Moritz Heininger on LinkedIn: #restauranttech #foodtech #startup #fundraising (2024)

At DigitalFoodLab we have looked at the future of the restaurant and have identified three main challenges:1️⃣ Creating better relationships with customers2️⃣ Digitising the restaurant3️⃣ Creating the kitchen of the futureTake a look at the full post below 👇

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🍲 🖥️ What's the future for restaurant?Restaurants don’t get the same attention as other areas of the food value chain when considering innovation, but actually a lot of things are happening.These restaurant trends are all answers to the three challenges that restaurants are already facing challenges such as sustainability, lack of qualified labour, or providing healthier foods.If we look in depth at the different categories of players setting up the future of the restaurant, we identify three main challenges:1️⃣ Creating better relationships with customers📱Booking a table and restaurant discovery: the “ancestor” of FoodTech with startups such as TheFork, a Tripadvisor company and OpenTable. New players have recently been trying to reinvent the customer experience with new apps and services.💻Online ordering services are helping restaurants manage their online presence and also create their own takeaway and online delivery services.💳Pay-at-table startups emerged in the post-COVID world as an obvious solution to the lack of workers and our desire to limit interactions. However, their success is quite limited compared to the investments that went into their development.2️⃣ Digitising the restaurant🏧Payment services, HR management, and restaurant management startups operate along blurry lines. While there are specialists in each category, these mostly mature players are now becoming one-stop shops offering all the features a restaurant needs.🛵Online order management: as the number of restaurant delivery platforms increased, so did the number of tablets in restaurants. Startups such as Deliverect appeared to manage orders from all sources.3️⃣ Creating the kitchen of the future👫Managing relationships with suppliers: companies created around the COVID pandemic are trying to streamline this supplier-buyer problem; either by creating new, digital-first suppliers, or by setting up a unified communication channel between a restaurant and all of its suppliers (Choco), or by digitising suppliers one by one.🍎Foodwaste management: startups address this challenge with multiple solutions. One of the most elegant is the development of smart bins such as Winnow, which tell a restaurant what has been thrown away, which can, in turn, lead to better supply and inventory management.🤖Robotics: The first wave of restaurant robots mostly failed (too complicated, too expensive) and a new generation of players is appearing. They have developed modular kitchen solutions designed for canteens or cloud kitchens and can cook a wide range of products (often rice and pasta bowls).👉 All the links and information here: https://lnkd.in/eDEmj5Mb#restaurant #foodservice #foodtech #startup

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We’re bringing cold chain temperature monitoring to the freezers and coolers of restaurants now! If you use 7shifts solution, add us on and automate the collection and digitization of your compliance data for health and safety regulations, while preventing food losses from cooler failures or doors left open on your coolers! Have to love Sask tech companies working together, it speaks volumes about our ecosystem and people. A huge shout out to the amazing dev team and integration team at 7shifts working with our dev and engineers to build this. Restaurant managers now can get automated alerts right into their Managers Log Book about cooler / freezer issues…it was no small feat building this. If you own a restaurant, start by calling 7shifts and getting their solution in place and then add on our cold chain package! https://lnkd.in/gYrZvZ9d will get you started. You can see betakit’s write up here:

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The solution the company proposes is in response to a shortage of experienced chefs at many restaurant chains, insufficient digitalization of the catering sector and a lack of standardization in certain sections of the fast food industry.#BOTINKIT #cookingrobot #digitalization #catering #gastronomy

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Frubana raised $200M+ to digitize LATAM's small restaurants.Frubana’s core business remains unchanged to this day. It’s a platform where farmers can easily sell their produce, and where restaurant owners can order and have what they need delivered to them.The magic happens under the hood. Based on past order data, Frubana is able to predict what restaurants will buy for that week. Frubana buys what it thinks it will need from the farmers, stores it in its warehouses, and delivers what restaurants order.Farmers get paid weekly, andaccesssome semblance of revenue consistency. They also avoid spending time and money traveling to and from markets. Communication with the farmers happens viacustomWhatsApp bots, a techniqueusedby other startups servicing low-tech users.Restaurants on the other hand get delivered faster, while also avoiding the daily market pilgrimage. The argument pushed by Frubana is that by cutting intermediaries, products on Frubana are cheaper, resulting in either larger margins for restaurant owners or cheaper meals for customers. That talking point has been pushed as the region, like most places, battles lingeringinflation.It’s especially important for the mom-and-pop style of restaurant Frubana serves. Or what Frubana's founder calls “B2tinyB”.To sum it all up, Frubana is transforming the “farm to table” process from a “push” to a “pull” process, an elegant tech metaphor. Instead of farmers scrambling to sell their products on markets, Frubana buys directly from the source, predicting future demand trends.With time, the company has morphed into more of an “everything store” for the restaurants it serves, diversifying its offering to rice, cleaning products, oil, etc… The convenience of Frubana’s delivery and the large number of SKUs it carries englobe the veritable value proposition today, more than just the fresh produce it sources.Read the Realistic Optimist's Frubana deep-dive here: https://lnkd.in/e-EDwNTM

