honestbee unveils high-tech grocery and dining space

Shoppers can use cashless checkouts and collect items from robots.

Online grocery and delivery service honestbee unveiled ‘habitat by honestbee’, a supermarket, restaurant and retail technology innovation lab all rolled into one 60,000 sq ft space located near Mapletree Business Center.

According to an announcement, habitat houses a full supermarket, speciality fresh grocer, fulfillment centre, dining area with 15 food concepts and retail technology innovation lab. habitat also offers event space for corporate and private functions.

Available for customers to dine in or take-away, habitat by honestbee also features 15 unique food and beverage concepts and counting — from grain bowls and grilled wagyu meats to Japanese soufflé pancakes and homemade kombuchas.

Dubbed as ‘NewGen Retail’ by honestbee’s CEO and founder Joel Sng, habitat also features two “world firsts”: a cashless checkout experience called AutoCheckout and a robotic collection point called RoboCollect.

With AutoCheckout, customers with more than 10 items are able to pay for their goods via the honestbee app after depositing them at stations where they are automatically scanned, checked out, and packed into bags. Orders can be processed end-to-end in under five minutes.

“We designed it so that customers can get their groceries and meals efficiently but also linger and enjoy the experience,” honestbee chief marketing officer Pauline Png said.

To enter habitat and experience these services, customers have to download the honestbee app, which features the Bee Pass and is linked to their credit cards or beePay, honestbee’s e-wallet.

habitat marks honestbee’s first foray into brick and mortar retailing. The Singapore-based startup was founded in 2015 as an online marketplace offering grocery delivery services, and later diversified into food delivery, laundry and ticketing services.