How one company is reimagining dining in with contactless menu ordering

Software and services company Zuppler focuses on empowering solutions for the food services industry. Zuppler Co-Founder & CEO Shiva Srinivasan weighs in on the launch of its new contactless ordering service amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We want to talk about how the food industry, the restaurant industry, goes about reopening, as we are seeing many different states start to face those kinds of openings. And we're joined now by Shiva Srinivasan. He is the head of Zuppler, the co-founder and CEO. He's joining us from Pennsylvania. Shiva, thank you for joining us.

You guys normally are a delivery app. But you're sort of transitioning in this time of coronavirus to add services where people can order remotely but non-remotely, when they're actually in the restaurant. Talk to us about how this works.

SHIVA SRINIVASAN: Yeah, thank you, Julie. Thanks for having me. And I'm sorry about the glare on my head. Yeah, so we are launching an on-premise, contactless ordering product today. So essentially, our product, it runs on the Menu Anywhere platform. And it can be used anywhere where menus are served. Think about restaurants, cafeterias, schools, universities, hotels, hospitals. Anywhere where customers are dining in on-premise, they can use our product.

So as these establishments open up, you know, people are going to want to eat out, but they're going to be concerned. They're going to be concerned about their safety. They're going to be concerned about maintaining social distance. At the same time, these establishments not only need to worry about their customers' safety, they also need to make sure that their staff stay healthy.

So our product is built to exactly address those concerns. So when you're dining in on-premise, you can use your own mobile device to fire up the restaurant's menu. The menu is going to be descriptive, visual. It's going to have all the dietary preferences and so on. So when you're ordering, you're well-informed. And you can use your phone to place the order.

The order is sent straight to the kitchen to process your order. And once you order, you can use your phone to stay connected with the waitstaff. You can request more water, silverware. You can also use your phone to actually message your wait staff to process your request immediately. So using the product, you know, you can order the food, and also, you can stay in touch and minimize the contact with people.

And once you're done dining, once the experience is done, you can use your mobile phone to fire up the order and pay through your phone. And you can download or email the receipt. So that's the contactless ordering.

ADAM SHAPIRO: A lot of us heard about this. It sounds like a great idea. So a two-part question for you. One, what kind of reaction are you getting from restaurants who might want to take advantage of this? Two, the sporting aspect of this-- I can remember sitting in the Orange Bowl before they tore it down, watching Dolphin games with my dad-- would be great to get a hot dog this way. But do you have the wherewithal to sustain the next year to get to when we can all go back to stadiums?

SHIVA SRINIVASAN: Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, the first part of the question, in terms of reaction-- so restaurants are concerned. I mean, they're going to be opening. They don't know what is in store for them. And so the users-- and we've had conversations with a few of the restaurants. And the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. I mean, they want to use the product.

And also, you know, we're using this current crisis to actually reimagine the way people can dine in. We don't have to compromise. We don't have to go back. But how do we use this to get better? How do we-- to enhance the service? And that's how we are looking at it. And that's the message that we're communicating with restaurants, that opening up, you can get better. You can service better. And the reaction has been very positive since we have launched the product.

And to your second part of the question, sports stadiums, absolutely, is one of the verticals that we currently service. Actually, we powered the suite ordering for the Dallas Cowboys stadium, though I'm an Eagles fan. So yes, so we work at Penn State. And we're getting requests from other sports stadiums as they open up, how can they use the app so people can order from their seat, mentioned their seat number. And people can come and deliver to them right at your seat.

JULIE HYMAN: Shiva, I think that's an idea that a lot of people would enjoy. And so I know that you're just rolling this out. But I'm curious how many restaurants have signed on. And is the balance more tilted towards large chains or sort of smaller mom-and-pop restaurants?

SHIVA SRINIVASAN: No, it's a mix. And we definitely want to address the smaller mom-and-pop restaurants that are opening up. They need the most help. We're also talking to a few of the larger chains who want to test it out.

I mean, it's new. So they want to make sure that they roll it out in a fashion where it's going to be-- they can test it. Their staff get trained doing this. But we're getting a mix. I would say it's a 50-50. We're talking to a few of multilocation chains but talking to all our existing customers and new customers who are primarily independent mom-and-pop.

JULIE HYMAN: Shiva, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. We'll see if this takes hold. Shiva Srinivasan is the Zuppler co-founder and CEO. Appreciate it.

SHIVA SRINIVASAN: Yep, thank you. Thank you for having me.