The homepage of ele.me. The ele.me website, founded by two graduate students in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is an online food ordering website.
In China there's a long tradition of greeting a friend by asking, "Have you eaten yet?" It is a reflection of the importance of food in a nation where grandmothers still remember lean years, businessmen use banquets to seal deals and workers don't skip lunches in company canteens.
Now eating enters the digital age in a flourishing new industry typified by the ele.me website. The concept is simple: Cater to people who want to order delivered meals with the click of a mouse.
The website was founded by Zhang Xuhao, a third year graduate student at prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and engineering classmate Kang Jia in 2008. The pair are part of what their generation calls "irrational entrepreneurs" - impulsive people willing to take a risk and go-for-broke in the e-commerce sector.
"As long as we fight together, we can achieve success and expand into more businesses," said Zhang, harking to small start-ups that evolved into successful big companies like Alibaba or Taobao.
They started their company, which was initially called ELEME Inc, with an investment of 100,000 yuan (US$14,706). The company broke even in its first two years and has attracted 500,000 yuan from "angel investors" who like this business concept.
Zhang, 25, and Kang, of the same age, changed their company name this year to Rajas Information & Technology Co.
Co-founders set their sights high
Ordering meals online has been a big hit with university students.
"Ele.me is super convenient," said Emma Li, a Jiao Tong University student.
"Just click the mouse and foods will be delivered to the saved address in the system. It saves the time of having to keep redialing a restaurant at peak hours when phone lines are busy."
Ele.me has 12,000 registered users and processes several thousand orders a day. The annual transaction value has reached 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million).
Incomes come from several channels including the fee that restaurants pay Ele.me for each transaction or for joining the platform.
Kang said the estimated market volume for online meal orders citywide in Shanghai is more than 100 million yuan.
The co-founders have their sights set high. They are moving to a 300-square-meter office loft from the 80-square-meter apartment where they started the company. Recruitment is also under way for more staff.
"We are receiving more business than we initially expected," Kang said. "Who knows? We may someday expand nationwide or even globally."
According to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the transaction volume of e-commerce in Shanghai reached 325 billion yuan in 2009, accounting for about 5 percent of total retail sales in the city.
Nationwide, e-commerce turnover is expected to be more than 4 trillion yuan this year, China e-Business Research Center said in a report.
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