Podcasts about deliverect

In this episode of FoodTech Junkies, host Sharon Cittone talks with Zhong Xu, CEO and co-founder of Deliverect, about the role of AI in transforming restaurant operations. From reducing errors and downtime to boosting personalization and tackling fraud with tools like Resolve and Kiosk, Deliverect powers over 65,000 restaurants globally—including major names such as Burger King and KFC.Zhong shares his journey in restaurant tech, the company's latest innovations, and what's next for the industry—from voice recognition to robotics. The episode wraps with insights for entrepreneurs and a rapid-fire lightning round.About Zhong Xu: As the CEO and co-founder of Deliverect, Zhong is building a global ecosystem of on and off-premise solutions that empowers restaurants and retailers to sell anywhere and deliver everywhere. Deliverect's comprehensive platform integrates technologies spanning kiosks, delivery management, uptime monitoring, real-time analytics, and more. Zhong, who obtained a M.Sc. degree in software engineering in 2009, created the first IPad POS in EMEA in 2012, together with co-founder Jan Hollez. This SaaS company evolved into the company that today is called Lightspeed, which is available in more than 100 countries around the world. Zhong was Global Director of Lightspeed Hospitality until 2018, when he founded Deliverect, thereby continuing to revolutionize the hospitality industry. About Deliverect:Deliverect is a global ecosystem of on and off-premise solutions for digital sales. Its API-first software helps enterprises of all sizes to sell anywhere and deliver everywhere across 52+ global markets. Currently, Deliverect powers 50,000+ establishments, including renowned chains like Burger King, Little Caesars, and Pret A Manger. To find out more information, visit deliverect.com.Timestamps:00:32 – Meet Zhong Xu03:47 – The Rise of Deliverect06:05 – AI's impact on restaurant ops14:18 – Personalization & dynamic menus19:47 – Product deep dive: Kiosk & Resolve23:13 – Fighting fraud with vision AI26:40 – Misconceptions about AI30:03 – What's next: voice tech & robotics33:04 – Lightning round39:17 – Advice for young entrepreneurs

This months bonus episode was recored LIVE at the Hostech event hosted by MCA. How can tech empower customers and operators, across all hospitality touchpoints? In this wide-ranging panel discussion, sector CTO's and operator specialists discuss their vision of future progress, from the evolution of loyalty and rewards, to ordering and payments, to robotics and AI. Panellists: David Rose Senior Director – International Digital & Marketing Technology Rory Scallan commercial director at Five Guys JV UK and Europe Nick Fryer CTO, Dojo Rob O'Beirne VP of Revenue, Nory AI During the chat we discussed the following.... Delivery Management Streamlined Operations: David Rose from Papa John's emphasized the importance of simplifying kitchen operations by integrating various online channels and managing driver logistics. By partnering with technology providers like Deliverect, they have reduced the complexity of handling multiple delivery platforms. This integration allows kitchen staff to concentrate on food preparation rather than juggling different order systems. Flexible Delivery Models: The ability to switch between in-house drivers and third-party delivery services based on demand is another significant advantage. This flexibility not only optimizes operational efficiency but also ensures that customer orders are fulfilled promptly, enhancing the overall customer experience. As David mentioned, this adaptability allows stores to manage costs effectively while maintaining high service standards. Accurate Order Fulfillment: Rory Scanlan from Five Guys highlighted the importance of integrating delivery partners to ensure that preparation and wait times are as accurate as possible. This accuracy not only improves online profiles and algorithm rankings but also enhances the in-store experience by reducing the time couriers spend waiting for orders. Consequently, staff can dedicate more time to serving in-store customers, thereby improving service quality. Simplified Payment Experience: Nick Fryer from Dojo discussed the goal of making payments "invisible" to customers. By providing a seamless payment experience—whether through QR codes or other methods—the focus shifts back to the dining experience rather than the transaction itself. This simplification reduces the administrative burden on staff, allowing them to engage more with customers. Reduced Administrative Tasks: The elimination of cumbersome processes, such as the traditional Zed report and the need to keep physical receipts, further streamlines operations. By minimizing back-office administration, staff can spend more time on the floor, enhancing customer interactions and service quality. Data-Driven Insights: The integration of payment processing technology also allows for better data collection and analysis. This data can inform operational decisions, helping managers optimize staffing and inventory based on real-time insights. As Rob O'Byrne from Nori pointed out, using technology to guide decision-making can free up time for general managers to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences rather than getting lost in spreadsheets and data modeling.

Vandaag hebben we Zhong Xu, founder van Deliverect, aan tafel. Zijn verhaal is uniek en inspirerend, van een bescheiden begin in Shanghai tot het leiden van een unicorn in België. We duiken in zijn ondernemersreis, de invloed van zijn vader, en hoe hij groeipijnen overwon. Zhong deelt zijn filosofie over doorzettingsvermogen en de balans tussen visie en klantgerichtheid. We praten ook over zijn strategie om van single-product naar multi-product te schalen en de cruciale rol van teamcultuur en open feedback. SaaS Summit Benelux: https://saassummit.io/ Deliverect: https://www.deliverect.com/ Leadinfo: https://leadinfo.com/ We Love SaaS: https://welovesaas.io/ Word lid van We Love SaaS We Love SaaS is de plaats waar SaaS ondernemers en professionals bij elkaar komen om te bouwen aan een succesvolle SaaS business. Stop met het wiel opnieuw uitvinden en krijg toegang tot de kennis en connecties die je nodig hebt om betere beslissingen te nemen. Word lid: https://welovesaas.io/membership/

