“Since we started working with Otter we have more visibility on our delivery orders. This means fewer order mistakes, fewer refunds, better ratings on delivery apps and, as a consequence, more orders.”

In 2010, the EDOSTAR Group opened its doors with the goal of promoting Japanese culture through food. Since its conception, the group’s mantra has remained front and center on its website: “extend your knowledge, feed your soul.” More than a decade later, EDOSTAR Group has multiple virtual brands and nine successful restaurants across Paris.

We spoke with Louis Fossati and Marc-Antoine Tamba, who are currently responsible for EDOSTAR’s operations, to learn more about running an expanding Japanese universe—and how Otter helps super-charge their delivery service across multiple locations.

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Fine dining, street food, grocery stores and virtual brands

“Delivery has been a great opportunity to stay afloat, create new revenue streams and gain market share with new brands.”

For EDOSTAR, it all started with Kura, a gourmet restaurant that blends the delicate flavors of French and Japanese cuisine. Two years later they welcomed Hana into the family, a street food concept specializing in bento, donbury and traditional desserts.

Hana’s success not only granted them three locations across the city but also allowed them to venture into Japanese products. That’s how Kappabashi Market was born, a Konbini (Japanese grocery store) offering authentic products both online and offline in their Hana restaurants. EDOSTAR also owns two brands, Mina Thés and I love Saké, to distribute organic tea and sake from Japanese producers across the country.

“The group’s goal is to extend Japanese culture through France, so we’re always looking to bring new concepts and products to the market,” state Louis and Marc-Antoine. The last additions to the family came after 2020 with Minato and Syko, fast food brands, and Iza, a more traditional restaurant serving Japanese tapas, sake and ramen.

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Succeeding in delivery in the middle of a pandemic

“With several concepts per restaurant, we ended up with over six tablets per store. It was becoming a real headache for the staff to understand what was coming from each tablet and to manage unavailable products.”

With little focus on delivery and multiple physical restaurants, the EDOSTAR group had to adapt quickly when the pandemic hit. “Minato was born during the first lockdown. It was our answer to the new digital and delivery demand,” explain Louis and Marc-Antoine.

Setting a restaurant apart in a crowded delivery market was not an easy task, so EDOSTAR resorted to delivery platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. “We needed to boost visibility in the short term, so we created different streetfood sub-brands on delivery platforms.” That’s when Minato Fry (fried chicken), Minato Udon (noodle soups), Minato Donburi (rice bowls) and more came to life.

Delivery turned out to be a great opportunity for EDOSTAR, but they soon realized that managing multiple virtual brands, delivery platforms and locations was not an easy task. “With several concepts per restaurant, we ended up with over six tablets per store. It was becoming a real headache for the staff to understand what was coming from each tablet and to manage unavailable products.”

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How EDOSTAR superpowers their delivery business with Otter

“One of the big problems we had was that the staff didn’t have time to mark products as unavailable or they forgot to do it on some tablets. That meant that we ended up with operational concerns and dissatisfied customers. Otter has allowed us to limit that considerably and to improve our KPIs on delivery platforms.”

At first, EDOSTAR signed up for an Otter competitor to aid their delivery operations, but the group was quickly disappointed by their pricing and product. That’s when they came across Otter. “When you have 70 virtual restaurants to manage, plus ten physical stores, a delivery management solution makes a huge difference,” state Louis and Marc-Antoine.

Otter’s Order Manager solution helps EDOSTAR’S restaurants consolidate their delivery services like Uber Eats and Deliveroo into a single tablet. Plus, as a centralized hub for online orders, Otter provides them with a range of management solutions from order auto acceptance, to menu management, to storefront pausing and more. “Since we started working with Otter we have more visibility on our delivery orders. This means fewer order mistakes, fewer refunds, better ratings on delivery apps and, as a consequence, more orders.”

Menu management is one of the features that made a huge difference to EDOSTAR. “One of the big problems we had was that the staff didn’t have time to mark products as unavailable or they forgot to do it on some tablets. That meant that we ended up with operational concerns and dissatisfied customers. Otter has allowed us to limit that considerably and to improve our KPIs on delivery platforms.” Otter’s Menu Management feature allows them to make menu updates, add and remove items, change prices, and more - for any brand or location - all within Otter.

EDOSTAR’s delivery strategy paid off. Since the beginning of the lockdown, the group boosted its revenue by 260%, increased its online orders x5 and went from making 5% of their sales from delivery to 60% today. According to Louis and Marc-Antoine, Otter helps their staff on the ground save 30 minutes per day. Plus, updating menus has gone from a 1-day mission to a 2-hour task.

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How to support EDOSTAR

If you’re in Paris, you can support the EDOSTAR Group by ordering food from any of their restaurants. We recommend Iza and Kura if you’re looking for the traditional restaurant experience and Hana, Minato and Syko if you’re craving homemade Japanese street food.

Keep an eye out: new EDOSTAR restaurants are in the works for 2022.

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