Bars and restaurants across the globe had to quickly adjust to safely serve diners during the pandemic. Emerging from this need was the increased use of digital technologies to reduce the number of touchpoints between servers and guests, leading to a redesign in payment and order processing. Vita Mojo is a digital ordering and restaurant management platform that empowers restaurant operators to take control of their operations with one seamless console. The platform is versatile enough to work with a vast array of establishments including quick service restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, corporate catering, ghost kitchens, pubs/bars, and fast casual locations. Powerful enough to power anything from kiosks to QR codes, digital menu customization, and ordering, Vita Mojo also handles the increasingly important and challenging task of managing online demand channels like delivery apps such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, and Deliveroo. On the business side, the platform is integrated with leading EPOS providers, review/feedback technologies, gift cards, data apps, and CRMs. Hospitality providers using the platform have seen a 35% increase in average order value and a decrease of 40% in labour costs.
London TechWatch caught up with Vita Mojo CEO and Cofounder Nick Popovici to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $34.1M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our latest funding round was led by global technology investment firm Battery Ventures, an investor in a number of US-based restaurant and hospitality tech companies including Olo and CrunchTime! Information Systems. We secured $30 million, which will enable us to refine our product and expand into new markets.
Tell us about your product or service.
Vita Mojo is a complete digital ordering and restaurant management platform for hospitality businesses. We enable operators to manage their core operations using one integrated system, including digital ordering via their own channels and third-party delivery platforms – such as Just Eat, Deliveroo and UberEats – to Point of Sale (EPOS), Kitchen Display System (KDS), and back office solutions.
For customers, Vita Mojo enables self-service ordering from kiosks and customers’ own devices, as well as a more efficient takeaway experience. On the restaurant-management side, it empowers operators to seamlessly integrate all ordering channels in one system. Our clients – which include LEON, Nando’s, and YO! – typically see an increase of 35% in average order value and an average reduction in labour costs of up to 40%.
What inspired the start of Vita Mojo?
I spent the early part of my career working as a Portfolio Manager for BlackRock, Schroders, and Wellington Management. I got sick and no one knew what was wrong with me. After months in the dark about my health, I ended up changing my diet and ultimately it changed my life.
Back to full health and inspired by my own journey, I saw an opportunity to harness the power of technology to help others improve the way they eat and drink. In 2015, I partnered with my cofounder Stefan Catoiu to open the first totally digital and cashless quick service restaurant in the UK. Our mission was to build the technology that would sit at the heart of restaurants in the future: customers could personalise their order around their unique needs, while behind the scenes we focused on automating human repetitive tasks via intelligent algorithms and robotics.
Using our restaurants as testing environments, we evolved Vita Mojo into a SaaS platform that brings together both customer ordering and kitchen operations. Today, we’re powering the digital transformation behind the best food and drink brands – helping them to deliver a remarkable experience for customers and simplify their operations.
How is it different?
There is no other tech provider that offers the same level of customisation and flexibility for restaurant chains. Leading operators partner with us because we can deliver a customer experience that looks and feels exactly like their brand, and they also love the fact that we are fast-moving and iterate our product quickly depending on market needs.
The breadth of our platform also sets us apart. Unlike most hospitality tech providers who specialise in one element of the restaurant tech stack, Vita Mojo is a powerful, full-suite platform that brings together both customer ordering and kitchen operations.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
We are headquartered in London and we currently serve over 130 operators across the UK and Europe. The next phase of growth will be focused on accelerating our growth across Europe, where there’s huge scope for digital transformation.
What’s your business model?
Unlike most hospitality tech providers who specialise in one element of the restaurant tech stack, Vita Mojo is a powerful, full-suite platform that brings together both customer ordering and kitchen operations. We are a one-stop shop for operators.
We see a gap in the market where enterprise chains are concerned and with businesses who want a customised product so that it will look and feel like their brand. The product pays for itself, which is why clients love it – the tech platform not only improves the customer experience but the data and insight enables operators to make much better business decisions.
What are your post-COVID office plans?
We work on a hybrid model which means that once a week teams come into the office for an optional team collaboration day, and the other four days are spent working from home or hot-desking in the office if that’s their jam!
We’re proud of the flexibility that we offer our Mojis and want to promote a positive work-life balance at Vita Mojo.
What was the funding process like?
Battery Ventures has already invested in several leading hospitality tech providers, so they have a deep understanding of our target market and how our product has an edge over other providers.
We held a number of discovery sessions which enabled both us and Battery to get a sense of how each other worked and it was clear early on that they would be able to bring a wealth of knowledge and ideas to our business.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
It’s undeniably a volatile investment market at the moment. We’ve been in a fortunate position in that the hospitality industry is ripe for disruption and our platform is uniquely set up to help operators thrive.
Restaurant operators are facing significant headwinds – particularly economic uncertainty and labour shortages – but the savviest brands can see the need to invest in technology to set them up for sustainable growth. Our investor, Battery Ventures, has seen the impact of restaurant tech in the US and is excited about the opportunity to partner with us as we expand further in Europe.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We are experienced restaurant operators and we understand the challenges operators face first-hand. We’ve poured all our energy into building the tech stack we wish existed, with every product feature designed with real operators in mind. This has set us apart from other providers and Battery was particularly excited about our unique position in the market.
We’re also at a pivotal point in the digital transformation of the hospitality sector. Restaurants realise they can see a significant revenue boost from an integrated, multi-channel ordering system, given the rise in delivery and takeaway orders that has outlasted the pandemic. The vast amounts of data generated by Vita Mojo’s technology, from order to bill, helps restaurants serve customers better and build loyalty by personalising their experience and offering customised marketing based on previous order activity.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
With the funding round complete, now is the time for action. Our investment will be put to work developing exciting new product functionality, upgrading our data and reporting features, and growing our Client Success, Product, and Engineering teams.
We’re on track to double our headcount over the next year, which will enable us to continue to develop our products to better serve our existing clients and put more feet on the ground in Europe.
We’re on track to double our headcount over the next year, which will enable us to continue to develop our products to better serve our existing clients and put more feet on the ground in Europe.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Other than cut your cash burn, do less, but do it better. Narrow your focus, become experts at a single thing.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
In the near term, we’ll be accelerating our product roadmap, upgrading our data and insights features and growing our client success, product and engineering teams. European expansion is also a huge part of our growth strategy. The sky’s the limit.
What’s your favourite outdoor activity in London?
Eating out of course!
