May 2017. An F&B hackathon — 70+ participants, 18 teams, overnight at the venue. We didn't win. But the problem was real.
the problem
The F&B industry in Singapore was under pressure from three directions: manpower shortages, rising rental costs, and high ingredient costs. The underlying issue wasn't any one of those — it was that service was inefficient by design.
Both the customer journey and the employee journey looked identical:
Wait to enter → Wait to order → Wait to eat → Wait to pay
Every touchpoint was a queue. Staff were bottlenecked on repetitive, low-value tasks. Tables turned slowly. Customers left frustrated.
the solution
JustDine — less waiting, more living.
An app that let diners book a table, pre-order their meal, and pay — all before they arrived. By the time they sat down, the kitchen had already started. No waiting for a menu, no flagging for the bill.
For operators: fewer staff needed per table, better kitchen utilisation, higher customer turnover. For customers: more of the experience, less of the friction.
Business model: 10% commission per order. Target market: Singapore's $3B F&B industry, targeting 0.5% market share.
the roadmap we pitched
- May 2017 — Core app: booking, pre-ordering, payment
- Oct 2017 — Gamification: loyalty points, rewards
- Feb 2018 — Analytics: customer insights, advertising tools
- Jun 2018 — Partnerships: nearby shops, cross-promotion deals
the team
- Jackie Tan — startup founder (P&G, QuintilesIMS, NTU)
- Mark Ong — General Assembly UX graduate
- Ruth Ong — ShopBack early employee
- Chee Ming — 11 years in F&B operations
what happened
We didn't place. The concept was solid but the room was competitive and the execution on the night wasn't enough. Didn't pursue it after the hackathon — fundMyLife was already running and taking up most of my bandwidth.
Some version of this idea exists today in every major food delivery and reservation app. The problem was always real.