Technology Enables Fooda to Bring Best in Class Services to Our Clients, Partners, and Consumers
Join Fooda's Technology Team
At Fooda, we believe people should love and look forward to lunch every day. Our tightly knit Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams turn this belief into a reality by dreaming up and developing meaningful technology for lunch eaters and the local restaurants that serve them. Adjectives used to describe our team: friendly, intelligent, highly technical, and fun. Regardless of seniority, everyone takes personal ownership.
"When it comes to helping each other succeed, the sky’s the limit. It’s always exciting to grow our team of passionate technologists. We are bringing cutting edge technology to the table while also nurturing each other through continuous learning, feedback, and mentoring."
— Timcy Chacko, Executive Vice President of Technology at Fooda
Fooda's Product Suite
Fooda delights people at work by bringing them a diverse variety of delicious food from locally owned restaurant partners. The excitement of a great lunch helps our customers look forward to reporting onsite and encourages teams to maintain strong bonds within their workplace and their local community.
Fooda's vast product range includes everything from visiting Popups to online order delivery for large groups to barista bars and full scale cafeteria food service programs. In all of these scenarios, thousands of local restaurants participate daily. On average, Fooda feeds upwards of ten million meals per year.
Execution is Everything in Our Business
Scaling a complex operation that connects thousands of employers and restaurants to hundreds of thousands of end users on a daily basis requires vision, a lot of moving pieces, and beautifully coordinated execution.
An AI powered digital product suite makes our day-to-day operations and our company's high growth possible.
Continuous Learning and Proprietary POS Work in Concert, Serving as the Fooda Technology Flywheel
Continuous Learning and Predictive Modeling
Fooda's business is a continuously improving cycle. It all begins with Fooda using AI predictive modeling to determine which restaurants will have the most success in which locations. Machine learning schedules thousands of events for restaurants and provides them with accurate prep counts that account for historical and real-time data.
That's a lot of data to optimize - in any given month there are millions of variables at play - including location combinations, menus items, resturant constraints, and the preferences of the population at each location we serve. Sales for our local restaurants are maximized in a way that considers every variable during the entire month, as a whole.
Data captured through Fooda POS fuels future models and enhances our algorithms for restaurant scheduling, meal prep, and sales maximization opportunities.
Fooda Point of Sale
Fooda's proprietary POS is the center of gravity for the business. It packs robust functionality into a lightweight app that runs on any handheld iOS device.
The value of POS starts well before an event and extends well beyond its completion.
Before events
Within Fooda POS, restaurants see upcoming schedules, site location instructions, and prep information well in advance.
During events
Events are seamlessly managed through Fooda POS. Orders are taken in person or through mobile order. Employer paid subsidies are verified through QR code and subtracted from the customer's check. Rewards points are accumulated and redeemed. A new Rewards user can even be signed up by a restaurant through POS. The functionality is robust and is constantly evolving.
Post events
Data captured through POS allows Fooda to make smart decisions in the future that maximize monetization opportunities. Thanks to this, restaurants know where to go and how to prep and the entire cycle continues - with improvements added into each iteration.
The Beauty of The Fooda Flywheel
The Fooda Flywheel Starts with the Beautiful and Thoughtfully Crafted Digital Presence
Physical sites are augmented by strong digital products (mobile, web, email, plasma screens). Our consumers value their time and we make it easy for them to discover great food, order, and be rewarded for their loyalty. Consumers spend less time standing in lines and more time enjoying their meals with coworkers.
Fooda's Consumer App Engages Users and Simplifies Lunch at Work
Upcoming schedules and menus engage customers directly in the app. Employer subsidies are delivered through the app, making lunch accessible while increasing site participation. Contactless order ahead and mobile pay facilitate convenience. Fooda’s Rewards Program engages employees and increases participation. After each meal, users are asked to rate their experience.
Rich Data Captured through Digital Engagements Provides Valuable Learnings
As a result of having robust digital products, we generate fine grained data such as purchase history, views, clicks, and ratings. Restaurants and Fooda's team review user provided feedback to improve future service. Data pumped back into our system from digital engagements is used by AI and data algorithms to generate tighter operations and waste reduction.
