soft drink and an order of French fries to go with it. When the order is ready for delivery, a driver will confirm the pick up at the counter and deliver the food to the customer.

Customers are able to track all these steps of their home delivery directly online. Has the kitchen already received and started the order? Has my burger been picked up? Is it on its way? Is the driver just around the corner? With the UberEATS-style tracking, it’s easy for customers to follow each of these individual steps of the ordering process.

Herfy is planning to have its first app in place by September 2017, deployed on SAP Cloud Platform. Not only will customers be able to easily track their orders, but the restaurant will also be able to monitor the status of the delivery and see if the product reaches the customer on time and in the right quality. This will help to keep a close overview to avoid any possible customer complaints. With this management app, Herfy will be able to closely track its cars in real time. The company can even also determine which menu items are available, as not every food item is offered in every region.

“Eighty-seven locations in Saudi Arabia now have cars for home delivery,” explains Khalid, “but we have over 350 locations currently.” The fleet is supplied with company mobile devices to handle the delivery processes properly.

The third function of the app will deal with the driver’s duties; he will be able to keep up with exactly which order goes to whom, where, and when. The app will help the drivers find the fastest way to the customer’s location and notify the restaurants when the meals have been delivered.

SAP and Apple for Herfy’s Future

Herfy’s and SAP’s shared story began in 2016 when the management decided to reduce development costs and kick out a heterogeneous legacy system. Herfy started implementing SAP ERP as the back office.

“We are integrating our SAP ERP system with the back office at the moment. Herfy’s IT strategy is to have a single database for its entire business information,” says IT Director Sajan Nair, regarding the details of the status of the big implementation project.

One future goal: to become paperless. For that, cloud technology is a key driver. Although Herfy was already accustomed to using cloud technology, the company chose SAP Cloud Platform for its future plans.

“We are convinced of the business value of SAP solutions and SAP Cloud Platform especially,” emphasizes Saleh Al Fadhel, chief finance officer at Herfy. “With SAP we are expecting a world-class app for our customers.”

One key factor that made the teamwork successful is the partnership with Keytree, an SAP Gold Partner that will be building the apps for both Herfy’s customers and drivers.

Herfy’s mobile journey is just at the beginning.

“With the apps we will quickly scale and provide a greater overview from more facilities and more processes,” says Saleh. Considering the possibilities available in SAP Cloud Platform, Herfy can create many more applications. “We are trying to build more solutions in the cloud. We see this as the general advantage of the SAP software. We are expecting a better quality of administration.”

One upcoming project is to add loyalty programs for the customers. Another one is an app for the digital boardroom. In addition, further plans focus on B2E apps for the employees to handle personnel situations. The opportunities are vast — and the future roadmap with SAP is set.

SAP Cloud Platform will enable Herfy to deliver world-class solutions across the entire enterprise and generate true business outcomes.

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