Desmond KohChief Operating Officer · Essays & perspective

Desmond Koh / Chief Operating Officer

Three costs the outlet accounts leave out

Perspectives from a life in leadership.

The archive.

Delivery platforms

  1. Delivery platforms5 min read

    A delivery order is a different product that happens to share a name

    Food retailers in Singapore and Malaysia still price and plan delivery as if it were the in-store meal carried a little further. It has its own costs and its own ways of failing, and it should be priced, ranged and judged on its own account.

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Migrant workforce

  1. Migrant workforce5 min read

    Recruitment fees belong on the employer's cost sheet

    Many migrant workers in Southeast Asia still pay agents for jobs that employers advertise. An employer who leaves those fees with the worker is buying cheaper labour on credit that someone else carries, and the remedy belongs with operations, not with an annual compliance report.

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Bakery waste and availability

  1. Bakery waste and availability5 min read

    An empty tray at eight o'clock is a sign of good planning

    Bakery chains across the region still bake to keep every tray full until closing and treat the bread thrown away each night as the price of good service. That rule turns waste into a habit. Accepting some empty trays in the last hours serves customers nearly as well and throws away far less.

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