How Devourin is bringing to the table a one-stop technology solution for restaurants and food chains

The bulky cash register has given way to point of sale (POS) systems and hand-held devices. Menus have become dynamic. To entice the discerning customers of today, restaurants now need more than just an impressive standard menu. In short, the restaurant business has undergone a deep transformation in the last few years with customers looking out for superlative dining experiences. This has paved the way for a number of restaurant automation solution providers trying to empower restaurants in their digital journey.

A digital ecosystem for F&B industry

Started in 2015, Pune-based Devourin began its journey by providing business intelligence and key customer insights to the food and beverage segment using third party POS and related products. “During the process, we realised the products available in the market were not built keeping the guest experience at their core, which led to Devourin evolving into an ecosystem in itself. As an extension to our core objective of guest experience, we built end-to-end automation for conveyor-based sushi bars and delivery trains. Using this technology guests can place an order using the self-ordering kiosk and get the food delivered to the table with the help of sushi trains or Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs),” explains Sivanandan Chettiyar, Founder and CEO of Devourin.

Today, Devourin provides a number of products under a single platform, so that restaurants can get all their technology needs met from a single vendor. The startup’s wide range of products include a QR code-based digital menu, POS, Inventory and Recipe Management, Self-Ordering Kiosk, Interactive Digital Signages, mobile/tab apps for the staff and owners to run efficient operations and stay ahead of their competition. Their technology is best suited both for fine-dining restaurants, pubs and lounges that want to create a repeatable and memorable experience for their guests, as well as quick service chains that are looking for faster turnaround.

In addition to its expansive product portfolio, what makes Devourin a popular choice for the F&B industry is that the startup has kept ‘usability’ at the core of its product development. The CEO says, “It’s very easy to learn to operate our products. This not only reduces the training costs but also ensures that the transition from old technology to Devourin systems is easy.”

In addition, the Devourin support team takes care of the entire transition responsibility until the operational handoff. In fact, Sivanandan says that the Devourin support team has been consistently helping restaurants to migrate to their solution with the least downtime. To that end, they take complete responsibility, from data migration to operational handover. With 24/7 support they are able to help their customers achieve smoother operations.

Why simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication for Devourin

Devourin works on a unique hybrid cloud model that works offline with no dependency on the internet. They are, nevertheless, connected to all outlets at the backend. Its best-in-class cloud technology provides 100 per cent data backup which is highly secured.

Devourin offers centralised, distributed or hybrid modes which can be configured to best suit the requirement based on the scale and need of the operations.

The various mobile and tab-based tools allow the hostess, captain and manager of the restaurant to keep abreast of useful guest details like preferred tables, tastes, favorite dishes and so on. The well-connected feedback management system helps the restaurateur in upping customer delight with the help of real-time feedback, and improves staff performance using more realistic and actionable input.

The integrated Kitchen Display System helps with better visibility on whether the food is reaching the table on time and the staff is able to keep up service during peak hours.

"If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, Devourin is the final answer for restaurants -- from easy-to-use POS, to various mobile solutions, including the Devourin Live App, which makes it simple for owners to view all data in real time for all outlets, right up to the know-how on what's happening at a particular table," says Sivanandan. "The software analyses tastes in a particular market, so you can alter recipes, cut back on waste and give them exactly what they want."

Devourin Spark: It’s all about customised convenience

After working for nearly half a decade with numerous clients in the restaurant business, Sivanandan realised that restaurants were finding it challenging to put forth dynamic menus primarily because of the print cost and design.

He explains, “In the traditional setup, what happens is that the menus have to be decided a few months prior to the launch. But, more often than not, the menus will not get standardised until the restaurant operates for a few months. This means the marketing and branding budget shoots up considerably, bringing down the ROI. So there was a need for a provision where the menu could be altered easily without waiting for the next menu print and maximise ROI without additional spends.”

That observation led to Devourin designing Devourin Spark. Their latest offering is a QR code-based digitisation solution which can display the menu, take feedback and showcase upcoming events on the customer’s own mobile device. Launched in July 2019, the first release of Spark allows guests to view the menu, and place orders from their own mobile devices without having to download any prerequisite app. “This will save a lot of time for customers,” he adds.

On the other hand, for restaurants the interface enables, what the CEO calls, “easy menu engineering.” He explains, “It provides a tremendous amount of power where they can experiment with new dishes, pull down the non-moving items, introduce seasonal dishes, position the items at the right place for better profit. In short, that is easy menu engineering.”

Additionally, Spark comes with built-in branding and social media integration, where the restaurateurs can easily push the details on events and offers to guests. The CRM capability of Spark enables QSR chains to connect with their customers much more easily. The next release of Spark will be integrated with gaming capability where the guests can play and win discounts and offers.

“For restaurants looking to provide a great customer experience with reduced operational costs and staff, Spark is the answer,” says Sivanandan.

From strength to strength

The Devourin team is excited about the possibilities that Spark opens up and says that inquiries have begun coming in from India and F&B cities like Singapore, Hongkong, Bali and so on.”

“A customer-centric and intelligent product like Spark will find takers across the board. While Devourin already enjoys a steady pan-India client base, we are looking at the overseas market starting with Asia-Pacific and Middle East," says Deepak, Deepak Nathani, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Relfor Labs, who is also the chief promoter and MD of Devourin. The startup raised seed funding from Deepak in 2017.

Relentless in their quest for innovation and perfection, Team Devourin has active plans to provide gamification for pubs/lounges and food courts, apart from enhancing their business intelligence capabilities.

For more information, log on to www.devourin.com