Notre invité au President's Club

I'm delighted to announce the latest episode of the Tech On Toast podcast featuring Ian Chambers, founder and CEO of App4. In this episode, we explored some intriguing insights into the hospitality tech industry and the future of customer ordering solutions. Here are three key takeaways from our discussion with Ian: 1. The Rise of QR Code and Self-Service Kiosks Ian highlighted the significant move towards QR code ordering and self-service kiosks within the hospitality sector. The convenience and control afforded by these technologies have led to a marked increase in order values and customer engagement. The example of the Book Cafe adopting kiosks and QR codes, resulting in a 20% uplift in order values, underscores the effectiveness of these solutions. 2. The Importance of Data and Personalisation Ian emphasised the crucial role of data in enhancing customer experiences and fostering loyalty. Through data analytics and personalisation, businesses can tailor their offerings, implement loyalty schemes, and ensure a cohesive brand experience across various channels. The capacity to analyse customer behaviour and preferences is vital for maintaining a competitive edge in the hospitality landscape. 3. Best-of-Breed vs All-in-One Solutions Our discussion on best-of-breed solutions versus all-in-one platforms illuminated the importance of selecting the appropriate technology stack for your business. While all-in-one solutions may suffice for smaller enterprises, larger organisations can benefit from integrating specialised solutions such as App4 for customer ordering, Hubrise for data aggregation, and Deliverect for delivery management. Striking the right balance between consolidation and specialisation is crucial for optimising operations. If you're keen to learn more about the evolving landscape of hospitality tech and how App4 is transforming customer ordering experiences, be sure to listen to the full episode on the Tech On Toast podcast. Feel free to contact Ian Chambers and the App4 team for any queries or to discuss how their solutions can enhance your hospitality business. #TechOnToast #HospitalityTech #CustomerExperience #QRCode #Kiosks #DataAnalytics #Personalisation #TechSolutions #PodcastEpisode #LinkedInCommunity Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this insightful episode!

248 Florian Hendrickx Over Robovision, Passie En Marketing | What's On Your Mind? (Dutch/Nederlands)Hi ik ben Peter en elke week geef ik jullie een podcast over personal development, mindset & verkoop. What's On Your Mind ? is een 1 uur conversatie. Iedereen heeft een verhaal. En ik wil dit verhaal van mijn gast naar boven brengen.Florian is momenteel Chief Growth Officer bij Robovision en is de rechterhand van de CEO (Thomas) en de oprichter (Jonathan). Hij houdt iedereen op één lijn met een productgerichte visie die in staat is tot exponentiële groei, houdt zich bezig met de relaties met investeerders en ondersteunt de rest van het uitvoerende team bij strategische projecten die de Robovision-machine voortdurend opschalen om te voldoen aan de veranderende vraag uit de markt, met een persoonlijke affiniteit voor marketing, verkoop, product, belangrijke aanwervingen en financiën.Florian was eerder onder meer hoofd Strategie bij Deliverect, de 3e Belgische Unicorn en een van de snelste SAAS-groeiverhalen in de geschiedenis. Hij was CEO & medeoprichter van HQapp en heeft zowel startups als C-level executives geadviseerd over strategische onderwerpen in verschillende sectoren en in een wereldwijde setting. Passie, dat drijft Florian. Deze 31 jarige Antwerpenaar leerde ik in Amsterdam kennen op een beurs en zijn passie raakte me.En ik wou weten wat in godsnaam een Chief Growth Officer hele dagen 'doet'. En dat leer je oa in ons topgesprek.Connecteer met Florian op LI:https://www.linkedin.com/in/florianhendrickx/?originalSubdomain=beSubscribe to see more inspiring videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/petersnauwaertShare this video with a YouTuber friend: https://youtu.be/3sfxTffGp2Q Leave your email address at http://www.psgrow.com and receive a weekly update when the new episode is availableSupport your podcast via Patreon https://www.patreon.com/psgrow?fan_landing=true or WhyDonate https://whydonate.nl/donate/PSGROW/enIk gebruik Willow, een Belgische software om alle social media posts op Twitter, Facebook, Instagram en LinkedIn te posten. Willow's tool en consultants zorgen ervoor dat je altijd weet wat, hoe en wanneer je moet posten. Ik ben er zelf heel tevreden van wegens het grote gebruikersgemak.Van eenvoudig inplannen tot content inspiratie en glasheldere analytics. Contacteer me op peter@psgrow.com als je wil genieten van 1 maand gratis !Music: Intro Peter Snauwaert (Copyright)Voice-over: Stemmig by Sara FiemsLet's connect:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersnauwaertTwitter: @petersnauwaertInstagram: @ps_growFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PSGROWE-mail: peter@psgrow.com Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ingrid De Clercq, Chief People Officer at Deliverect Ingrid shares how four startup founders in Ghent, Belgium, developed the idea for Deliverect and what it was like conceptualizing and implementing a multinational company's vision, hiring process and performance philosophies from scratch. We also get a sneak peek into how a Belgian and European startup hires and retains talent from all over the world from one of the first employees of Deliverect, a software-as-a-service startup last publicly valued at $1.4 billion. Ingrid also shares what she thinks sets Deliverect apart and how the company thinks about total rewards and total compensation. http://blindap.onelink.me/ttCg/3dl4nmej

The restaurant technology industry has been expanding at a rapid pace over the past few years, with dozens of new tech solutions and vendors being added seemingly every month. These technology vendors range from one-off solutions (that are more likely to be purchased or merged with a larger company soon) to fully realized companies with a suite of tech features and options for customers. As operator needs for technology options grow, technology integration becomes even more crucial, and vendors that don't play well with others will be left behind.This month, multiple tech companies announced major integrations and mergers, including Soundhound partnering with Olo, PopMenu integrating with OpenTable, and Uber Direct partnering with Deliverect. In other news this month, Canadian all-in-one SaaS Snappy and Superorder (formerly known as forward Kitchens) both announced rounds of funding to spread to new markets and new capabilities, and more.

