Choco Gets $33.5M To Streamline Restaurants’ Supply Orders

Mobile ordering startup Choco revealed that it has raised $33.5 million in a Series A round led by venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners.

Its platform, which gives restaurants their own food delivery app for getting ingredients from suppliers, is taking aim at the traditional route of daily voicemail orders.

“[Leaving voicemails] a very tedious process and one that’s very prone to error but [restaurants] are going to repeat it every day,” Choco CEO Daniel Khachab tells TechCrunch. “This ‘system’ is highly inefficient and wasteful, but it’s our main competitor.”

Since its launch 18 months ago, Choco has accumulated 100 employees and is currently in 15 cities across Europe and the U.S. Khachab noted that the platform’s early customers include eateries ranging from Michelin-starred restaurants to burger chains. According to its website, more than 10,000 wholesalers and producers receive orders via Choco.

The company has now raised $41 million in total, with investors including Atlantic Labs, Target Global, Visionaries Club and Greyhound, and there are plans for the company to grow its business by 15 times next year.

While Choco currently isn’t charging its users, Khachab explained that the company is in the process of developing premium subscription features that have the potential to monetize suppliers’ abilities to communicate more effectively with restaurants about new offerings. In addition, Khachab believes that his company’s services can even help solve the food waste problem that is prevalent in the restaurant industry. In fact, it has been estimated that 30 percent to 40 percent of food produced each year is wasted, with nearly three-quarters of it occurring in the supply chain. Khachab says that Choco can work to prevent both sides from overstocking while boosting efficiency and preserving resources.