Solving Restaurants Customer Handoff Problem (Podcast)

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at your favorite restaurant when you order food online during busy times?

On a recent episode of Popcorn GTM's "Morning Sam, Morning Ralph," hosts Paul Molinari and Michael Beck sat down with Fran Dougherty and Scott Siegel from Curbit to unpack the mayhem of restaurant kitchens and how their company is shaking things up.

Here's the podcast recap:

Kitchen Pandemonium 101

Picture this: orders flying left and right, staff scrambling to keep up, and hungry customers tapping their feet. That's your average restaurant kitchen on a busy day or night. As Michael put it, it's "one of the most frenzied places on the planet." No kidding!

Enter Curbit.

So what's Curbit all about? Think of it as an air traffic controller, but for food. Fran and Scott's talk about how Curbit aims to smooth out those rocky handoffs between the kitchen and the customers. Their goal? Happy diners, less stressed staff... happy handoffs.

The Lightbulb Moment

Scott spilled the beans on how Curbit came to be. During the pandemic, when takeout orders went through the roof, they spotted a gap in the market. Restaurants were struggling to keep up, and existing solutions just weren't cutting it. That's when they thought, "What if we could predict prep times using some fancy AI?" And voila, Curbit was born. But there was still a long road ahead.

Tech Magic, No New Gadgets Required

Here's the cool part: Curbit plays nice with the tech restaurants already have. It hooks up to their existing systems and starts crunching numbers right away. Real-time data flows between the kitchen and customers, keeping everyone in the loop.

From Chaos to Calm: The Curbit Effect

Fran broke down how Curbit actually tackles the chaos. It's all about managing throughput and giving kitchen staff a heads-up when things are about to go sideways. They even shared a success story with Smashburger - happier guests, shorter waits, and better online ratings. Not too shabby!

The Secret Sauce: Real-Time Feedback

But wait, there's more! Curbit doesn't just stop at managing orders. They've got this nifty SMS survey system that lets customers give instant feedback. Cold fries? Brown guacamole? Curbit's on it, helping restaurants nip problems in the bud.

Busting Myths and Looking Ahead

The Curbit team also took a moment to debunk some old-school myths about managing restaurant capacity. Spoiler alert: manually throttling orders is not a good recipe for success. It's all about real-time data and predictive algorithms now.

As for what's next, Curbit's hitting the road. Keep an eye out for them at the upcoming FSTEC Show and other industry events. Want to stay in the loop? Give them a follow on LinkedIn.