Steer Considers $18M Investment to Grow B2B Marketplace for Restaurants

Steer Technologies is considering a proposed sale of 37.5% of its B2B marketplace for restaurants.

The proposed $18 million transaction would value Restaurant Supply Business at $48 million on closing, Steer said in a Monday (Jan. 23) press release.

“The confidence of the strategic investors in our Restaurant Supply Business model is very encouraging,” Steer CEO Suman Pushparajah said in the release. “The intended significant direct investment into the company is expected to speed up the growth and expansion of our Restaurant Supply Business, as well as support Steer’s business objective of disrupting the current way most restaurant owners procure the critical supplies required to run their business.”

Restaurants are doing all they can to improve their inventory management and to get goods and ingredients fast enough to meet as much of the existing demand as possible.

For example, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced in April that it was testing out radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to boost inventory management speed and precision.

During the same month, grocery giant Kroger announced that its Dallas Division was launching Kroger Restaurant Supply to offer restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area next-day delivery of wholesale orders, competitive pricing and a web portal featuring a non-fluctuating price structure.

To solve another challenge facing restaurants, Lendica and Altametrics partnered in October to offer B2B buy now, pay later (BNPL) options for restaurants, enabling buyers to spread out their purchases from suppliers across several months.

Steer’s Restaurant Supply Business, which was launched in 2021, sells and delivers supplies to restaurants on a just-in-time basis. This allows restaurants to reduce their inventory, lower their storage costs and choose from a wide selection of environmentally friendly items, according to the press release.

The platform now serves 20% of the independently owned restaurants in Ontario, Canada, the release said.

“We believe that taking steps to bring on well-aligned strategic and financial partners into our Restaurant Supply Business could be a great strategic benefit for Steer, which we anticipate will allow us to accelerate further growth and enter into untapped markets where our unique business model is expected to achieve tight product-market fit,” Di Han, head of Steer’s Restaurant Supply Business, said in the release.

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