Custom-branded apps for local restaurants

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 97 percent of Americans order takeout food at least once a month, 26 percent do so weekly, and 24 percent do so two to three times each week. Offering takeout service can be a profit center, especially for restaurants with limited seating or those seeking to build a cadre of repeat customers. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to develop robust apps to automate the process. For that reason tech startup DayGot, operating under the MavensTech Inc. umbrella, set out to enter the market with an affordable, custom-branded app for restaurants and bars. Co-founder Sang Shin, whose background includes owning a restaurant and a successful ISO, saw an opportunity to help restaurateurs usher in the digital age.

Multiple benefits

"What is unique about DayGot is that we don't just provide you with a cookie-cutter approach to a mobile app; we actually provide a customized mobile app," said Steve Eazell, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for MavensTech. "We completely customize it so that it will show all your menu items, pictures of the restaurant inside and out, and on the back end, it does push marketing."

Eazell pointed out that another benefit of DayGot is that restaurateurs control the content, so they can add and delete menu items and make price adjustments directly through the portal. Owners can manage content from a tablet at the back end, as well as track which customers have downloaded the app, store customer contact information and order history, and monitor other data to optimize business, he added.

Intelligently packaged

Additionally, DayGot noted that it helps remove friction associated with encouraging patrons to activate the app by delivering on-site marketing materials to each restaurant. This includes customized posters, flyers and business cards to hand out to customers as enticements to download the restaurant's app.

For restaurants interested in using the app initially to build brand visibility, DayGot offers an entry-level standard app package that includes professionally designed restaurant information and image, and menu pages customers can access and navigate around the clock. The advanced package also enables mobile ordering, payments and additional premium functions that make it convenient for customers to engage with restaurants.

"What's beautiful about it is if you want to order a pizza right now, you can pull up the app and select a large pepperoni pizza with black olives, add soda, and select a payment option," Eazell said. "You could pay for it right there on the app, and then 10 minutes later it could be delivered to your house or ready for pickup, depending on what you choose."

DayGot's customized Merchant App can track, print and confirm orders, as well as send push notifications alerting customers as to order status. Each app is built upon the user interface/user experience design framework, described by DayGot as offering a highly intuitive and responsive experience. For instance, when customers order certain items regularly, DayGot keeps a record so customers can view past orders and replicate them.

Value-added offering for ISOs

The DayGot platform is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliant, and transactions are tokenized and encrypted from point-to-point, Eazell said, adding that restaurants can manage split payments and generally receive next-day funding to maintain consistent cash flow.

Restaurant clients pay a one-time setup fee and monthly subscription fee for the program. Eazell stated that depending on the complexity of the customization, most apps are developed and ready to integrate within about a week. The apps are certified on Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded from both app stores.

Partners are welcome. "We're introducing this into the ISO marketplace," Eazell said. "We want this to be a value-added service that they carry with them in their satchel, and it's a door opener, one they can carry to their existing customers because it's a good revenue generating prospect."

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