Konstantin Harbuz, owner of the globally recognised coffee chain The Roasters Specialty Coffee, faced a distinctive challenge as his chain expanded across multiple geographies: the complexity of managing operations across numerous outlets.
Recognising this need, Harbuz sought automation to enhance efficiency and customer experience. He partnered with Syrve MENA, a leading point-of-sale (POS) management software provider to achieve this. This decision marked a significant turning point for the coffee chain.
The integration increased profits and sales by accelerating service speed and providing transparent financial reporting. It also helped contribute towards quicker income generation.
Harbuz could gain real-time insights into business performance, facilitating easier control and expansion plans. While the Middle East has always been at the forefront of adopting technology and new technology innovations, the restaurant industry still needs to catch up.
Globally, nearly 76 per cent of restaurants use automation in three or more areas of operations, except the ones in MENA. Syrve MENA aims to bridge this gap.
Bringing in automation
A hospitality point-of-sale (POS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) provider for the F&B industry. Syrve MENA offers restaurant management solutions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, Egypt, and Kenya, among other countries.
The core problem Syrve aims to solve is to automate up to 80 per cent of daily routines in the F&B industry. The company offers a variety of tech solutions to restaurants, including FaceID, AI Forecasting, and a powerful Application Program Interface (API).
“The company’s mission is restaurant industry automation, which can be achieved through a cloud-based point-of-sale system integrated with delivery services and loyalty programs,” said Alexander Ponomarev, CEO of Syrve MENA, in a conversation with edge/.
In addition to automating tasks, Syrve also helps to reduce waste through AI Forecasting, which helps to limit over-stocking. “According to UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the food tech industry is crucial in building solutions that combat food waste. In MENA alone, food waste costs an estimated $3.5 billion annually. Syrve MENA is taking a stand against this with our innovative AI forecasting technology,” added Ponomarev.
He explained that by helping restaurants predict demand more accurately, we can significantly reduce overstocking, a significant contributor to food waste.
Syrve MENA’s digital solutions also aim to reduce paper consumption through automation. The aim is to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and speed up processes and operations. This creates an agile and flexible business that helps meet consumer needs and demands.
Different systems that help automation
To start, Syrve used a quick menu feature that automatically generated an order for a popular dish. “Every restaurant has a popular and most ordered dish. If the menu is extensive, servers must make several clicks to add dishes to an order. The quick menu feature saved nearly 20 percent of the time taken to create an order,” explained Ponomarev.
Syrve MENA soon added a mobile inventory feature. “The list of products for inventory is extensive. However, some products have stayed the same for a month (no receipts or expenses), and the remainder of such products in the warehouse is 0. We hide such items in the inventory to save the user’s time,” added Ponomarev.
The next test was on the impact on sales and customer satisfaction. The team built a loyalty system that allows restaurants to set up a prompt for the cashier when certain conditions are met.
“This reduces the error rate because the cashier will see the prompt and offer the guest the most favourable promotion. We also implemented a combo auto-collection feature, where the system automatically applies a discount to specific sets of dishes,” explained Ponomarev.
From building the first product, the team also learned that it is essential to focus on the user experience and make the product as easy to use as possible. The team added new features and functionality, improving its performance and reliability.
Building for a new market
The startup faced the challenge of entering a new market with different needs and business landscapes compared to its experience in Asia and the UK.
That is why Syrve MENA conducted thorough market research to overcome this challenge and adapted its go-to-market strategies to fit the local landscape. Additionally, they welcomed Alex Ponomarev, an expert with experience in restaurant automation across various regions.
Syrve also faced the challenge of automating an industry with a low adoption rate in the MENA region. They addressed this challenge by leveraging their existing solutions, which have proven successful in other areas, and highlighting the benefits of automation, such as increased efficiency and reduced costs.
The revenue model
The company uses a subscription-based pricing model, which is standard for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. It offers direct sales and works with an extensive partner network to reach customers.
Syrve offers three cost structures. One is a tariff tier, where clients are offered tiered subscription plans like basic, pro, and enterprise. Each level has increasing features and functionalities.
The other is a cash register; the price likely scales based on the number of cash registers a business needs to manage within the system. Another one is optional add-on modules, where additional functionalities are available as optional modules, allowing businesses to customise their plan based on specific needs. This increases the overall cost.
The product development strategy is based on an iterative approach. The solution is continuously improved based on consumer needs. Syrve has offices in London, Cairo, Italy, and Dubai, all serving as regional hubs.
“Through collaboration with our partner dealers, we operate in over 50 countries. We already have around 50 clients in Saudi Arabia, including Papa John’s. We actively work on attracting new partners who will conduct independent sales while also assisting them in closing deals with major clients,” added Ponomarev.
Building in AI
The company has proliferated, and over 10,000 restaurants in 50 countries now use it. Syrve’s next evolutionary steps are focused on forecasting and AI.
“We aim to free staff from routine daily tasks and allow them to focus on more important things,” said Ponomarev.
AI in Syrve will allow the team to analyse large amounts of data, optimise pricing, and offer recommendations for improving sales and customer service.
The team has already sales and procurement forecasting in place, sales forecasting analyses past sales, seasonality, day of the week and weather to provide the user with an accurate forecast of revenue, number of orders, and dishes sold. The user can also adjust the forecast at their discretion.
Procurement forecasting allows you to generate orders for the central kitchen or suppliers automatically. This helps to reduce the percentage of losses.
The POS system’s advanced analytics and reporting capabilities help restaurateurs analyse sales, manage inventory, optimize menus, and make informed decisions to improve their business.
“We are also actively developing our API, allowing you to write any integration with Syrve. We have about 80 integrations with various services. Thanks to the API, developers can create additional features and extensions for the product, improving its functionality and providing new opportunities for users—for example, integration with delivery robots, Drive-thru, and Loyalty,” said Ponomarev.
Here are some of the specific things the team is working on:
- Improved forecasting accuracy: The team is constantly working to improve the accuracy of the forecasting models. This will allow the team to provide customers with even more valuable insights into their business.
- More AI-powered features: They are exploring ways to use AI to automate more tasks and provide customers with even more value. For example, the team is working on an AI-powered feature that automatically generates marketing campaigns.
“We are making it easier for developers to create integrations with Syrve. This will allow us to offer our customers a more comprehensive range of features and functionality,” concluded Ponomarev.
