The following blog post was written by Alice Lam and was published on BCIC’s blog last week as part of a series profiling BCIC-NewVentures Competition: Regional Top 20 Finalists.
The first top 20 finalist in the BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional (BCIC-NVC: Regional) we’re profiling is Victoria-based Smile Software, creator of Smart Menu. The Competition finalists are working hard over the next few weeks to perfect their final presentation before presenting to the panel of experts made up of VCs, financiers and angel investors.
Most of us have been in the situation where you’ve forgotten to make a reservation at a restaurant and upon arrival, there’s a lineup out the door. Worse yet, you’re starving and it will be another 20 minutes before you will be seated!
Smart Menu now makes it easier to get your food faster with an interactive online restaurant ordering and communication system.
How it works: Restaurants can create their own online Smart Menu where customers can view menu items and place their order via their smartphone while waiting in line or before they’ve even arrived at the restaurant. Smart Menu gets orders to the kitchen faster and more accurately, reduces customer wait times, increases table turnover and economizes server time.
Ami Dagan, CEO and Founder of Smile Software said, “The competition has been great for us. As a startup in the seed and planning stage, the competition has forced us to explain what we are attempting to do concisely, but also to think about the bigger picture.”
When asked what he has enjoyed the most, Dagan commented on the rush of facing the competition’s judges, “Where else can I go and find such a wealth of information and experience in one room? These judges don’t let just anything slip by – and neither does the market place.”
Congratulations to Smart Menu and we wish you the best of luck in the last leg of the competition! Winners of the BCIC-NVC: Regional will be announced on February 24, 2011. Stay tuned!