Online ordering company Lunchbox is adding order integration to its suite of tools for restaurants.
Lunchbox Rails gathers order information from all of a restaurant’s digital channels, including its website and third-party marketplaces, and injects them directly into the point of sale. This eliminates the need for a separate tablet for each ordering platform—aka "tablet hell"—and simplifies operations, the company said.
The system will also allow restaurants to edit menus and business hours across all of their listings at once; make pricing changes on individual platforms; and throttle orders.
Order integration software has become a hot item in restaurant technology as the number of ordering methods has proliferated. A single restaurant, for instance, may be listed on various third-party sites and have its own website and app. That’s on top of in-person, drive-thru and phone orders. Covering all of them can be like playing whack-a-mole.
“Restaurants need to make quick changes, keep track of orders, and manage everything in one place,” said Lunchbox CEO and co-founder Nabeel Alamgir in a statement. “We’ve created the solution that eases the pain that all operators are experiencing today by streamlining in-store operations and reducing tablet hell.”
Restaurant tech companies including Olo, Nextbite, Chowly, ItsaCheckmate and Deliverect offer similar tools.
Lunchbox was still finalizing how much its version will cost, but it will be “cheaper than our competitors,” a representative said in an email.
This month, Lunchbox will donate proceeds from Rails signups to the newly created Lunchbox Scholarship Fund. The fund provides financial aid for restaurant workers who want to further their education.
The New York-based company is coming off a $50 million funding round in February. Previously focused on medium-sized chains, it has expanded its range in either direction to include large brands and independents as it looks to compete with some of the bigger restaurant tech suppliers. It's currently in use at more than 2,500 restaurant locations.
Alamgir has said he wants to offer an “end-to-end” digital platform for restaurants, and Rails appears to be the latest piece of that.
In addition to online ordering, Lunchbox offers websites, mobile apps and marketing and loyalty tools for a monthly fee.
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