Raghav Poddar, a computer science student at Columbia University, recognized the challenges faced by restaurant owners in maintaining a strong online presence. As a “foodie” who heavily relied on food delivery services in New York City, Poddar realized that many restaurants lacked a sufficient online footprint.
Key Takeaway
Superorder, a platform dedicated to helping restaurants enhance their online presence, has raised
0 million in funding. The platform aims to streamline digital tasks for restaurant owners and enable them to tap into the growing market of off-premise dining.
To address this issue, Poddar founded Superorder (formerly Forward Kitchens), a platform that offers websites, menus, photos, and various tools to enhance the online presence of restaurants. The platform also provides order management, marketing, and financial management solutions. In a recent funding round, Superorder raised $10 million, led by Foundation Capital and with participation from Y Combinator managing director Michael Seibel, Cruise co-founders Kyle Vogt and Daniel Kan, I2BF Global Ventures, and others.
The Importance of an Online Presence for Restaurants
Having a quality online presence is crucial for restaurants. According to a recent survey, 77% of diners visit a restaurant’s website before placing an order or dining in. Unfortunately, a poorly designed or uninformative website can discourage potential customers from visiting a restaurant.
Superorder’s main goal is to help restaurants boost their business through off-premise dining, such as delivery and pickup services. The pandemic has accelerated the growth of off-premise dining, with two-thirds of adults stating that they are more likely to order takeout since the pandemic began.
However, Poddar noticed that many restaurant owners struggle with the management of digital tasks, leaving potential revenue untapped. Making a simple change, such as updating hours on multiple delivery platforms, can be time-consuming and complicated.
Superorder’s Solutions
Superorder offers a range of services to simplify the management of online operations for restaurants. It allows restaurants to set up an online presence, including multiple digital storefronts for delivery, without the need to individually contact each delivery platform.
The platform also assists restaurants in launching “virtual restaurants” or storefronts for different brands within their kitchens. By analyzing data, Superorder identifies in-demand dishes in the restaurant’s delivery radius and collaborates with the restaurant to create menus and photos for each brand. These virtual restaurants are then listed on third-party delivery platforms.
While virtual restaurants have gained popularity during the pandemic, they face challenges such as finding additional delivery personnel and marketing a location that may be invisible to the public. Some delivery platforms have also expressed concerns about spamming and menu duplication. However, Superorder claims to take a more thoughtful approach, utilizing generative AI to create menus and photos for each virtual restaurant, helping to drive orders and increase sales.
Superorder also offers an order management module that consolidates orders from all delivery platforms into a single dashboard. The platform synchronizes menus across platforms, optimizes prices for better conversion rates, and automatically reconciles sales, tax, commission, and fees.
Despite facing competition from startups like Nextbit, Virtual Dining Concepts, and Ordermark, Superorder has steadily grown since its participation in Y Combinator’s Summer 2019 cohort. Currently operating in over 180 cities in the U.S., the company has served over 1,500 restaurant customers and facilitated approximately 1.5 million orders to date.
With the new funding, Superorder plans to expand its operations, sales, and engineering teams. The company aims to become the comprehensive off-premise operating system for restaurants and provide all-in-one software solutions that drive profitability from delivery and takeout services.
The online food delivery market is projected to grow from $160 billion in 2022 to $483 billion by 2032, indicating ample opportunities for Superorder and other similar platforms.