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Transforming Efficiency and Customer Experience within Hospitality (https://buff.ly/3Qi2oTA)By Jay Kim, Managing Director BIXOLON (buff.ly/3q7bAiW)The UK restaurant industry expected to grow 15% between 2022 and 2027 to £90 billion. But how are providers going to meet escalating demand for a great customer experience both eating in and via delivery apps when official figures show hospitality vacancies have risen by 72% since Brexit, while the number of EU workers in the industry has fallen by 26%? With food inflation hitting 17% in 2022, how can restaurants retain margin without passing on rising costs to cash strapped customers? And how can businesses ensure compliance to both essential food safety information and demands from both government and customers for more food ingredient information?Jay Kim, Managing Director BIXOLON Europe GmbH, outlines five ways the hospitality industry can use intelligent printing solutions to address key operational challenges and deliver tangible return on investment.Efficient Food DeliveryThe cost-of-living crisis has shifted consumers’ attitudes to eating out, with many restaurants increasing their commitment to food aggregator services to retain profitability. Indeed, the food delivery industry is expected to grow to $320 billion by 2029, underlining the level of opportunity. However, while food delivery apps offer a great additional revenue stream, the model places new pressures on kitchen staff to meet tight turnaround times irrespective of levels of demand.There is simply no room for errors. Food delivery apps encourage restaurants to use cloud printing to dedicated printers to get orders to the restaurants quickly and efficiently, avoiding any problems associated with orders being transcribed manually. One of the additional benefits restaurants could consider is the use of linerless printing products. In addition to the lack of wastage offered by linerless labels with no backing material, these labels can be any size – the printer simply cuts the label to fit the information printed, whether the label is for a single coffee cup or a large meal order.Further, linerless labels can use two different adhesives - permanent or semi-permanent – allowing restaurants to embrace flexible printing. A permanent adhesive label can be printed to include customer name, address and the food order, and be used to provide an anti-tamper seal on the packaging. Additionally, semi-permanent labels can be used to automatically provide kitchen staff with the accurate information they need to complete the order, including time stamps to ensure deadlines are hit.Maximising Staff AvailabilityWith customers increasingly viewing ‘eating in’ as an occasion, the hospitality industry is focusing on improving the quality of experience. Given endemic staff shortages, technology is playing a vital role in supporting staff efficiency. Many restaurants use mobile devices to take…

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The World's First Fully Automated Restaurant "@CaliExpress by Flippy" Opens in Pasadena, CaliforniaCaliExpress by Flippy, the world's first fully automated restaurant run by AI and robots, has officially opened in Pasadena, California. Despite some initial negative reviews, this innovative restaurant is pushing the boundaries of automation in the food industry, from taking orders and payments through kiosks to cooking and preparing all menu items with robotic precision. The move towards automation aims to reduce labor costs, enhance safety, improve productivity, and maintain consistency in quality.🤖Robotic Culinary Revolution: CaliExpress is pioneering a new era in dining with a robotic workforce that handles the entire food preparation process, including grinding the beef to order, grilling burgers, cutting and frying fries, and more.🍔Affordable Wagyu Burgers: The use of robots allows CaliExpress to offer Wagyu burgers at the same price as typical premium burgers, making high-quality food more accessible to customers.👩💼Job Transformation: While some traditional roles like flipping burgers and taking fast-food orders may be eliminated, automation can empower people to learn new skills and fill emerging roles, potentially leading to more successful careers.👷♂️Safety and Productivity: Automation reduces human employee exposure to the risk of injury, improves productivity, and ensures consistency and quality in food preparation.🚀Future Prospects: The success of CaliExpress may pave the way for more robotic kitchens and fully automated restaurants in the future, as technology continues to advance in the food service industry.🤔Problem Solving: The adoption of automation in restaurants like CaliExpress addresses problems such as reducing costs passed on to customers, promoting safety, and enhancing overall productivity.The emergence of fully automated restaurants represents a significant shift in the way the food industry operates and offers exciting possibilities for the future of dining and employment.🌟 Track the Trend: Stay ahead of the curve and explore the possibilities, follow me on Linkedin.com/in/psmahesh ⛷❄🏂🌄"Credits: 🌟 All rights and credits for the content presented are reserved for their respective owners. 📚 For attribution or content removal requests, please contact me. 📩Only used for Academic Learning/Sharing good work purpose, giving due credit to respective owner 📚 Thank you, and God bless. 🙏"