Trends Talk met Zhong Xu, CEO van Deliverect

Trends Talk met Zhong Xu, CEO van Deliverect

Underground deliveries, Sweetgreen's got Spycy and what is your loyalty program costing you? All these headlines and more represent our thoughts and views on the world of restaurants, technology and off premise food in our round up of last week's hot news stories - subscribe today to The Digital Restaurant and register at www.deliveringthedigitalrestaurant.com for more bonus content.ARTICLES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:1. What is your loyalty program costing you? 2. Sweetgreen's gone live with their first Spyce location 3. Grubhub are handing out more customer information...with a difference 4. Wendy's AI Google partnership & plans to test underground deliveries Wendy's to test Google's drive-thru chatbot in Ohio  Wendy's latest test will have robots deliver food orders through tunnels5. Deliverect acquires ChatFood Access the full transcript here.Support the show

Het is maandag en dan blikken we in De 7 altijd vooruit naar de week die komt, met een gast. Vandaag is dat Peter Hinssen, technologie-ondernemer, auteur en partner van Nexxworks.De landen rond de Noordzee overleggen vandaaag over een strategie om de windenergie op zee meer en beter te benutten. Is dat voldoende om pakweg kernenergie links te laten liggen?Er komen deze week nogal wat groeicijfers op ons af. Zowel uit Europa als de VS. Hoe kijken bedrijven daarnaar?En we krijgen deze week ook resultaten van de Amerikaanse big techbedrijven - bedrijven die volop aan de slag zijn met artificiële intelligentie. Hoe liggen de kaarten? Host: Bert RymenProductie: Joris Vanderpoorten Wil je ook samen met Isabel Albers (De Tijd) en Peter Hinssen (nexxworks) op 'Never Normal Tour' naar New York van 18 tot 23 juni? Surf dan naar https://www.nexxworks.com/experience/mediafin-the-never-normal-tour voor meer informatie en laat je inspireren door bedrijven zoals Meta, Deliverect, Wells Fargo, Store n°8 (Walmart).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Online ordering and delivery continue to be critical revenue streams for restaurants, and Revel Integrated Partner Deliverect addresses the third-party ordering challenges facing restaurants and consumers head on. Tune in to episode 40 of Restaurant and Retail Revel(ations) to learn more about Deliverect's solution directly from Joe Heather, Ireland & UK general manager at Deliverect. Joe also shares what's on the horizon for the company in his region as they approach an exciting milestone: 300 million orders across 42 regions!

Ayudamos a emprendedores de HOSTELERÍA y MODA a CATAPULTAR sus empresas. ¿Cómo lo hacemos? A través de nuestros másteres en colaboración con los empresarios y directivos más exitosos del sector, y a través de nuestro podcast, Talent Talks: MÁSTER DE EMPRENDIMIENTO Y GESTIÓN EN HOSTELERÍA, impartido por fundadores y directivos de compañías como Goiko, VICIO, VIPS, Ginos, Burger King, Starbucks, Grupo Larrumba, Domino's Pizza, Grupo Lalala, Lizarrán, Pomodoro, Grosso Napoletano, Fitzgerald Burger Company, Foster's Hollywood, Glovo, Levaduramadre, Foodbox, LaMafia, Manolo Bakes... entre otros 150+ empresarios de la industria. MÁSTER DE EMPRENDIMIENTO Y GESTIÓN EN MODA Y ACCESORIOS, impartido por fundadores y directivos de compañías como Scalpers, Silbon, Blue Banana, Jack & Jones, Zalando, Asos, Pompeii, Edmmond Studios, HOFF, Brownie, MIM Shoes, Singularu... entre otros 100+ empresarios del sector. Solicita más información aquí: https://www.talent-class.com/

Anton Brisinger and  Zhong Xu discuss how he first got a taste of entrepreneurship at 16 and never looked back. 

Noah Hayes, general manager, U.S. and Canada at Deliverect, a global scale-up company that simplifies digital orders for more than 27,000 locations across 40 markets, joins QSR editor Danny Klein to break down some proprietary—and perhaps surprising—research on the state of the delivery consumer amid record-high inflation. As it turns out, there's one piece of good news every operator needs to circle and prepare for as the industry continues its recovery out of the COVID-19 pandemic. LINK TO FULL REPORT: https://welcome.deliverect.com/us-food-for-thought. This episode is sponsored by Deliverect.

Zhong Xu created the first iPad Point-of-Sale (POS) in the EMEA region, ten years ago. This SaaS product has since evolved into the company known today as Lightspeed and is now available in over 100 countries. Zhong was Global Director of Lightspeed Hospitality until 2018, when he co-founded Deliverect - a third-party food delivery aggregator that integrates platforms with restaurant POS systems. 

FoodBev Media is joined by Zhong Xu, CEO and co-founder at Deliverect – a digital food management software solution for restaurants, helping them improve operations, profits and customer satisfaction. In this podcast, Zhong uncovers recent survey data that reveals consumers are ordering more deliveries/takeaways despite inflation and what opportunity it presents for restaurants.  

This week, Klaus' conversational experts Niclas & John speak with Christian Osmundsen. As the Global Head of Support at Deliverect, Christian shared his many nuggets of wisdom on support quality, building a strong team, and how not to crash and burn - as well as the most valuable lesson he learned while working at Netflix.

Zhong Zu, who created the first iPad POS in EMEA in 2012, is on a mission to simplify what's long been one of the restaurant world's biggest friction points. Operating in over 40 markets around the world, Deliverect is helping brands like Taco Bell and Burger King do just that.

Vendredi 1 juillet 2022, SMART TECH reçoit Hélène Huby (fondatrice et dirigeante, The Exploration Company) et Rachid El Kansouli (Directeur Général France, DELIVERECT)

In the 25th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick speak with Alex Vasilkin, co-founder and CEO of Cartwheel, which is a company helping restaurants manage their delivery fleets and set up hybrid or fully in-house delivery. They also cover a new product improving delivery and takeout food quality, Deliverect's virtual restaurant marketplace, Uber's nationwide shipping and Dexai kitchen AI.  

