This may be as good a sign as any that the pandemic is waning. One of the world’s leading startup investors has put big money into a tech play for brick and mortar restaurants.
Saskatoon-based restaurant tech 7shifts announced today that it has bagged an $80 million in Series C funding led by the legendary SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The round also includes participation from existing investors Ten Coves Capital and Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
7shifts Founder & CEO Jordan Boesch founded the company back in 2014. It was initially an employee scheduling tool designed for any industry. He later pivoted the business to focus on restaurants, a business that runs in his blood.
He first got the idea to build a scheduling software product from watching his dad juggle spreadsheets and sticky notes to manage the employee schedules at his Quiznos franchises.
The company went on to raise $51 million through its Series B round. The latest round brings its cumulative funding total to more than $130 million.
The 7shifts product operates a different side of the restaurant tech space from giants like Toast. 7shifs focuses almost exclusively on the people-management side of the equation.
The 7shifts product offers employee scheduling, team communication, task management, and tip pooling. It’s also designed to promote team engagement by making it easier for employees to receive schedules, trade shifts, and manage tasks.
7shifts says its product has 650,000 users across 27,000 locations globally.
Modernize or Die
The truth is the pandemic was good in the long run for companies like 7Shifts. After all, it dramatically accelerated restaurants owners’ investment in technology. For restaurants, the pandemic mantra was “modernize or die”.
Plus the labor shortage means squeezing every ounce of efficiency out of the workers you have. And making their experience as pleasant as possible so they don’t leave.
“Over the past two years, restaurants have dealt with countless challenges, and now more than ever need technology to streamline operations, empower workers and improve team retention,” said Boesch.
“Our growth demonstrates that both independent and multi-unit brands are quickly adopting best-of-breed platforms to navigate the challenging labor market. And by building a first-class suite of solutions specifically tailored to the needs of restaurants, we’ve helped operators become employers of choice, all while controlling costs and building operational efficiency.”
7shifts says it added more than 10,000 locations and over 400,000 workers to its platform in 2021.
7shifts plans to use SoftBank’s money to 2X its team. It also plans to add new products for the employee lifecycle. And it aims to make its product an all-in-one HR tool for restaurants. This means connecting all aspects of their HR processes. This includes hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, paying, as well as retaining.
A Key Pivot
Back in 2019, I interviewed Boesch for a now-defunct podcast about the small business software industry. In the clip below, Boesch discussed why he made the decision to pivot from a horizontal to a vertical product.
The gist is that there was initial pain from losing his non-restaurant clients. But the opportunities the pivot unlocked easily made up for the initial losses.