Data Analysis and Continuous Improvements Create Longterm Success for Clients and Restaurant Partners
Fooda's operations are continuously optimized by data. Scheduling is based on the population’s real-time preferences. Fooda's technology provides the right mix of variety, with POS data continuously learning purchasing preferences, so that each site is served the food they want, when they want it.
Our Users Love Us
To sustain high participation, consumers need an experience that’s tailored to their individual preferences and designed to never go stale. Tens of thousands of users give Fooda a 5.0 rating.
Fooda Technology in Use
Fooda AI and POS
Actionable Data from Predictive Analytics
Employees at a tech company demonstrate historical preferences for bold flavors. They are likely to come into the office on Thursdays in June, especially if one of their favorite restaurants is scheduled. The forecast calls for rain, which means people are more likely going to eat onsite rather than leave for lunch.
Incheon, the Korean mom and pop restaurant scheduled for tomorrow has automatically been alerted with an updated prep count to account for the predicted surge in business, through their POS.
Consumer App Engagement
On the consumer side, an app notification alerts employees that one of their favorite restaurants is coming tomorrow. As an added bonus, it’s a great opportunity to accumulate Fooda Rewards points. Recipients check out the menu on their phone and they get excited.
Self Service Client Administration
On the client side, the company’s employee experience manager logs into their Fooda admin portal and adds 20 new-hires who are eligible to receive the company’s $5 employer-paid subsidy.
Fooda FinTech
Mobile POS
Incheon Restaurant, armed with their prep count, cooks their food and uses their POS app for site directions and building entrance access instructions.
Order Ahead and Feedback
Sam is in a meeting when she pre-orders her bibimbap with an egg and extra gochujang. She’s alerted 20 minutes later that her order is paid for and ready for her to pick up in the lunchroom. When she picks up her food, it is packaged and labeled for her. Thirty minutes later, she’s prompted to rate her experience and the feedback data is relayed to Fooda and the restaurant partner.
Contactless Payment and Rewards
Nick visits the Popup to see all the options presented before him and places his order. When it's time to pay, the Incheon Restaurant team member picks up their iOS device, with POS launched. Nick's order is tapped into the phone and he's given the total and pays using a mix of Google Pay and his employer paid subsidy. In less than a second, his food is paid for and he sees that he has automatically accumulated 12 rewards points from his purchase.
Unlike our Competitors, Fooda doesn't Buy our Tech. We Build it.
Proprietary software powers our business. Legacy food service providers cobble together off the shelf systems.
Powerful Self-Service Checkout Handles Multiple Vendor Payments
The cafeteria at the IBM building is buzzing with multiple embedded resident restaurant partners, visiting Popups, and six different online delivery options. Jake checks out the menus for each on his desktop and decides to head down for a mix of cuisine types to complete a full meal. He picks up mole chicken from one restaurant, a greek salad from another, a bottle of pure leaf iced tea from the grab and go counter. Even though this lunch is made up by three separate vendors, checkout is seamless at a self-service kiosk, powered by Fooda.
Proprietary Hub and Spoke Model: A Major Competitive Advantage
Designed by logistics experts and enabled by robust technology, Fooda utilizes a hub-and-spoke model to bring groups of people their online orders from multiple restaurants at unbeatable prices.
Fooda brings economies of scale and extreme efficiency to lunch at work by grouping orders together and eliminating the need for multiple drivers.
Janice works at a trading firm. Knowing she won’t be able to leave her floor for lunch, she places her Fooda order in the morning, selecting from the day’s list of curated restaurants.
She orders Greek salad from one restaurant with no olives, a taco from a second with extra cotija, and an oatmeal cookie from a third. Mixing and matching from multiple restaurants is encouraged and easy, where each consumer experience is a personalized order, like at a restaurant.
Technology Enabled Sustainability
Thinking about her carbon footprint, Janice is aware that - thanks to Fooda's model - a single driver is bringing food to her office, instead of dozens of cars and drivers supplying individual transactions for everyone. All the logistics are handled through Fooda's proprietary technology.
When her food arrives, Janice receives a notification on her phone and her lunch is placed within a short reach of her desk with the packaging clearly labeled and easy to find.
