By Asmahanim Amir
Pictures by Abd Raai Osman

PUTRAJAYA, 19 July 2017 – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is the first Malaysian Public University to collaborate with the Ministry if Higher Learning, in developing a food reservation mobile application, Smart Mamak.

The mobile application enables customers to reserve food at participating mamak restaurants by simply selecting their preferred menu, from wherever they are.

They will then be informed on the duration it will take for the food to be ready, so that they can plan their trip to the restaurant, to feast on the steaming hot food upon arrival.

The idea to develop the app, according to Higher Education Minister, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, triggered during a visit to New Delhi.

“We were waiting for our food and wondered that, wouldn’t it be good if the food is ready as soon as we arrived at the restaurant?

“With that, I mooted the idea to UKM, and I am proud to say that the team only took three months to develop the original idea into what it is today,” he said during the launch of Smart Mamak, at Putrajaya, recently.

Aside from improving customer service, the app is also looked at as a solution for Mamak restaurants to increase their efficiency of human resource

A translational research project, Smart Mamak is created with collaboration between UKM, industry and community.

The research team from UKM consists of researchers from the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and Faculty of Economics and Management and lead by Prof Dr Mohd Ekhwan.

Meanwhile, the representative from industry who are involved include Persatuan Pengusaha Restoran Muslim Malaysia (PRESMA) and Ali Maju