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Our Story

Technology Designed by Restaurateurs — For Restaurateurs

GoTab launched in 2016 as a code on the receipt for mobile payment of restaurant tabs. In 2018 it became a QR code. The idea started when co-Founder Tim McLaughlin co-opened his first restaurant and brewery in 2015. It had been a passion project in the works for many years. 

Tim had spent the previous 15 years growing and successfully exiting a thriving e-commerce technology agency. He immediately saw areas where his new restaurant could improve operationally. At the same time, he saw they could maintain high quality standards and service.* His agency clients included many high-touch service businesses such as Mandarin Oriental Hotels, Goldman Sachs, Sotheby’s Auction, and similar. Tim was very familiar with bespoke service.

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E-Commerce Solutions for the Restaurant Industry

Tim and the GoTab team identified four problems that better restaurant commerce technology could solve:

  • How to make it easier for guests to place an order, or reorder an item, without having to flag down a server or wait in line. Solving this problem could result in as much as a 30 percent increase in average cover. 
  • How to improve the communication between restaurant operators and their guests. Wouldn’t it make sense to be able to address guest issues while they’re still at the establishment. Why wait for guests to submit a bad Yelp review?
  • How to avoid order errors that result in frustrated guests and servers and expensive chargebacks. When guests place their own orders, they’re far more likely to get them right.
  • How to give guests and servers systems that are inexpensive, functional and easy-to-use? For decades, the restaurant technology category has been dominated by costly, inflexible, hard-to-use systems that limit innovation and burden operators with long-term contracts and hidden costs.

When COVID-19 upended the entire hospitality industry, the problems GoTab started to address four years ago suddenly became more acute for everyone. 

So we got to work.

Since March 2020, GoTab has experienced a 7,000 percent increase in transaction volume. We’ve acquired hundreds of new customers across the U.S. We’ve worked aggressively to build out new capabilities that our operators need, like a full-featured ecommerce grocery market for Founding Farmers Restaurant Group. When pandemic restrictions made it impossible to serve dine-in guests, we built first-party ordering and delivery capabilities for breweries and restaurants like Institution Ale, and Barcelona Wine Bar.

And our work continues

GoTab never stands still. We intend to provide solutions to help the hospitality industry of the future thrive. To thrive, operators need the flexibility to pivot in response to what’s happening in their unique markets and venues. That could mean integrating with a labor management solution like 7shifts, so they can more efficiently run their operations with reduced staff. Or, it could mean connecting to delivery services like Postmates, so operators can recapture their fair share of lost revenue to third party food delivery services. 

And we’re doing it at a lower cost than any competitor with comparable features.

We charge a nominal setup fee, and some of the lowest base transaction fees in the marketplace. We don’t require a contract and our software can run on an operator’s existing hardware. 

We are 100 percent aligned with our operators’ success. We make money when our operators make money. It’s that simple. We simply wouldn’t operate any other way. 

If you like our story and are interested in joining us, we’re hiring. Check out our Careers page.

If you’d like to see how GoTab can help your business, Request a Demo.

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