Doordash data on 1PD adoption, what drives customers mad about delivery and a virtual brand marketplace.All these headlines and more represent our thoughts and views on the world of restaurants, technology and off premise food in our round up of the last week's hot news stories - subscribe today to the Monday Minute and register at www.learn.delivery for more bonus content.Articles mentioned in the video:Doordash study shows 3rd party platforms returning to popularity through their State of Online Ordering Reporthttps://bit.ly/3x799fKstarts at 00:38Delivery is growing: Bloomberg second measurehttps://bit.ly/3MeZiu1starts at: 05:00Thanx and Tattle point out Operational dissatisfaction with deliveryhttps://bit.ly/3asfJFPstarts at 07:39Food costs - the only way is up - but what about tips?https://bit.ly/3tgX2M2https://bit.ly/38QGiV1starts at 10:28 Deliverect marketplace opens up for virtual brandshttps://bit.ly/3NR3cdCstarts at 11:23---Monday Minute is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3EZAoviApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3GzePSTGoogle Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3DOTjHQFollow us on our socials!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learn.deliveryInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/learn.deliveryTwitter: https://twitter.com/LearnDeliveryLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/learndeliverySupport the show

Zhong Xu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Deliverect, a leading online order management platform powering the digital backbone of restaurants and CPGs. In this episode, we'll chat about the platform's latest virtual brand marketplace for restaurants, how Unilever is using it to spin up 24/7 on-demand ice cream storefronts, and how merchants can successfully leverage the power of third-party marketplaces to make it work for their bottom lines.

How will restaurants adopt the ever changing digital landscape and how tech can help them keep control, increase their operational efficiency and profit margin. View the full video interview here. As the CEO and co-founder of Deliverect, Zhong Xu is integrating third-party food delivery platforms with restaurant POS systems, automating delivery so it can be managed more efficiently. Zhong, who obtained a M.Sc. degree in software engineering in 2009, created the first iPad POS in EMEA in 2012, together with co-founder Jan Hollez. This SaaS company evolved into the company that today is called Lightspeed, which is available in more than 100 countries around the world. Zhong was Global Director of Lightspeed Hospitality until 2018, when he founded Deliverect, thereby continuing to revolutionize the hospitality industry.

Restaurants in Canada looking for solutions when it comes to online ordering integration? Check out this episode of The "Restaurant Tech Show" where we review "Deliverect" and their amazing platform that delivers it all. This is a game changer in the restaurant industry in Canada. Learn More: www.deliverect.com Subscribe and Follow the SVK Network on all Sysco Canada's Social Channels.

Deliverect - een softwareplatform voor horeca en maaltijdkoeriers -  werd dit jaar door De Tijd tot scale up van het jaar gekozen. Ze zijn de liaison tussen restaurants en maaltijdkoeriers, en ook matchmaker voor boodschappen en ‘FMCG's' en hun klanten. Er zijn zoveel verschillende manieren om aan de producten te geraken die we willen. Deliverect maakt de online ‘ketenwerking' korter. En dit dus niet alleen voor voor de restaurants, maar ook tal van andere sectoren. Wat staat er nog in de steigers. En hoe zullen die ontwikkelingen onze economie veranderen in de toekomst? Zhong Xu, CEO van Deliverect, leidt ons de weg. Beluister het in deze aflevering van De Tijd Vooruit.   Host: Bert Rymen Productie en montage: Anne-Sophie Moerman Sound design en mastering: Stef Lenaerts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Zhong talks about how did he come up with the idea of Deliverect, the experience of raising money remotely, acquiring first customers, what does a customer care about, how to decide which market to enter, the decision-making framework, company culture, and much more!

Sign up to all live workshops and podcasts here: https://lu.ma/fullfunnel3 things Deliverect's marketing team did differently to sign 14K establishments:(+ insider's tips from a martech buyer)1. All marketers continuously learn about their customersEach marketer at Deliverect:- Sits in on sales calls- Gives a demo to a prospect- Sits in on CS onboarding calls- Visits their customers (which is really cool if your customers are restaurants)They take every opportunity to survey their buyers. E.g. everyone attending events gets questions to ask while in conversation with buyers.2. Focus their campaigns on amplifying the customer's word-of-mouthDeliverect created their category and had to do lots of education and awareness creation.But restaurants don't really care about technology.So, Deliverect involved their customers and buyers in content creation.All their customer-facing teams keep an eye out for great stories. And their marketing team NEVER says no to a good story. They are there with the camera recording and distributing the stories worldwide.3. Global-local teamsDelieverect sells to 30 countries and has local teams in 12.But they don't take the usual top-down approach.Their global team is actually comprised of people from several local teams. Budget distribution is transparent, and everyone participates in defining the local programs and campaigns.And while they're performance-driven, even the wildest ideas are welcome. That's how they came up with the idea for Hidden Gems (an annual viral contest featuring atypical delivery foods and restaurants from 20 countries).Connect to Shelby and learn more about Deliverect at:https://www.linkedin.com/in/globalmktgpro/https://twitter.com/GlobalMktgProhttps://www.deliverect.com/

In the 21st episode of the Food On Demand Podcast hosts Tom and Nick talk about the latest big DoorDash acquisition, ghost kitchen operational issues and Uber's new all-encompassing membership program.  They also interview Zhong Xu, founder of order integrator and delivery experience company Deliverect about the competitive restaurant technology space, where the market is going and novel delivery use cases from across Europe. 

Facebook, WhatsApp e Instagram, entre otras apps, estuvieron caídas más de seis horas y los impactos económicos fueron millonarios; Frances Haugan, exempleada de Facebook, habló sobre cómo la plataforma prefiere los discursos de odio para beneficiar a su negocio; y Deliverect, una plataforma para optimizar pedidos en restaurantes, llega a México.

