Tenzo, a London startup and graduate of Techstars, has built what looks like an interesting and timely platform to help restaurants (and potentially any brick ‘n’ mortar retailer) get real-time data insights on how they and their staff are performing.
So, for example, Tenzo can help a restaurant manager or owner to forecast demand, such as how many people to staff and when or how much food to order. The platform can also be used to understand which staff are performing best, in terms of up-selling or driving positive social media mentions, or simply to know which location is performing best or what menu item should be de-listed.
The idea is that this data is delivered in a timely and actionable manner, helped in part by Tenzo being mobile-first, but also in the way the platform plugs into and makes sense of other data sources and software a restaurant runs its business on top of, such as POS systems, scheduling software or social media.
“The amount of data that restaurants generate is exploding and technology is fragmented. This makes it hard for restauranteurs to make informed decisions,” co-founder Christian Mouysset tells me. “Tenzo connects to a restaurant’s sources of data, analyses the data and delivers simple actionable insights to the in-store team members at the right time on mobile or web”.
That, says Mouysset, is in stark contrast to the old way of doing things, which sees restauranteurs attempt to use Excel to analyse the data that comes out of their POS, staff scheduling, inventory or social platforms. “We automate this thereby reducing the error rate and the time spent preparing these and make them available in an easier format to digest,” he says.
But, perhaps more noteworthy, given that there are lots of data plays for restaurants or other kinds of retailers, are the Tenzo founders’ backgrounds.
Mouysset co-founded Hummus Bros, a chain of quick service restaurants that now does $5 million in revenue, apparently. He says he’s seen the problem of getting actionable data insights first hand.
Tenzo’s other co-founder is Adam Taylor, who, after completing an MBA at Harvard, was an Associate Partner leading McKinsey’s big-data and growth-tech work in Silicon Valley. The pair met 17 years ago while studying computer science at Cambridge University.
Meanwhile, I’ve learned that the startup has closed £600,000 in funding. Backers include Techstars, Acequia Capital, Force Over Mass, and a number of angels and restaurant clients.