The Pandemic caused a major upheaval in the US restaurant industry. Smaller operations struggled to stay afloat amidst brick-and-mortar closures, and as the demand for home delivery soared their margins were tightened further by hefty third-party delivery app charges. Add to that the fact that consumers become customers of the delivery app, not the restaurant itself, and it’s a development that has spelt real trouble for independent locales. Owner has set out to level the playing field.
Owner’s platform provides independent restaurants with the infrastructure they need to take control of their business without deferring to third-party apps like GrubHub and Deliveroo. It offers marketing, online ordering, and support solutions to over 1,000 restaurants across the U.S. The company has taken impressive first strides, too: they have a 7 figure run-rate, over 105% monthly revenue retention, and helped restaurants avoid millions in online order platform fees.
It’s a hugely attractive proposition for independent business owners, and research suggests it’s a winning idea for consumers too. Over 60% say they’d prefer to deal with restaurants directly, but historically the infrastructure simply hasn’t been in place to do so. With Owner seeing impressive traction by tripling its customers between 2023 and 2024, it's unsurprising that its 2024 funding is being channelled into engineering and design teams, alongside the development of new tools.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