In-store sales. Ordering for delivery. Buy online, pick-up in store. With so many buying options accessible to consumers, companies are now facing many different kinds of orders to manage and get right. In the restaurant industry specifically, there has been a huge upswing in the number of people ordering online, especially through apps such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Doordash. And that's nothing compared to the number of point of sale systems that are being used. Moving orders from an app or online system into a physical point of sale is a process that's prone to human error, but for so long that's been the only way to do it. Zhong Xu and Deliverect want to change that. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Zhong explains how an integrated, cloud-based platform is taking the pain out of managing multiple ordering and POS systems. Plus he discusses how the real world and virtual world will start to blend together more and more as brands invest in digital-focused capabilities. Enjoy this episode.    Main Takeaways:404 Error No More: There are thousands of point of sale systems and all of them require humans to re-enter online orders perfectly into them before they can be made and delivered. This leads to errors and dissatisfied customers. Integrating the POS and ecommerce systems is one of the most effective ways to reduce those errors. The Real And Virtual World: As restaurants reopen dine-in services post pandemic, they are still keeping an eye on the ecommerce space. The rise of the digital consumer has made it so that restaurants are now looking to create virtual brands with specific functions and offerings for their virtual audience. And sometimes that means creating or investing in a physical space that is only used to fulfill online orders.Addition Without Subtraction: Even though there has been an uptick in delivery and curbside pick-up orders, restaurants are still seeing strong in-store dining numbers. This means that restaurants can invest in delivery and ecommerce tools to improve the customer experience without worrying that doing so will cannibalize in-house dining.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we're ready for what's next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hello, and welcome back to Up Next in Commerce. I'm your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder and CEO at mission.org. Today on the show, we have Zhong Xu, the co-founder and CEO of Deliverect. Zhong welcome.Zhong:Hey, welcome. Thank you. Nice to be on your podcast.Stephanie:I am very excited to have you on. So before we dive into Deliverect, I was hoping we could start a little farther back in history, when you were building your first company at age 17. I think that'd be a fun starting point to hear what were you thinking back then? So, then we can see how you got to Deliverect.Zhong:Yeah, exactly. I think Deliverect today is quite a big company, as we serve customers in over 30 market. Especially the last year, we just processed over a billion dollar in sales. I think that's quite exceptional for a company that young. That being said, the reason we can so quick is due to our couple of decades almost experience in the hospitality space. So, I was pretty much born in this space, as a very young [inaudible]. I started helping restaurants to go online, right? So, making their first website and so on and that's almost, I think 20 years ago. So, I'm very early on the internet timeframe and the reason why I got in that space is actually because my father has a point of sale company for Asian restaurants. So, especially if you're Asian, a lot of people know your father will always say, "Hey, you can work, right? You're young, you should get out there, earn some money, do your part." So, that's how I enrolled into hospitality business and that was my first business.Stephanie:Very cool. So, you were building websites for restaurants and then, did you start seeing issues they were having and is that what led you to building Deliverect to where it is today?Zhong:Well, it's actually quite a funny story, because of that, I never wanted to take over my father's business. So, I said, "Hey, maybe I need to study IT." So, I went to study software engineering, right? Before I went into the restaurant space again, I said, "Hey, there's something out there for mobile applications." So, I created mobile websites and mobile apps prior to the iPhone. So, I feel [crosstalk] and so, when the iPhone and the first iPad came out, I felt it was perfect timing to disrupt that side of business, especially when point of sale was very hard to use. It was a legacy system, not cloud-based. So, actually in 2010, 11, I co-created the first iPad point of sale in Europe, one of the first 3000 apps on the app store back then.Zhong:So, you can imagine how that grew and just in a couple years I grew that company quite quickly. It was called POS iOS. That name you wouldn't know, but I merged POS iOS in 2014 with now a public company called Lightspeed, right? So, we pretty much ran the global hospitality division of Lightspeed, prior to their IPO. So, we were well entrenched in scaling this and one of the things there, of course we are always in contact with restaurants around the world. At the same time, the same thing happens. The first time I did this was really solving the pain of cloud-based and tablets and old hardware, but in 2016, 17, we saw that restaurants were struggling actually managing their online sales, right?Zhong:And it was quite funny, because most restaurants had said back then to me, "This is never going to happen, the offline to online transition. Yeah, yeah. You have this in retail, but that's clothing and that's shoes. We're creative people. It's about warm food, about service, never going to happen." Well, suddenly you have these companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash, GrubHub and hundreds of others popping up, where you quickly saw that transition happening. So, early on, these customers of us said, "Hey Zhong, you need to help us. This wave of offline to online is apparently unstoppable, but we need a partner that can help us to make that transition." And Deliverect.Stephanie:Got it, got it. So, essentially we have all these restaurant ordering apps, like you said, Uber Eats and all the others that exist. And they were all coming at the restaurants a mile a minute and they were trying to manage them individually and you essentially consolidated that into one point of sale system, so that the restaurants could just interact with one portal that would then talk to all of the delivery companies, did I get that right?Zhong:You nailed it. It's really a game of whack-a-mole, as you can imagine, if you're running a restaurant. It's all very dense during your service, right? Where you have hundreds of orders coming in on all these tablets. If they all start to light up, you need to accept them. You need to take the order, re-key in your point of sale, send it to the kitchen, but even when the order is done, you need to go to any of these tablets and you need to find out what order it was, to dispatch the rider.Zhong:So, the complexity of this is enormous and I think as we go, the number of online channels or restaurant need or we'll have, is only increasing. Because it's not even about these delivery companies these days. You need to have an app for curbside pickup. You need to have a QR code at the dine-in app. You need to be on Google, Facebook and so on and so on. So, it's enormous.Stephanie:What are some of the issues you're seeing with restaurants, when you're coming in there and showing them, "Here's how to come online. Here's how to make this process work"? What are some of the hurdles for them to even implement this software? Where's the hold up sometimes?Zhong:Well, most of the times they can't believe what we do, because it's almost