SAN FRANCISCO — The restaurant industry is undergoing a transformative change, and San Francisco-based startup Tyme Commerce has developed the most innovative under-the-hood systems to enable restaurants to successfully navigate that shift. Tyme’s end-to-end artificial intelligence driven food platform innovates on two fronts: Simplifying food for large employee groups and establishing a restaurant-to-restaurant marketplace which increases revenues and creates entrepreneurial opportunities for specialty providers.
Restaurants have seen a dramatic shift away from phone to online ordering, with online delivery and pickup apps gaining popularity. The first wave of simple online apps however, target individual ordering, and fall short when used in a corporate setting where a company may be trying to organize lunch for several employees, all with different preferences.
The Tyme platform curates and manages workplace food programs with a highly personalized solution, along with a “digital concierge” named Emily that caters to each person’s dietary preferences. “Ordering food in a work environment can quickly get confusing, especially with different preferences in a large group,” said Bobby Marhamat, CEO of Tyme Commerce. “Emily is a flawless concierge who remembers each person’s preferences, is able to make intelligent suggestions and can easily manage orders from dozens of employees at once, all in a seamless app that really can please everyone.”
Tyme Commerce’s platform is truly all-encompassing, and it doesn’t stop with Emily. Tyme has also rolled out a restaurant-to-restaurant marketplace, the first of its kind which allows restaurants to expand their offerings and increase revenue, while also providing a solution to smaller startups in need of a market.
With a vibrant restaurant marketplace offering everything from specialty high-end coffee beans to hand-made chocolate truffles, even a smaller restaurant can offer an eclectic mix of bespoke goods to enhance the menu. The marketplace features a growing list of some of the most sought-after products, including super-premium ice cream from Los Angeles-based Coolhaus and for those who long for an authentic New York experience, old-world specialties directly from Sarge’s Deli in Manhattan.
“Our marketplace solves two problems,” said Marhamat. “First, restaurants wanting to provide specialty items that they don’t make in-house will now have a ready-made marketplace that goes beyond the standard offerings of large restaurant suppliers. Second, smaller providers offering unique items such as specialty desserts have often faced an uphill battle in finding a market. With our marketplace, these specialty providers will have a ready-made platform for sales and expansion.”
