Listen and subscribe to “Vietnam Innovators” in English: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube.
Listen and subscribe to “Vietnam Innovators” in Vietnamese: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube.
Our guest for Episode 10 is Kelly Tran, Chief Innovative Officer and Chief Technology Officer at 4P’s. Having dedicated her life to Computer Science, Kelly spent her first decade as technology expert in the US, serving on the Board of the College of Engineering and the School of Computer Science at her alma mater, University of Oklahoma, teaching at Harvard University, and founding tech-focus ventures such as Appable, which produces widely used and loved digital consumer products. Upon her return to Vietnam, Kelly set a new goal: to apply her tech know-how to an emerging technology concept like F&B, leading her to Pizza 4P’s.
Why Pizza 4P’s, Vietcetera CEO Hao Tran asks. Without skipping a beat, Kelly quips, “I love food!”, adding that she has always believed that in one way or another, she would find herself in the F&B industry. But it really was 4P’s vision “Make the World Smile for Peace” that pulled Kelly harder towards the company in February last year. As COVID-19 hit Vietnam by April and people relied on online platforms for services, Kelly saw the opportunity to innovate 4P’s business concept and drove it towards a big digital transformation. After nine years of existence, 25 Pizza 4P’s restaurants now offer online order and delivery services.
And it’s not just about delivery in the frontend, says Kelly. “E-commerce is one thing but the entire operational tech back-end. From our employees to customers, we need to use technology to figure out how to get the pizza to the homes of our customers. We needed to engineer something new.”
4P’s pizza delivery: Why just now?
For everyone who’s loved the Pizza 4P’s brand, it’s all about the dine-in experience. So when the company started offering delivery, Kelly had to answer a tough but necessary question: “What’s the at-home experience we want our customers to have?”
“It’s not just about getting the pizza to the oven, then package it in the box, giving it to the delivery person until it reaches the home of the customers. But every little touchpoint in between matters.” From innovating ways to get real feedback from customers to maintaining food quality through engineered heat boxes, and digitally tracking customer wastes to ensure that the company’s sustainability principles are carried out — the 4P’s brand is setting new standards in the F&B industry.