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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Zuppler

Bbot Raises $3M for Its Contactless Restaurant Tech Solution

NYC-based restaurant tech company Bbot today announced a $3 million seed funding round led by Craft Ventures. The company says it will use the new funds to hire up and expand its reach and product capabilities, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

Bbot, which was founded in 2017, was ahead of the times when it originally launched its mobile order and pay platform that emphasizes contactless functionality and minimizes human-to-human contact in restaurants and bars. The system integrates directly with a restaurant or bar’s existing tech setup. Customers use their own phones to scan a QR code (usually placed on a decal on the table) and browse the menu, as well as order and pay for food. 

Bbot points to a number of different advantages with this setup. Most obviously, contactless features in the dining room makes it easier for restaurants to foster social distancing among customers and staff. It also more or less forces restaurants to have at least some digital presence, which is becoming increasingly mandatory these days. Bbot also says the system can increase revenue for the restaurant, and that some of its existing clients have seen a 15 percent lift thanks to the system.

While that’s an encouraging figure, the challenge right now for any restaurant tech is two-fold. First is the sheer amount of competition in the restaurant tech space — particularly when it comes to the consumer-facing side of things. As I said earlier, companies that formerly served the front of house are now racing to find new ways to stay relevant. So far, that’s been through contactless dining kits a la Paytronix, Zuppler, Presto, and many others. 

The other part of the challenge is that the state of restaurant dining rooms remains uncertain, to put it mildly. Some states and/or individual businesses are halting or reversing their reopening plans, thanks to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, and businesses are being encouraged to continue their focus off-premises orders.

On that latter note, Bbot has an advantage in that its system is designed to work for any type of restaurant setting, including the off-premises ones. That ability to translate across restaurant formats plus its early entry into the contactless space may give Bbot a greater advantage over the competition, even if dining rooms don’t reopen the way we thought they would.

Online Order Platform Zuppler Launches a Contactless Order and Pay Package for Restaurants

Online food ordering platform Zuppler today announced a contactless ordering package restaurants can use as they begin to open the front of house under new social distancing guidelines. Called Menu Anywhere On-Premise, the software specifically addresses the need for more flexible, dynamic menus and contactless ordering for dine-in customers. 

Zuppler currently works with about 15,000 restaurants. The Conshohocken, PA-based company’s platform integrates directly with restaurant websites and POS systems, as well as loyalty programs like LevelUp and Punchh.

The company is among those restaurant tech players now focusing on contactless solutions for restaurant dining rooms, most of which now have to operate with reduced capacity, fewer staff, and new standards for social distancing. Those social distancing measures are quickly phasing out things like reusable menus and self-service kiosks, which means more restaurants are now looking for digital options for customers when it comes to browsing menus, ordering food, and paying for it.

“Today’s launch is a natural extension of our current offerings, and is entirely driven by the needs of our clients,” Zuppler’s founder and CEO Shiva Srinivasan said in today’s press release.

Like other Zuppler products, The Menu Anywhere On-Premise tool integrates directly with a restaurant’s main system, including its website and any loyalty programs. Customers can then use their own mobile devices to browse a menu and select items to order. Those orders are automatically sent to the restaurant kitchen, and customers can track the status of their order on their phones as well as pay for their meal. Since Zuppler’s technology is integrated with loyalty programs, customers can earn points from their orders at participating restaurants. 

Restaurant tech companies across the industry are now pivoting to offer bundles of contactless software to restaurants. Presto, CardFree, ConverseNow, and Sevenrooms, among others, all offer some form of contactless order and pay features restaurants can add to their tech stack. While this shift in focus is partially a way to help restaurants reopen their dining rooms, it’s also a necessary move for these companies when it comes to staying relevant in a world that no longer revolves around the restaurant dining room.

Zuppler’s history as an online order platform as well as its existing integrations with POS systems, loyalty programs, delivery services, and services like Google ordering have given the company credibility when it comes to digital ordering in restaurants. Now we’ll see if that translates to the actual dining room as customers slowly but surely go out to eat once more.

Here’s a Rundown of Restaurant Tech Deals Available to Struggling Businesses

As more restaurants are forced to pivot to off-premises models in the fight to stay alive, it seems more tech companies are coming to market with hardware and/or software meant to speed up, simplify, automate, and more efficiently manage delivery. And in the spirit of simplifying things, I’ve rounded up a number of those solutions here that address different parts of the off-premises model. 

Just remember: there are tech solutions that solve problems and, as a friend of mine once said, tech solutions in search of problems. Reduced fees or no, not every product or service is going to be useful, and what improves one restaurant’s business could be a total distraction for another.

Order-ahead app Allset has a contactless pickup option at participating restaurants. For all existing restaurant partners that provide the contactless pickup option at their stores, the company is waiving commission fees.

Delivery orchestration platform Bringg launched its BringgNow feature months ahead of schedule. The new feature helps larger chain restaurants, among other businesses, manage delivery orders, track drivers, make last-minute adjustments, and integrate with third-party platforms. BringgNow is free to new users at this time.

Chowly, whose tech helps manage delivery orders, is offering a “no cost” starter package to businesses needing to quickly pivot to delivery models as more cities and states shut down dining rooms.

DailyPay, an app that lets restaurant workers access their earnings immediately, has waived all access fees so that individuals using the service can get their earned income immediately. 

POS and guest management software platform Epicuri is waiving set up fees and offering a 60-day free trial with no commitment for restaurants right now.

Paytronix just launched a new cloud-based solution that lets restaurants add online ordering and delivery to their existing POS systems and, for those who want to conduct delivery in-house, integrate with DoorDash.

Presto is giving away free self-service kiosks that at this point can be used for pickup orders. In an email to The Spoon, the company also said it is also “offering Presto Quick Serve drive-thru kiosks, staff handhelds, and smartwatches completely free.”

Ordermark, a software-hardware platform that streamlines the process of accepting, managing, and fulfilling delivery orders, is waiving all setup fees right now, according to an email sent to The Spoon.

Restaurant order management platform Revention is offering an Online Ordering and Delivery Starter Bundle for a reduced price. It includes a POS terminal, optional DoorDash on-demand delivery service, and remote installation.

Guest management platform Sevenrooms now offers a feature called Direct Delivery that gives restaurants more ownership over their customer data on delivery and takeout orders. For the next 90 days, existing and prospective Sevenrooms customers can add the feature on at no extra cost. 

End-to-end platform Toast has eliminated software fees for restaurant customers for the next month and will provide those customers with free access to its digital ordering, marketing, and gift card programs for three months. 

Operations platform Zenput says it is “offering operators that are new to Zenput – at no charge or obligation through the end of June 2020 – the ability to use our platform to build-out, communicate, and ensure compliance with their COVID-19 processes.”

Online food ordering platform Zuppler is offering free setup and reduced pricing for restaurants and caterers who want to add online or Google ordering to their websites.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll know more about which products and services are most beneficial to restaurants trying to survive the current situation in which the industry finds itself. In the meantime, drop us a line if you know a company or product you think should be on this list.