eCommerce Platform Pepper Raises $16M in Series A Funding

eCommerce platform Pepper has raised $16 million in a Series A round, which will boost ordering for distributors that work with over 25,000 restaurants and grocery stores, the company announced Tuesday (Nov. 30).

The round will come with more enhancements to the food distribution platform. Bowie Cheung, co-founder and CEO, says the idea is to “accelerate product development in key areas such as digital payments and a product recommendation engine to grow sales.”

The release says Cheung, along with fellow co-founders Chetan Narain and Ivana Tesanovic, have pontificated on the way tech has become a mainstay for the average restaurants.

Restaurants and grocery stores often order food from distributors through voicemail, without a paper trail or order history, the release notes. Many are made through paper checks. These things have all led to miscommunications and lost money.

Pepper, which was launched in early 2020, allows users to roll out mobile apps and websites to access better growth engines and flexible pay options. The release says that when venues have an easier time ordering from a distributor, they want to spend more, and Cheung says Pepper wants to work with more suppliers to help accelerate growth.

“Everyday we get to work with leaders in the food supply chain who have built incredible businesses from the ground up and navigated industry highs and lows for decades,” Cheung said. “As we come out of the pandemic, it’s a privilege to partner with them by providing the tools that will unlock the next wave of growth and prosperity for their businesses.”

PYMNTS writes that the restaurant tech industry is currently following in the footsteps of retail, in the way that it’s offered new ways to meet customers’ modern methods, habits and expectations.

See also: With Pop-Ups and Digital Tech, Restaurants Follow in Retail’s Footsteps

That includes pop-up restaurants like ADMO, which advertised a view of the Eiffel Tower in a way to leverage exclusivity and scarcity.

Restaurants aren’t always the fastest to go digital — and many of the tools letting it survive the pandemic, including mobile order-ahead, delivery markets and curbside pickup, came from retail.