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Can a tech company become a top restaurant brand?Startup mindset >> Tech driven >> Tons of VC’s money >> Hyper-fast growth >> Market share >> IPO. Would it work?My previous post sparked heated discussions about the potential success of a tech startup launching a new restaurant concept. So I’d like to discuss this topic more broadly.Tech is vital for the restaurant industry. The first “D” in McDonald's “4D” strategy stands for “Digital”.Domino's claims they’re a tech company that sells pizza. Of course, we all know they’re not. But tech is definitely one of their pillars of success.Panera Bread’s recent national outage turned a beautiful customer-oriented business into a brick in seconds and showed how ugly it is without digital. No online ordering, no catering, no delivery, no kiosks, no phone calls, no loyalty program, no card payments. Just cash transactions at a register.Wingstop Restaurants Inc. is testing its new $50 million IT system. 35 million customers place 2/3 of orders digitally.Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Habit Burger) is bringing in self-ordering devices as its digital system sales hit $30 billion.Chipotle Mexican Grill is testing an automated digital makeline. sweetgreen accelerates the deployment of its Infinite Kitchens, a robotic system that assembles salads and bowls that could yield a 7-point margin improvement at restaurants where it is installed.And so on, and so forth…A lot of great restaurant brands are transforming into high-tech companies. But does it work in reverse mode? Сan a tech company become a top restaurant brand? We all witnessed how Uber revolutionized traditional taxi services, how Booking.com and Airbnb transformed the hotel industry, and how Grubhub, DoorDash, and others reshaped consumption patterns. And you’re reading this text from your LinkedIn app, not from a newspaper. So is there a chance for another tech startup to disrupt the restaurant industry?I agree with those who are skeptical about high-end restaurants and fine dining. Because it’s all about experience, art, people, service, and emotions. Not digital. But what about QSR? These businesses are already operating as a system, heavily relying on technology. They produce uncomplicated food that can be easily reproduced. Their economy works on a scale similar to tech companies. The only thing that determines one QSR company from another - is their brand. I took a lot of time, experiments, and resources to McDonald's, Starbucks, Domino's, Subway, and others to deserve the love and respect of customers. On the other side example of MOTO Pizza shows how an unknown brand can become a crazy-popular destination with a 3-month waitlist from the day of their opening without a marketing budget. Well-known logos on a street create intense competition. But what if the next big battle is not for a street, but for digital?Happy to hear your thoughts!

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Is Expertise Taking Over the Restaurant Business?Whenever you exit to eat, do you ever really feel such as you’re being watched? By expertise, that’s. It looks as if in every single place you look today, there’s some new type of expertise getting used within the restaurant business. From self-ordering to robotic bartenders, it’s clear that eating places are beginning to rely increasingly more on expertise. But is that this a very good factor? On one hand, it might probably assist velocity up the ordering and eating expertise. However alternatively, it may begin to make eating places really feel a bit impersonal. Is expertise taking up the restaurant business?Expertise is drastically altering the restaurant businessLately, there was a significant shift within the restaurant business. Eating places are beginning to implement increasingly more expertise with a purpose to streamline operations and supply a greater expertise for purchasers.A number of the ways in which expertise is being utilized in eating places embrace self-service ordering kiosks, table-side tablets for ordering and paying, cell apps for ordering and loyalty packages, and even robots that may prepare dinner and serve meals.Whereas some would possibly say that this improve in expertise is taking away from the private interplay that’s so essential within the restaurant business, others argue that it’s merely offering a extra environment friendly method to do enterprise.What do you assume? Is expertise taking up the restaurant business?Expertise is altering the way in which we take into consideration eating placesThe restaurant business is within the midst of a significant revolution. For the primary time in historical past, there are extra eating places than ever earlier than – and so they’re being more and more run by expertise.From ordering techniques to back-of-house administration, expertise is altering the way in which we take into consideration eating places. And whereas some might even see this as a risk to the normal eating expertise, it’s really opening up new alternatives for each diners and restaurateurs alike.Listed below are a number of the ways in which expertise is altering the restaurant business:1. On-line ordering and supplyBecause of firms like UberEats, Grubhub, and Seamless, it’s now simpler than ever to order meals out of your favourite eating places and have it delivered proper to your door.2. Cellular appsCellular apps have gotten more and more well-liked amongst each diners and restaurateurs. Diners can use apps like Yelp and Foursquare to search out close by eating places, learn evaluations, and make reservations. In the meantime, restaurateurs can use apps like Toast and Clover to handle their companies on the go.3. Restaurant administration techniquesRestaurant administration techniques are software program packages that assist restaurateurs handle their companies extra effectively. RMS packages can monitor stock, ...

Interesting and exciting insights on the evolving intersection of tech and dining! The blend of innovation and customer experience is reshaping the industry landscape. Can't wait to see what the future holds for tech-driven restaurants#future #AI #smallbusiness #restaurants #entrepreneurs

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