Bopple - Online ordering and payment platform for cafés and restaurants
Hospitality as we know it has changed forever. The traditional hospitality model has created impersonal experiences and unsustainable costs for local businesses and their customers.
As an online ordering and payment platform for cafés and restaurants, Bopple is changing the way the hospitality industry works by allowing customers to order takeaway either directly to their table or for delivery.
Founded in 2019, good mates Angus McLachlan, Jon Cullen and Tim Dart believed they could make a positive difference in the world by helping to connect customers with great places around them, even before they arrived.
“Bopple began with a simple idea: everyone should be able to order and pay easily, and we’ve been rethinking how we interact and transact ever since,” Angus says.
“Today, we help hundreds of amazing hospitality partners and brands own the shift to online ordering and payments, extending their experiences and services beyond the counter.
“Our vision is to help hospitality of all sizes build personal relationships with every customer and every order.”
And the Bopple team has done just that with its impressive ecosystem of services and tools that empowers everyone to be successful online.
“We manage the complexity, giving our venue partners the best chance to start, grow and succeed online, no matter where they are in the world,” Angus says.
“Bopple provides an affordable and accessible alternative for businesses to get online sooner, which is more critical now than ever.”
Helping local businesses continue transacting during COVID-19 by allowing them to easily pivot to home delivery has been a highlight for the Bopple team.
“Happy Boy in Brisbane is the perfect example of this. It was facing shutdown due to escalating restrictions, but after pivoting to takeaway and offering its own delivery service through Bopple, it was able to rehire many of its staff, remain open, and even opened another venue called Kid Curry. In one month, it saved over $5,000 by delivering orders with its own staff and it continues to use the Bopple platform as COVID-Safe restrictions impact its dine-in trade,” Angus says.
With the COVID-19 crisis, more competitors have been entering the market, which is something the Bopple team has responded to.
“It has been challenging to see a large influx of new platforms entering the market, only to promise unsustainable pricing models, or deliberately mislead customers with messaging,” Angus says.
“Our team had to make a conscious decision to stay in our lane by focusing on what we do best, providing venues the opportunity to sell their products and services online, promoting the ability for venues and their customers to be in direct contact without getting in the way and ensuring the customer experience is owned by the venue themselves. We’ve spent our time on the correct features without rushing to market and have avoided getting caught up in the noise.
“We believe in our product and foster great relationships with our venue partners so we can build the best product possible, together. We have built a dedicated team of highly skilled individuals who are constantly innovating and are committed to bettering the hospitality industry.”
This year has shown massive growth for Bopple with the team hitting 1 million successful orders in March and $20,000,000 in transactions processed in June.
“COVID-19 may have been the catalyst for over 2,000 businesses adopting online ordering, but there was also considerable growth in app users and orders placed during this time,” Angus says.
“To help manage this growth the Bopple team expanded, more than doubling in size from March to July 2020.
“Bopple previously championed takeaway and table ordering for many successful venues and in response to COVID-19 we also deployed self-delivery. This service appealed to a large number of hospitality operators including industry body Restaurant & Catering Association and point-of-sale platform Kounta.”
As 2020 continues, Bopple has no plans to slow down.
“In response to the ongoing COVID-Safe requirements of hospitality venues across Australia, Bopple has launched a contactless Guest Check-In service, using QR code technology that’s supported by most smartphone cameras, requiring no extra downloads. This free feature is our way of continuing to support the hospitality industry throughout this challenging time,” Angus says.
“Next on our roadmap is a combination of features aimed at streamlining the ordering experience for customers including Apple Pay and Google Pay for fast and secure payment, and express checkouts, which allow customers to order without an account. These are some of our most requested features from customers and merchants alike and something our team is really excited to launch.”