You have a group of friends that you want to go out to eat with but deciding where to go often takes significantly more time and energy than the actual dining experience. Munch is a dining discovery app that makes this process more seamless for groups to enjoy dining together. The app features a Tinderesque experience that allows a group of would-be group diners to swipe on restaurants that they would be interested in going to and comes up with matches that accommodate everyone in the group, taking into account cuisine preferences, location, and dietary restrictions. For restaurants, the app’s B2B platform serves as a data collection resource to understand their customers, develop customer segments, and also provides a promotion tool with advertising and offers capabilities built-in. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Chris DeSantis to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the state of the hospitality industry through lockdowns and the pandemic, the company’s future plans, and much, much more…
Hospitality
Mealco Raises $7M to Enable Chefs to Launch and Manage Virtual Restaurants Using Just a Phone
The pandemic has taken an unimaginable toll on the restaurant industry. Over 1000 restaurants have shuttered their doors permanently in NYC. Those in the industry have been forced to adapt and transform to survive. Innovation has come in many forms and virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens have proliferated. Mealco is the platform that allows chefs to quickly launch and manage high-quality virtual restaurants without the upfront costs of operating a physical space. The startup, founded in 2019, operates several kitchens throughout the city and chefs are able to manage delivery-first brands without even stepping foot into a kitchen; everything can be managed via the platform’s backend. Customers are able to order directly from the Mealco consumer platform or on one of their preferred dining apps. AlleyWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Daniel Simon to learn more about how his experience working in restaurants as a student inspired the business, the impact the pandemic has had on the business and industry, the company’s latest round of funding from investors that include Rucker Park Capital, FJLabs, Reshape, 2048.vc, Oceans Ventures, and Jonathan Zabusky.
SALIDO Acquired by North American Bancard
SALIDO, the restaurant management platform, has been acquired by Michigan-based North American Bancard, the electronic payment processor. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Odeko Raises $12M to Help Small Cafés and Local Eateries Streamline Supply Chains
In the wake of the pandemic small neighborhood coffee shops, bakeries, and cafes had to scramble to adopt mobile ordering and needed to place an emphasis on managing their supply chain to ensure survival. Odeko is the simple-to-use technology platform that allowed them to do both and quickly. CEO Dane Atkinson shares some insight on the company, its mission-driven purpose enabling neighborhood businesses to compete with the larger chains, and recent round of funding from investors that include GGV Capital, First Round, Primary Venture Partners, Box Group, Addition Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Bbot Raises $3M to Enable Restaurants to Offer Contactless Ordering and Payment Options Seamlessly
The restaurant industry is scrambling to find ways to encourage diners to return amid the pandemic. Bbot is a contactless restaurant ordering and payments platform that enables restaurants to allow their diners to use their own smartphones to select the items they would like, place the order, and pay all through their smartphone, without ever having to download or sign up for an app. The company is experiencing a wave of adoption with both delivery and in-person dining over the last several months. CEO and Cofounder Steven Simoni shares some more insight into how the company pivoted from a restaurant robot idea to its current offering, how the pandemic has amplified the need for the solution, and the company’s seed funding round from investors that include Craft Ventures and Acceleprise.
Butler Hospitality Raises $15M to Bring Cloud Kitchens to Hotels to Elevate In-House Dining
Rooms service, even at the finest of hotels, can be hit or miss. Usually expensive, untimely, and a hodgepodge of items, in-house hotel dining is often best avoided. Butler Hospitality addresses this through its cloud kitchen for hotels, where the company takes over hotel kitchens and provides turn-key food and beverage services that make room service profitable again. Founder and industry veteran Tim Gjonbalic shares more about how Butler elevates the in-house dining experience at hotels, how the company weathered the downturn in the hospitality industry due to COVID-19, and the company’s $15M Series A round from investors that include &vest, Scopus Ventures, Mousse Partners, Kraft Group, and Loeb.nyc.
SevenRooms Raises Another $50M for its Hospitality Management Platform
Two Credit Suisse bankers came together in 2011 and noticed they were having a difficult time securing, flexible reservations at top NYC restaurants with their hectic schedules. This led them to look further into the restaurant industry’s guest experience operations at a holistic level. Today, SevenRooms is a complete guest experience management platform that’s built and designed from the ground up for the hospitality industry. CEO and Cofounder Joel Montaniel shares some insight on the state of the hospitality industry during COVID-19, how technology is lightening the blow, and the company’s $50M Series B round led by Providence Strategic Growth.
Tattle is the Platform to Empower Chain Restaurants to Boost Customer Experience
Chain restaurants are not particularly known for having outstanding customer service and Tattle wants to fix this through its omnichannel guest feedback solution that’s easily installed across transaction channels such as kiosks, WiFi, websites, etc., through an API. Tattle’s solution identifies opportunities for improvement and allows individual locations to set metrics to maximize revenue performance. […]
Blueground Pulls in Another $50M for Your Next Furnished Apartment
Technology is fundamentally changing the concepts of work, play, and live. When it comes to living, as work becomes more connected, more and more people find themselves traveling for extended periods of time and do not want to deal with an impersonal hotel or traditional corporate housing situation. Enter Blueground – the startup founded in […]
Good Uncle Gobbled Up by Aramark
Good Uncle, the on-demand food delivery service serving college campuses, has been acquired by food service titan Aramark. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “Good Uncle strengthens our ability to offer quality and convenience through services that allow our college consumers to order restaurant-quality food and have it delivered when and where they […]
Mercato Raises Another $4M to Level the Playing Field for Independent Grocers
Independent grocery stores are facing challenges due to the rise of online grocery platforms, national grocery chains, and apps like Instacart. Mercato empowers independent grocery stores by leveraging technology into their operations to provide capabilities similar to the chains. Specifically designed to meet the needs of independent grocery stores and specialty food retailers, the platform serves […]