Olo (Online Ordering)

Olo
Private
Industry Internet, Mobile, Restaurants
Founded New York, NY
(June 2005)
Headquarters New York, NY
Key people
 Noah Glass, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Website www.olo.com
olo online ordering

Olo is a mobile and online food ordering platform that allows customers to order food from online menus and prepay in advance from their mobile or desktop device. The company is based in New York City.

Olo was founded as GoMobo in 2005 by entrepreneur Noah Glass[1] and renamed Olo in 2010 (an acronym for "online ordering"). Their registered trademark slogan is "Skip the Line ®". Olo works with chain restaurants across the United States;[2] according to a 2015 report in Fortune Magazine, the company had served approximately 10 million customers.[3] The company reports reaching 30 million users in 2016.[4]

Leadership

Noah Glass (not to be confused with Noah Glass (Twitter)) holds a B.A. in political science from Yale University. He left Harvard Business School in 2005 to found GoMobo.com, which was renamed Olo in 2010. Prior to founding GoMobo/Olo, Glass worked for Endeavor Global, Inc. and National Retail Federation.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer joined Olo's Board of Directors in 2015.[5]

Clients

Olo services multi-unit restaurants with 40 or more locations. The company works with approximately 150 brands,[6] including Applebee's, b.good, Baskin-Robbins, BURGERFi, Capriotti’s, Carlo’s Bakery, Cheba Hut, Chili's, Chipotle, Cold Stone Creamery, Costa Vida, Cousins Subs, Dickey’s Barbecue, Down to Earth Organic & Natural, Famous Dave's, Field's Good Chicken, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, GFG (Marble Slab/Maggie Moo’s), Giant Eagle, Izzo's Illegal Burrito, Jamba Juice, Kneaders Bakery & Cafe, McAlister's Deli, My Ceviche, Noodles & Company, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Olga’s Kitchen, Port of Subs, Pret a Manger, Real Mex (Chevy’s Fresh Mex/El Torito), Shake Shack, sweetgreen, Taylor Gourmet, Tin Drum Asiacafe, The Counter Burger, Veggie Grill, Wayback Burgers, Which Wich, and Wingstop. Olo's mobile ordering app for Five Guys Burgers & Fries was rated positively among major chain restaurant apps by Applause, a software testing company.[7]

Usage

As of 2016, Olo reports having served 30 million users.[8] According to an October 2013 Forbes.com article, clients of Olo have reported having average ticket sizes increase by 25 percent.[9] Some clients have experienced up to a 73 percent increase in ticket size.[10]

Technology

Olo works with restaurants to create mobile applications for the Android, Blackberry, and iPhone,[11] as well as mobile-optimized ordering websites. Their online food ordering products are white labeled and integrate with restaurant point of sale systems.

Olo was the first United States online ordering company to release text message ordering capabilities.[12]

In 2015, Olo released Dispatch, a white-labeled product that matches customers with available delivery couriers.

Security

Olo systems are PCI Level 1 compliant, the highest level of compliance by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DDS). Systems are reviewed annually by the PCI Committee to validate cardholder data security.

Applications

Olo runs on an open framework, enabling developers to build applications on top of its secure and integrated framework. Olo facilitates connections between the restaurant side and to consumer-facing interfaces which can range from standard mobile applications to chatbots.

Olo’s software connects to restaurant call center systems to increase efficiency for catering and takeout orders placed by phone.

Tech Stack

The Olo platform is largely built on Microsoft’s .NET framework, alongside a variety of open-source software solutions. IIS is used to serve web requests, while data is primarily stored in MS SQL Server with Redis serving as a secondary inter-process cache and pub/sub bus.

Investors and Funding

Olo has raised USD $63.25 million in total funding from Founder Collective, RRE Ventures, Core Capital, PayPal, Staley Capital, the Raine Group, and Danny Meyer.[13]

References

  1. ↑ David Muir (20 September 2006). "Texting Food Orders Makes Cutting In Line OK". ABC News.
  2. ↑ Alexander Wolfe (1 November 2007). "GoMobo Brings Fandango-Like Advance Ordering To Your Morning Coffee Run". Information Week.
  3. ↑ "Exclusive: Tech firm Olo claims 10 million users". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  4. ↑ "Crunchbase.com: Olo". 21 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "SHAK's Meyer joins Olo board". 2016-02-18. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
  6. ↑ Little, Katie (2016-06-06). "This CEO passed up Harvard Business School to make a huge bet on smartphones". CNBC. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  7. ↑ Benjamin Gray (22 June 2016). "The Best and Worst Restaurant Apps of 2016".
  8. ↑ "Crunchbase.com: Olo". 21 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "OLO On Mobile Restaurant Ordering: 'We Want To Be The Amazon Of Food'". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  10. ↑ "Why digital ordering is a 'must have' for QSRs". www.qsrweb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  11. ↑ Robin Hilmantel (March 2009). "GoMobo Brings an EZ Pass Lane to Quick-Serves". QSR Magazine.
  12. ↑ "America's Best Young Entrepreneurs". BusinessWeek. 30 October 2006.
  13. ↑ "Crunchbase.com: Olo". 21 July 2016.
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