Startup of the Day: Polish foodtech startup Restimo

Founded in 2019, Restimo is a foodtech startup that solves the problem of “tablet hell” in restaurants. Restimo has acquired over 200 restaurants, and its system has processed 1 million orders. In Poland alone, it is present in over 25 cities. Restimo has ambitious plans for 2023 — to accelerate international expansion, targeting the entire region of CEE and Scandinavia, and to raise the next investment round.

In the Startup of the Day column, co-founder and COO of Restimo Arek Bielecki, shares more details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.

“The Startup of the Day column on AIN.Capital is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originated from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.”

Tell us about your startup. How does it work?

The challenge that restaurant owners face is managing multiple ordering channels from different providers. On a daily basis, they work with food delivery platforms, online ordering vendors, courier companies, POS (Point of Sale) systems, and so on. Their kitchen is cluttered with dozens of devices, orders pop up on different tablets, and every price change or out-of-stock item needs to be manually updated in each ordering channel. On top of that, all the sales data is scattered across these systems and needs to be arduously aggregated in order to understand how the restaurant is performing and make sound business decisions.

Restimo solves these problems by integrating all software and delivery providers in the foodtech ecosystem. By using our application, restaurants can:

1. Manage all orders in a single tablet.
2. Update the menu and out-of-stock items with one click.
3. Analyze data from all ordering channels in a unified dashboard.

As a cherry on top, with our POS system and printer integration, the whole order flow is fully automated from the beginning to the end, so that restaurants can focus on preparing food instead of redundant and manual work.

How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?

One of the founders previously worked at Glovo, a food delivery platform, and observed first-hand how difficult it is to work with numerous providers as a restaurant. On one hand, he could see operational KPIs such as long food preparation time, increased percentage of order errors, or extended courier waiting time at a restaurant because of the manual processes burden. Also, the rising trend of ghost kitchens and virtual brands, resulting in even more devices in a kitchen, added up to the problem of tablet hell.

On the other hand, when speaking with restaurant staff and understanding their pain points, it became clear to him that advancements in technology for the restaurant industry also need integrators like us who connect these software puzzles and provide a unified system for all.

How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?

It took us 3 months to obtain API documentation from the leading food delivery platforms to start building integrations. Then we spend 6 months on building the MVP and another 3 months on refining the product with first customers. So it took us about a year to achieve a working prototype and start selling it. We encountered challenges with the documentation of particular platforms, as every integration is different and needs to be customized so that our application’s front-end for customers is consistent.

Every API update of our partners needs to be followed and maintained. Because of the technical complexity, we also experienced our system downtimes, but with our expert IT team, we managed to resolve the most difficult situations and not lose a single customer.

When exactly did you launch your product?

We launched our product in October 2021.

Tell us about the startup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?

It is a SaaS business model with usage-based pricing. We charge a monthly fee based on the restaurant’s order volume and a number of locations, no matter how many brands it has.

What are your target markets and consumers? 

We started our operations in Poland, winning customers of all sizes — from small, independent coffee shops to national fast food chains.

If the startup has already launched the product, what are the results: metrics, income, or any clear indicators that can be evaluated?

So far we acquired over 200 restaurants and our system has processed 1 million orders worth €13 million. We have integrated with 5 food delivery platforms, 2 online ordering channels, 1 courier company, and 4 POS systems.

What about your team? How many people are working in the startup? If you’re looking for new employees, indicate whom exactly.

Currently, we have 12 people working in the team, ranging from product and IT to sales and customer success.

Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, and the purpose of the investment.

We raised an initial €25,000 from EIT Digital, a Belgian accelerator, followed by a pre-seed round of €255,000 from angel investors. The funds are primarily used for further product development, sales, and customer service enhancement as well as marketing activities.

What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.

Since we firmly believe in product-led growth, we constantly develop new integrations and functionalities. They help us reach more customers with specific needs and establish new partnerships with strategic accounts. We are also preparing for international expansion, targeting the entire region of CEE and Scandinavia. Last but not least, we plan to raise the next investment round this year.