Launched in 2011, CAKE is a Sysco (NYSE:SYY) company that works to fuse Silicon Valley innovation with decades of restaurant experience in order to improve dining experiences for restaurant operators and customers alike.
“The restaurant industry has traditionally lagged behind other industries in the adoption of technology,” CAKE CEO Mani Kulasooriya told Small Business Trends.
CAKE Restaurant Management System
“CAKE was built on the vision of changing the restaurant industry through its platform, including changing and enhancing how operators interact with their customers. We are combining processes, from searching to ordering to payment, into one platform, allowing for the connection of the entire restaurant ecosystem.”
Through its two core products, CAKE integrates front and back of house operations to enable restaurant owners unprecedented visibility and control over their point of sale, table and wait list management, menu pricing, guest preference tracking, reservations systems, inventory and payroll.
By looking at all of these processes on one, easy-to-use platform, the hope is that operators will be able to make smarter, data-based decisions that go on to increase efficiencies and cost savings. With the support of that data, decisions that independent restaurant owners might normally wrestle with, like whether to change menu items or axe certain specials, become substantially easier.
“On the restaurant level, this means enhancing the customer relationship by showing actionable ways operators can improve their restaurants,” Kulasooriya says.
“On a more macro level, this means pinpointing and identifying trends in the greater restaurant industry in order to establish industry benchmarks and best practices.”
CAKE is already proving effective on the ground.
After adopting CAKE’s core Point of Sale and Guest Manager products, one restaurant in West Columbia, South Carolina was able to increase its table turns by 6 percent, post a $14,000 increase in revenues and slash the number of walkaways.
Tripp Turbyfill, owner of Café Strudel, said that CAKE had enabled his restaurant to improve turnovers without having to invest time and money in staff training.
“Not only can I provide more accurate wait times to my guests, but we’ve been able to turn tables faster,” Turbyfill said. “Resulting in extra money in our pocket and happier guests.”
Restaurant owners are able to schedule a free demonstration of CAKE’s core products online. The company’s Point of Sale service is available at a cost of $69 per month for hardware, and $49 per month for software. CAKE’s Guest Manager system costs $59 per month for a subscription, as well as $99 for activation.
Image: CAKE
How exactly is the product able to speed up table turns? Does it offer at-table payment? Because that’s a huge point for me personally. Waiting for the check was always such a waste of time.
Aira Bongco
This is interesting. It is like the next generation in restaurant technology. It can really refine processes. I would love to see it in the works.
Brian Dunston
Cake is awesome! Zienix is ok, too