Bbot Inc.’s Steven Simoni & ChefScape Kitchen’s Ginny Grivas on improving the COVID-19 dining experience

A look at how Bbot Inc. is helping restaurants and bars all over the United States.

Simply put, the current COVID-19 pandemic has caused restaurants and bars to adjust how they service and interact with patrons to keep both servers and guests safe. This has led to many businesses seeking new technologies and platforms that help their servers and bartenders practice social distance while still providing quality experiences for guests.

Providing a pandemic-friendly ordering solution, the restaurant and hospitality tech startup Bbot Inc. enables restaurant and bar patrons to order and pay directly via their smartphones. Bbot is already deployed in over 500 venues and has a proven track record in helping businesses improve efficiencies and increase revenues.

Bbot solutions integrate directly into a venue’s existing ordering and payment system and are accessed by any smartphone by entering QR or location codes situated at tables within a venue.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Steven Simoni, co-founder and CEO of Bbot Inc., and Ginny Grivas, COO of ChefScape Kitchen, on behalf of Guilty Eats about Bbot and more.

July 2020 Q&A with Bbot Inc. & ChefScape Kitchen representative:

How would you describe Bbot to someone not yet familiar?

Steven Simoni: Bbot offers a configurable solution that helps businesses create digital menus and provide guest-controlled, contactless ordering, and payment options.

To expand on that, with Bbot, restaurants, bars, hotels and other hospitality organizations can simplify their ordering and payments process by eliminating the need for physical menus, customers waiting in line, the exchange of credit cards and cash, or close interactions between servers and patrons.

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Guests can instead access digital menus and pay directly on their smartphones by going to a branded website — via QR or entering a location code) — which can be found at their table, in their room, or within the venue. Bbot integrates directly into a venue’s existing POS system or at the printer level, making the onboarding process simple.

We currently work with over 500 hospitality companies including fine dining restaurants, breweries, hotels, food halls, and more. With the current pandemic and hospitality operators looking for safer ways to open back up, that number is growing daily.

Ginny Grivas: Bbot is an ordering and payment tool that guests can access right from their phones. Guests simply go to a designated website via a QR code or enter a location code that is displayed at their table or within a venue, which allows orders to be delivered straight to them. After those quick steps, they can access a digital menu, place their orders and pay through their phones.

And what makes Bbot different from other vendors you are aware of?

Steven Simoni: When we started Bbot in 2017, we wanted to solve the problem of having to wait in a long line just to order a drink and make it easier on staff who are handling orders for many tables or hotel rooms at once. We did a lot of industry research and talked with our initial customers to figure out what the current solutions weren’t doing and what staff and consumers would like to see changed.

Ultimately, we created a solution that works for all hospitality organizations including hotels, restaurants, breweries, bars, resorts, food halls and more with both in-venue and online ordering. Other solutions available tend to focus on multi-vendor establishments, restaurants and bars.

Bbot is simple to integrate, configure, customize, and use, allowing our customers to start using our solution quickly without a drawn out onboarding process. It also integrates seamlessly with organizations’ existing software and solutions, allowing our customers to continue using the platforms they are comfortable with.

This includes SevenRooms, Rooam, Seated, Yumpingo, 7shifts, Tattle, and a large variety of point-of-sale systems. Additionally, our solution also provides venues with helpful insights into their sales, workflow and operations that typically can’t be accessed through more traditional ordering and payment methods.

Ginny Grivas: What makes Bbot different is that our guests can flip between digital menu pages for each restaurant, select items from different restaurants, add them to one shopping cart, and pay for that whole multi-restaurant order all at once. Orders are sent to each individual vendor, with tickets displaying only the items that their staff needs to prepare, and each vendor automatically receives their correct portion of the revenue from that order.

To say the least, we are in the midst of unprecedented times. But how has the current COVID-19 pandemic changed your business for the better?

Steven Simoni: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on the hospitality industry. Restaurants, bars, hotels and other companies around the world are trying to find ways to open back up and serve guests in a safe and responsible manner. We are glad that we have been able to help our partners serve customers who are dining in or picking up their orders while practicing social distancing.

Bbot is a useful tool for all hospitality organizations during this time as it allows guests to order and pay for their food and drinks on their smartphones. This contactless offering helps keep everyone safer in a venue, and doesn’t sacrifice hospitality.

Ginny Grivas: With Bbot, our guests can feel confident in having a completely touchless ordering and payment option. We are happy that we are able to maintain a high level of customer service while also making guests feel comfortable and safe.

What is coming up for your business in the coming months?

Steven Simoni: We just announced that we closed a seed funding round with Craft Ventures, which is allowing us to expand our team and solution. We are currently working on the launch of a new point-of-sale system integrations and will also enhance our support for hospitality organizations in Europe.

Ginny Grivas: Before the pandemic, our customers would go to a specific restaurant kiosk where they would place their orders. Now, our business is changing into more of a virtual food hall. Instead of ordering directly through a restaurant’s kiosk and seeing the physical operation of where they’re ordering, our guests order and pay through their phones and have their food delivered to their exact location within the venue.

Finally, any last words for the kids?

Steven Simoni: Stay safe and support your favorite local businesses!

Have you diner and/or drank through a Bbot-enabled business?