Just Eat — the marketplace for online food delivery that IPO’d but which is now under increasing pressure from several avenues, not least Uber and Deliveroo — has decided to add to its “quiver of arrows” by acquiring Practi, a software service that provides independent restaurants and small chains with tablet-based Point of Sale (POS) and restaurant management systems.
The acquisition cost is an initial £6.7 million ($8.7 million), with further payments dependent on the business achieving certain commercial milestones.
The hope is that this will strengthen Just Eat’s hold on restaurant partners on its platform, either by deploying new tablets with new restaurants or by incorporating Practi’s software on Just Eat’s Orderpads. By using the Orderpads, Just Eat will effectively “lock in” these restaurants because it incorporates both POS, cash and card payment handling, inventory management, kitchen operation and employee management systems, all within a single software package across multiple devices.
Previously, Just Eat acquired Flyt, which connects Just Eat’s platform to restaurants chains’ existing POS systems. The Practi platform will, instead, be used to target restaurants that do not have POS and restaurant management systems.
Practi’s founders, Ohad Folman and Edan Folman, will stay on to manage the business.
Peter Duffy, Just Eat’s interim CEO, said in a statement: “We are very excited about the acquisition of Practi. We found that many of our restaurant partners were calling for this type of software to help manage their businesses. It will play a vital role in supporting small and medium sized restaurants as it transforms how they run their restaurants and deliver the best service for customers through Just Eat.”