magical. When you're used to all these systems and suddenly you removed all these tablets and it just works, right? So, it's quite magical. I think the hurdle is, one side connecting with all these online players, but as well, very seamless with every point of sale they will tap. And the reason why is, in the hospitality space, you could say, "Hey, the online channels is fragmented." So, you have a lot of delivery companies, but actually the number of point of sale is way more fragmented than online players. There's literally not thousands but 10 thousands of point of sales out there and it's still what runs the restaurant. So, we connect that seamlessly through APIs, but also it's not just getting the order in your kitchen, but as well, working with them to do menu management, having automatic stock management, controlling the flows.Zhong:For example, when it's really busy, we will be able to slow down certain online channels to cover the kitchen time and the result of this is quite astonishing and it's threefold, right? One side, we can on average... Pre-COVID, because with the pandemic, it was a accelerated. We saw that the average restaurant was increasing 25 to 30% of their top line revenue alone, implementing us. During COVID, it was double, triple and quadruple, but no one knows why. And the other two things where it's important is, we reduce the error rate for the end customers, right? Maybe you have experienced it, but if you order some food, once in a while... Actually, it's between five to 8%. So, one out of 10, we get us a mistake. Someone didn't deliver what you wanted. You wanted the vegan food and you got something with meat and so on, right? So, we can reduce these errors by 80%. So, that's massive. Finally, with all these automations, it saves a lot of labor costs as well.Stephanie:Got it and how are you reducing the errors? What does that look like? Is it something that they're keying in the wrong way? Is that something the customer is doing or the kitchen's doing? What does that look like, to reduce the amount of errors, because I've definitely I've had that happen. And then, I've just been like, "Oh, this didn't arrive." And then, Uber Eats just refunds me and I'm like, "Hmm. Did you know it didn't arrive? How do you trust me? I don't know if I would even want to trust me saying that." And it's definitely very vague behind the scenes, of how they even view that?Zhong:Yeah. There's a lot of details, but it actually started with the beginning. Often, once a restaurant are not using us, the online menu that they have, they have one called Uber and other players they have inputted. It's not up-to-date right. So, imagine they don't have certain products or ingredients. Though they can snooze, but they cannot change the menu, the content of it. So, the menu on its own is [inaudible]. Second, when it's busy, they can't follow the flow of that stock. So, if it's not automated, you probably are ordering stuff that they are already sold out in restaurants, right? Because online, you have a lot more people ordering and then, with the in restaurant sales, they are always going to provide the customers in front of them the food that you online. So, that's the second thing.Zhong:A third thing that affect massively these error rate is, once you don't have it integrated, it comes on these tablets. You accept. There's an extra ticket printed by Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub. They need to take that and re-key that in their point of sale perfectly, right? And that's where a lot of error happens. Sometimes the top line items, but even worse, when you put a note in there where you say, "Hey, I'm allergic to this and that. I want this and that," it causes a lot of trouble to re-key that correctly. So, if you take only these three things, it's quite massive, right? Imagine hundreds of orders. Even if you would do it, you would make a lot of mistakes.Stephanie:I can definitely see how human interaction always causes mistakes, of course. And I'm assuming it also integrates with the point of sale system to also run the restaurant, right? The one that the servers can use outside of the delivery, or are those two separate?Zhong:No. So, it integrates them directly with our current system, right? Because if you have a restaurant, you have kitchens, there's a lot of printers, kitchen screens. You want to make sure the workflow is seamless, because actually what's funny is, the throughput of a restaurant it's never boggled down by the kitchen. The kitchen can make a lot of food most of the time. It's really the front of house where, if you have customers standing in front of you and in the meantime, you have seven tablets pinging all the way, it's impossible to manage. So, we reduce all of that hassle.Stephanie:That's great. Yeah, I used to work in a restaurant. Starting in 14, I was working at Outback Steakhouse and worked in restaurants the entire time and can definitely say that's very true. The front of the house can get crazy, when the back's waiting on you to put in the order, help the customer, bring it out and get it out of their window, whatever it may be. So, I'm sure you see a lot of trends behind the scenes with working with so many restaurants and I've heard quite a few things. COVID hits, of course less people going in restaurants, more people ordering, but then also more people cooking at home. So, a lot of things kind of shifting. What are you seeing today, now that we obviously went through the big spike of everyone who wants to order online and order from restaurants probably has tried it by now and some of them are falling off. Maybe some new people are entering, but what are you seeing are general trends in the industry?Zhong:Well, I see it's actually picking up. One of the things you mentioned, everyone has tried. For example, during COVID a food status pre COVID, if you look at age group of 55 years and above, less than 10% has ever tried delivery, right? And now, that number is over 35%. So, it shows you that my father, grandfather, grandparents, everyone is using it.Zhong:So, the adoption rate is quite high and what you see is that, during pandemic, a lot of restaurants focus only on delivery, but now with the reopening, you see some restaurant doubling down, because they want to handle their in-dine customers. But at the same time, you see a lot of more restaurants opening multi-brands, right? One physical restaurant saying, "Hey, why don't I create virtual brand, that I only sell on these online platforms, but it's cooked in my kitchen? As well, the exponential growth of dark kitchens, these kitchens with multi-brands everywhere. Especially, as if I look at our numbers, I think the delivery space is only accelerating and what's good for this space is, it's on top of the dine-in. So, it's one is not cannibalizing anymore, the other sales, right? So, it's really on top of it.Stephanie:Got it. How do you view these dark kitchens, because we talked about this in a previous episode with Shake Shack, I believe and she kind of mentioned that she thought this was... I think she said a quick trend that might work for a little bit, but then people are going to want to stick with brand love of a certain company. They know it's cooked a certain way. You're only going to be able to use that model for so long. How are you viewing that right now?Zhong:I think that's still going on quite strong, right? There is a difference of... I would stay pure tech want to be thinking, "Hey, this is a fun idea. Me as a startup mindset, I'm going to implement a kitchen." It's just pure number game. That, I'm a lesser believer of, because what you see as the successful dark kitchens, are ones that are really restaurant operators that create amazing brand, amazing experience and at the end of the day great food, right? Sometimes people in that space forget it. It's like, "Hey, it's numbers.Zhong:I can make it work." So, people that do that well can expand quite rapidly, right? Because the cost of setting up or reaching these customers are way lower. If you want to do a restaurant that's maybe [inaudible] a half a million dollars, if you started a dark kitchen, it's one fifth of that. So, what you would see is that even established restaurants are having a dual model, where they say, "Hey, in the cities, I'm going to have my flagship restaurants, right? A couple of them, where you have the full experience. In the meantime, around that restaurant itself, I'm going to open a lot of these dark kitchens, so that you are at home wherever you are, can still order food." So, that hybrid model is really working well.