Zhong Xu, CEO and co-founder, Deliverect and Naji Haddad, Middle East General Manager, Deliverect, speak to My Startup World about how Deliverect integrates various online food ordering platforms into the POS of the restaurants and Deliverect’s prospects in this region.
How did you arrive upon this unique concept and please introduce Deliverect to our readers?
I grew up around the restaurant industry as my father built and still runs a POS for Asian restaurants in Belgium. He inspired me to take over the business but I had other plans. In 2011, I built my own cloud-based POS with co-founder Jan Hollez. In 2014, we were acquired by Lightspeed and I became the Global Director of Hospitality. I gained a lot of experience speaking with restaurant owners and managers on a daily basis to better help them solve challenges related to operations and management.
Delivery was already rising during this time, well before COVID-19. I witnessed first-hand the many pains restaurants were facing when offering delivery. Virtual kitchens were just at the very beginning of their development but I knew this was going to be big and something that would stay. Together with Jan, we thought of a solution to solve the pain point that comes with managing online delivery platforms and that’s how Deliverect was ‘born’ in 2018 – as a way to bridge the gap between delivery platforms and POS systems.
Deliverect integrates online food ordering platforms into the restaurant’s point-of-sale system, making rekeying orders and the costly errors that come with it a thing of the past. With all online orders centrally managed, businesses can increase operational efficiency, which will ramp up customer satisfaction, as well.
We want to save the restaurants’ time and money by automating repetitive tasks so they can focus on doing the things they love and are passionate about.
How did you manage to raise funds to launch the Deliverect?
We Initially worked with investors that we’ve known for years who funded my first startup with Jan Hollez, POSiOS. They believed in our vision and in the potential that the business held. In March 2019, Deliverect received its series A funding from Newion Investments and Fintech, worth €3 million.
In series B funding, we raised €16.25m with OMERS Ventures, our existing investors Newion, Smartfin, and the company’s founders. In conjunction with the funding, OMERS Ventures Managing Partner Jambu Palaniappan will join the Deliverect board.
The company will use the funds for R&D and product development, as well as expansion into new markets.
In our Series C funding round, we raised $65 million funds from DST Global Partners and Redpoint Ventures, as well as existing investors OMERS, Newion and Smartfin.
How was this idea perceived during the early days by the F&B sector and list a few challenges faced initially?
The idea was well received because even 5 years ago demand was increasing for delivery. When COVID hit, the biggest challenge was scaling up – hiring the right talent to support our customers and our growth.
Using Deliverect, how can restaurants manage multiple delivery aggregators successfully?
Deliverect connects aggregators like Talabat, Zomato, Deliveroo and more delivery platforms directly to the restaurant POS system, ending operational delivery management issues. With online orders automatically pushed to the POS, there’s no need to manually re-enter order receipts anymore, saving time and eliminating errors.
Additionally, our menu builder enables the operational team to easily build a menu and push it live on multiple delivery platforms and for multiple locations. They can also make any changes or updates to the menu at any time and from one single dashboard that goes live into all delivery channels.
The centralisation of all this data also enables restaurants and other food businesses to get consolidated reporting of all their channels.
What is the minimum size of restaurants that can enjoy the benefits of your platform?
Any restaurant that does online orders can benefit from Deliverect. We have food trucks, local bakeries, etc. among our customers.
Can you talk about your presence in the Middle Eastern market and what is your user base in the region?
We launched in UAE just over a year ago and have exceeded our growth expectations. Restaurant owners in GCC understand the value on Deliverect’s integrated solution and how it improves their restaurant operations.
Recently, the company has successfully raised $65 million. Please explain to us how Deliverect plans to use these funds in the Middle East?
This region in specific has ample potential and hunger for online and offline food orders. Restaurants in the GCC are looking for solutions that will help integrate the different channels of delivery to their POS system while automating most of their operations. This is why we are investing in this region and ensuring local presence by opening local offices and hiring a team of highly skilled individuals who will not just help us further develop our relationship with our customers but also listen to their feedback about what they need. We accordingly act upon the market demands to add value and better serve our clients.
In your view, how has F&B sector handled itself during the COVID-19 pandemic and how has Deliverect helped this sector rebound?
F&B is known to be a low-margin industry in which the optimization of operations and business processes while reducing waste is crucial. Today, the market is equipped with technology that can automate repetitive manual work so restaurants can focus on the human aspect of their services, making sure that they provide excellent and personal services.
Restaurants need solutions that are easy and straightforward to use as they usually don’t have IT teams to manage their tech. With online orders automatically pushed to the POS, there’s no need to manually re-enter order receipts anymore, saving time and eliminating errors.
What advice would you like to offer to the budding entrepreneurs and what should they always remember when they are getting ready to take off with their startup?
I would say take risks, it is about trial and error – speed is more important than perfection. Have a clear and a shared vision with collaborators when it comes to goal setting and action planning, and most importantly maintain constant communication with the team and partners as in a startup things tend to change really quickly.
