The team at Otter and our restaurant partners are passionate about what we do because we love food and people. As the way we eat evolves, restaurants big & small around the globe began evolving their business to cater to the growing delivery market – and we’re partnering with all types of restaurants to ensure this shift is as successful as possible. We know that each restaurant is different: our goal is to provide custom-fit solutions and support for each and every one of our partners. 

Why Our Partners are Global Heroes

Take, for example, Chrysi Arnaki; an entrepreneur/ foodie turned dog trainer turned lawyer turned aesthetician who married “an amazing cook” and restaurateur. With hard work, the couple brought Chrysi’s heritage to Vancouver by opening up Argo Greek Cuisine, a Greek counter service restaurant specialising in Greek cuisine, pizzas, and fresh pasta. But perhaps the most impressive quality of the owners is their people-first attitude:

“Our focus is maintaining high quality, keeping a constant work ethic, and growing. For our employees, they’re looking for a better quality of life: so we pay them based on Canadian standards, plus overtime, holidays, bonuses based on productivity, medical benefits, and team trips.” - Chrysi Arnaki, Argo Greek Cuisine (Canada).

Or Desi Saran, a seasoned restaurateur, world traveler, and self-proclaimed jiu-jitsu nerd who founded Sweetberry; a chain that makes açai bowls, poke, paninis, salad, wraps, and smoothies for the health-conscious consumer: 

“We hope to inspire people to be more conscious of their health and wellness from both the nutrition angle and the energy angle. Being able to educate the public about holistic wellness through nutritious, high-quality food is what gets me and my team most excited.” - Desi Saran, Sweetberry (US). 

These are only two of the many restaurateurs and visionaries we are lucky to call partners. In this article, we’ll dig into how some of our partners around the globe turned a challenging year into an opportunity for growth. 

How Industry-wide evolutions impacted restaurants big & small from Europe to Asia to North America

While our partners around the globe differ in size, location, and cuisine, there is one binding experience that each Otter partner has in common — the global pandemic. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, restaurants had to quickly shift to a majority delivery business model, which meant navigating multiple delivery apps, dealing with operational changes, and finding new ways to connect with their customers.

 In reflecting on the pandemic, our restaurant partners located in the US, Italy, Hong Kong, and more all agreed on one common roadblock: managing the increase of online orders across multiple tablets, platforms, and sources. Restaurants worldwide from China to Canada and everywhere in between were experiencing similar challenges during the pandemic. For most of our restaurant partners, a few key tensions arose: the endless tablets & cords, constant beeping and notifications, order errors and issues – resulting in a less than ideal customer experience, and perhaps even lost revenue in the form of missed or cancelled orders.

“With the volume of take-away orders from various platforms constantly growing, we found ourselves in a complicated, confusing and very stressful situation for our employees, with too many tablets and printers to manage all playing together at the same time.” - Claudio Ricci, Greek Fusion (Italy).

“All the tablets... The notifications were endless. We didn’t have a direct integration into our Clover POS, which meant we were manually inputting orders resulting in errors, cancellations, and stress.” - Desi Saran, Sweetberry (USA).

"We were managing about 20 tablets from one location. Not only was it a mess in terms of space, but it was also impossible to control at the management level. Lots of manual processes and complications." - Ernesto Barrón, FOODIOOM (Spain)

“When the pandemic hit, we were already working with several tablets and printers, and we were about to add more to the list. It was really difficult to manage – one of my printers worked with Deliveroo, but not with Uber Eats. It was a real pain.” - Mickaël, Sweet Time (France).

During the pandemic, we had to rely on delivery platforms for orders & sales. But the number of delivery platforms in Hong Kong has grown so much in the past few years, and if you want to truly serve the vast majority of customers, you have to be on almost all of them. We didn’t physically have enough space for all of the tablets, and we were making mistakes trying to keep up with all of them.” - Lemon Yu, Home Feel, (China).

How our restaurant partners turned challenges into opportunities alongside Otter

“I love my restaurant and I love what I do, so when the pandemic hit, I began exploring every avenue for growth – from ghost kitchens to food trucks to virtual brands. We have a huge kitchen with two grills, and I figured there was a way to make better use of the space but I wasn’t sure how. That’s when I found Otter. The team explained that I could use the extra space to create new brands and get more orders. It worked and today we have multiple revenue streams rather than just one. Without Otter, I’m not sure if Figueroa Philly would even still be operating. It’s been a game changer.” - Danny, Figueroa Philly (US) 

“One of my printers worked with Deliveroo, but not with Uber Eats. It was a real pain. Thanks to Otter’s Order Manager, Sweet Time can centralise all of its orders and delivery platforms on a single screen.” - Mickaël, Sweet Time (France)

“With the volume of take-away orders from various platforms constantly growing, we found ourselves in a complicated, confusing and very stressful situation for our employees, with too many tablets and printers to manage all playing together at the same time.’ During our free trial, we realised almost immediately that Otter is an essential tool for managing a restaurant in the best possible way, reducing errors, ensuring more peace of mind for the kids who work in our premises and managing everything with a single tablet and a single printer.”  - Chrysi Arnaki, Agro Greek Cuisine (Canada)

“When the pandemic hit, we began experimenting with constant menu updates to see what would work best on delivery platforms. The delivery platforms were unwilling to help us change the menu as often as we wanted to, but the team at Otter was all in on this approach which has helped us increase our revenue.” - Lemon Yu, Home Feel (China)

"The reports provide a very professional overview. Otter has given me the feeling of having a very powerful management tool. I can see how the operation is doing, how sales are going and what can be done to improve." - Ernesto Barrón, FOODIOOM (Spain)

While the past year has certainly been challenging, we’re constantly inspired by our restaurant partners ability to evolve, experiment, and grow.

Are you a global hero ready to grow your restaurant with Otter?

We said it before, and we’ll say it again. We love people, we love food, and we love serving those who serve others (literally). That’s why we do our best to provide restaurants around the globe with more than just a platform for delivery management & optimisation. Our purpose is to help restaurants grow their businesses and succeed in the midst of challenges through true partnership and support in this ever-evolving industry. 

“For the skeptics out there, I suggest you 'try otter.' You won’t regret it.” - Jason, Fukuryu Ramen (US)

We would love to partner with your restaurant to support you in succeeding in delivery!

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