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). I wonder if they can eventually share kitchens in space and then, turn it on when you need it. And then in the meantime, let another brand have it. I'm even thinking about two brands, fast food chain. It's like Popeye's and MacDonald's in the same building. And in one way, I'm a little suspicious of that, because I'm like, "How do you all know how to make the same thing in the same building?" But it's also an interesting model. I think about it, like why rent an entire space if you only need it when you have peak order times. And then, anytime outside of that, it's just a commercial kitchen that anyone else can enter into.Zhong:Well, you actually have that. There's quite some of these concepts, almost a we-work of kitchens, right?Stephanie:Okay.Zhong:I think in these cases it would be, you rent the space because you don't want to open and set up your own kitchens, but then you would still put your own chefs in these places, right? I think there's also models where these kitchens provide you A to Z. I think that works well, if you're established brands, with real procedures about how to cook food. If you're experimenting, that's a bit harder. But that being said, we see a lot of success in the US. For example, in New York, we run Mealco. That's a very dark kitchen brand. They have a lot of brands. In LA, you have [inaudible] brands. Established restaurant chains like SPIN right, where you play normally ping-pong, but they run it at the same time in these kitchens, 8, 9, 10 brands, right? Because it's really complimentary and allows them when it's even not busy, to sell their food.Stephanie:Yeah. What kind of trends do you see overseas that are different than in the US, or vice versa?Zhong:I think it's quite a global trend. Even in Europe, Asia, Latin, as well US, you see the same trend popping up. What I do see it's interesting is, there's a lot of models, especially in the dark kitchen. People are trying. So, renting kitchens seems to be hard. Franchising their brand seems to sometimes work, where you say, "Hey, I have my brand. Any unutilized kitchen space or restaurant can take my brands and just sell." That seems to work. But as well, people that own the full stack, right? I think it's a bit too early to see what of the multiple models really will win, but that being said, I think each of them has massive traction. And that's why, if you look at market sizing, the size of dark kitchens is a trillion dollar business, depending on who you ask, right? So, it's a massive opportunity.Zhong:I think a second trend what's very interesting is the growth. As well, you see in the US, as well in Europe, of groceries, FNCG and CPG. So, for example, wherever in the world, you can order a Ben & Jerry's ice cream, right? You take your phone, you order Ben & Jerry's ice cream at 11:00 PM when you come back from a date and you just need ice cream and it gets delivered within 10 minutes. And you can do that in every city in the world. That being said, you will never find a Ben & Jerry's store so close by. So, even the rise of dark pop-up locations or delivery locations or dark fridges exists, right? For example, we power all the [inaudible]. So, as you go, you're going to see that perishable foods in general, is going to be very available and it's all about the convenience of it. Whatever you want, you click and you're going to get it.Stephanie:Yeah. I do see, it probably depends on where you're at in the country in the world, but there are definitely a lot more consumers now, who do care about the brand, the ingredients, where is it being sourced from? How are you going about growing those materials? It seems like a new trend. That's what sometimes makes me wonder about the dark kitchen trend, because I think a lot of people want convenience and being able to get it quick and easy and cheaper, then it seems like a larger proportion of people now are like, "I want to actually understand who's behind this food and how was it grown?" And all the details that maybe a lot of people didn't think about a decade ago.Zhong:Exactly and that's why one of the things I mentioned is, I think if you want to be successful, you need to be that restaurant operator. You need to be able to convey the complete story and say, "Hey, that's where we source the food. That's how we cook it. That's how we define quality." So, that side of it will work. If you're just there to produce mass produced food and want to have a quick buck and to earn, I think that's quite hard, right? Especially, because it's a very low margin business restaurant, so you better do it well.Stephanie:Yeah, yeah. So, when it comes to point of sale systems in general, it seems like this is great obviously for restaurants, but there's a lot of other applications, because I can even think about a lot of delivery apps being like, "Oh, you need this for maybe Home Depot and you need this from Costco," and offering to pick up from many places. How are you viewing the general landscape of point of sale systems and where it's headed?Zhong:Well, so that's why we are a bridge above the point of sales, because that's really fragmented. So, for a point of sale, especially a lot of these older point of sale that are not cloud-based, it's very hard for them to process online orders. And that's where we come in. But on the other end as well, we have a dispatching product that allows any restaurant or any business actually to deliver their food or drinks or whatever perishable thing they have, within 10 minutes, because we connect with all kinds of third-party delivery companies like DoorDash Drive, Uber Direct as well, all the local ones.Zhong:So, the convenience side of it is going to be crucial for these restaurant, right? It's going to be the future is going to be really decoupling ordering from delivery. You will not per se care how you ordered it and you don't care who is bringing it, as long as you get it right? So, you can imagine you have a Google Home or Alexa and you say, "Hey, bring me some salad from that restaurant." And it gets processed and 10 minutes later, someone rings you up at the door and gives you that salad. So, we can really power that transmission of that world.Stephanie:Yeah. So, essentially it doesn't matter if it's restaurants or anyone else, first step is everyone needs to be cloud-based, so that then you can plug into them and help control the top level experience. So, then the consumer doesn't even know and doesn't have to know what's going on behind the scenes? That's usually how most technology evolves anyways, but you can essentially go anywhere, that's what you're saying?Zhong:Yeah. What we are doing is really creating that backbone of on-demand foods, right? So, creating that [inaudible] restaurant and the reason why I was adamant to start Deliverect, is to my personal experience, right? My father's system, the old point of sale still exists, right? Even after I created one of the most advanced iPad point of sale, I think I converted the three of his customers to that system. So, what that tells me especially in the point of sale space, there's a lot of servicing fragmentation and people have a low tendency of changing systems. That's why in enterprise restaurants, all of them you still see these Microsoft RES 3700 of 30 year old, right? So, that's why we are building that layer, so that any online player can have access to a physical restaurant. In the benefits, it's really benefiting the restaurants, because they don't need to change the system, but still process and grow online.