Both companies will represent 16,000 restaurant locations, touching 350,000 orders per day
Third-party order technology integrator Chowly acquired Koala, which is a guest experience platform. Established and emerging restaurant brands rely on Koala to enhance the digital ordering experience. Koala powers this across the web, app and on kiosks.
With Chowly’s acquisition of Koala, the business enterprise will represent 16,000 restaurant locations on the platform, touching 350,000 orders per day in the United States.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Koala to the Chowly team,” said Sterling Douglass, co-founder and chief executive of Chowly. “Merging these two businesses together represents a major leap forward in the mission of both organizations as we help restaurants navigate today’s complicated digital world. Koala’s open platform meshes perfectly with Chowly’s, while also giving restaurants a simpler experience for their off-premise strategies. We plan on bringing Koala’s best-in-class enterprise-grade ordering to the SMB restaurant space and blend our partnership ecosystems while continuing to support their success in the enterprise restaurant space.”
A benefit of the deal is the creation of a more sophisticated and holistic solution, including enterprise-grade online ordering, advanced data analytics, and proven machine learning recommendation engines to boost basket sizes. Independent restaurant owners will soon have access to enterprise-grade technology solutions, per a statement. Specifically, these include iOS apps, open platforms, and multi-platform support.
Nat Trienens, chief executive of Koala, added, “Chowly and Koala have long held a deep alignment of mission, core values and culture, making this an ideal partnership for helping our customers reach new levels of success. We’re excited to take this next step in the evolution of our guest experience platform as we carry the momentum forward with Chowly’s world-class team and technology.”
Walter Beller-Morales, Melanie Norton and Brett Spiegel—the leadership team at Koala—will be fundamental to the integration of the two companies’ solutions. Chowly’s management team will support this endeavor, according to an announcement. In addition, Trienens will stay with the combined business temporarily to oversee the integration.
Chowly and Koala’s teams have already collaborated to build a new product for the restaurant industry, with details coming soon.
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