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). What did the switching costs look like for some of these restaurants, if they go through and upgrade everything, I'm guessing there's employee training? What does the cost look like and then, I'm sure you know the ROI numbers too of employee efficiency and helping out with inventory and all that, what did some of those numbers look like?Zhong:For example, utilizing Deliverect, there's no switching cost, right? So whatever point of sale you have... So, we are integrated over 150 point of sales at the moment and we're adding a lot per month. [Crosstalk]-Stephanie:What if its an old one, that's cloud-based? I'm thinking of some of the restaurants I worked in, I know they weren't cloud-based they were from the nineties.Zhong:So, that makes us unique. We actually, you know, for example, Microsoft RES 3,700. We create tunneling. We set up the software to make that cloud-based, right? So, making [crosstalk] online, is something that we also do. So, that allows you to save really that investment. If you are a small, medium business, one or two restaurants, you probably can switch because you want to have ease of use and the investment buying an iPad is not too hard. But honestly, if you're a restaurant chain, that's a massive move. You're talking about millions to replace and there's also a lot of risk involved, right? So, instead of doing that, if you just deploy Deliverect, you have a full system that allows you to sell online or offline channels and you're fully cloud-based.Zhong:And like I mentioned, the ROI is huge, right? So, whatever top line revenue, we grow at 25, 30%. That's a minimum, right? All of our customers are doing more than that. Second, like I said wastage, but to quantify it, an app or a restaurant that does normal delivery are doing a month, a thousand orders. If you have 8% error rates and per order that's 80 orders, right? If the average is $50 that's a lot of money that you could save so that's one side. And then, finally labor costs. We can reduce that significantly. You can almost save one out of four of your staff, right? So, they can do something else, right? So, that's important.Stephanie:Very cool. Are there any technologies right now that you're watching to integrate into Deliverect? The one thing that comes to mind is crypto and I know even back in 2018, a lot of people were talking about crypto and point of sale systems and how to think about that. Not only accepting payments, but also the back of how it even functions. Is there anything that you guys have on your radar that you're kind of watching right now?Zhong:Well, crypto is interesting, right? I think de-centralization of payments would be interesting. Especially, I think in restaurants, it's a quite high processing fee they pay, especially if they're selling online, right? There's transaction fees. Honestly, I do not think today the technology... The technology is there, but maybe the solution is not there yet to do mass payments, as it's quite heavy to mine these coins. If you want to do like us, where it's millions and millions of transactions on a month, I think that's quite a heavy to do, but we're watching that space.Zhong:I think more interesting for us is, as we have a lot of info about a lot of sales channels is providing or a CRM or a really a customer relation management tool for our restaurants, so that they can manage wherever you're ordering, right? So, maybe you ordered today on Uber Eats and tomorrow on DoorDash and the next day on their own websites. Well, they can say, "Hey Stephanie, thanks for ordering on our website. We're going to give you a promotion or a extra dish." Right? So, these are the things I think, where it's going to really help these restaurants to increase their margins.Stephanie:Yeah. It's like going into an omnichannel world with these delivery systems, so they actually understand where you're coming from and where you've been? And it also seems like there's a lot that they can do around sensors, around inventory and stock. You mentioned that you can connect that with your company product, but also just thinking, how do you do automatically where instead of someone saying, "Oh, we're out of this item or we don't have this product today," it's automatic, because it sees the ingredients getting low. And it's like, "There's nothing coming on the trucks today, so we just have to say green beans aren't on the menu today. So, sorry." And then, it just updates automatically. That's the world I think is coming.Zhong:Well, in the ice cream example, we actually do that. So, once that shop is running low on strawberry. So, first of all, we ask the local vendor to ship more strawberry ice creams, but second of all, we can automatically snooze that product for an hour. We're saying, "Hey, it's out of stock." Right? So, providing all these restaurants operation tools is something that we also care about, because that's how we're going to help these restaurant owners as well.Stephanie:Yeah, I love it. All right. And then the last thing, where do you see Deliverect heading? What are you excited about over the next couple of years?Zhong:Although Deliverect only exists for a two to three years, I think we are only on day one of this offline to online transition. The motto of Deliverect is not even conquer the world, it is conquer the galaxy, right? So, one day we'll be the first that delivers a burger to the moon. That's our motto.Stephanie:You're going to be on Mars [crosstalk]-Zhong:To speed up his colonies. But all jokes aside, I think that's where our ambition is. I think you really need a player like us that stands with the restaurants, power them and allows them to really be successful and thriving online without a different agenda. So, as we go, we want to expand regionally in all sorts of countries and continents and add as many channels as we can, as well point of sale for these restaurants, so that they can thrive online.Stephanie:Very cool. All right. Well Zhong, thanks so much for coming on the show and giving us a little behind the scenes about what Deliverect is all about. Where can people find out more about you and your company?Zhong:Well, you can find a lot of info on website deliverect.com or a link me up on LinkedIn. I'm [inaudible] users. So, no worries if you want to send me a message there.Stephanie:Amazing. Thanks so much.Zhong:Thank you for your time.

Mardi 8 juin 2021, BE SMART reçoit Pierre-André de Chalendar (PDG, Saint-Gobain) , Karine Havas (DG et CFO, Ikea France) et Jérome Laredo (co-fondateur, Deliverect)

A common sight in ghost kitchens and restaurants is a wall of multiple ipads for online food orders. Deliverect integrates all your online orders to your existing point-of-sale and offers a suite of omni-channel restaurant management tools to perfect your operational flow both front and back of house. Deliverect has the ability to update all your online menus with just one click and provide insightful analytics and reporting. If you have no POS system, you can also run your sales directly from the Deliverect app and consolidate all your sales channels there.Guest: Zhong Xu, Co-founder & CEO DeliverectDeliverect website ➜ http://bit.ly/deliverect​#GhostKitchen​ #DarkKitchen​ #POSsystem​~Deliverect CEO interview | Ghost Kitchen Cloud-POS Solution~⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺Get the latest restaurant and hospitality insider tips and education on saving your restaurant business in our FREE Virtual Event Platform