I’ve never managed a restaurant before. My mind isn’t accustomed to multiplying recipes. I had no idea how many health department rules their are (and I’m thankful for every single one).
I love food, but before Sifted – I didn’t know food. I knew software. Like every good employee at a software company, I knew the metrics that mattered most and I knew exactly how we made money.
Predictable revenue. It was simple, a subscription based model allowed for growth.
And when we opened Sifted, an experiential lunch service for startups, we quickly learned that the per user per month pricing doesn’t just work for software.
Our lunches are only open to clients that use our services daily or weekly. While this allows us to forecast financially and prepare operationally, it also makes sense for the relationally-driven business we want to be.
The high frequency of service means a repetition that allows us to become partners with our clients in building their internal cultures. It means we work with clients who use lunch as a way to treat their team over the long run, not just once a year.
Another frame of mind that followed me from my time in tech, was the importance of hiring staff who are focused on driving innovation. At Sifted, we don’t want to just build processes and exist in a routine. Like Software-as-a-Service companies, we seek to constantly iterate and build on a platform, releasing new updates and tapping into our customer base to rank client needs.
With hosts, chefs and account managers who drive innovation, we’re constantly implementing new ideas on how to improve the customer feedback loop, create a user-friendly family-style lunch experience and eliminate work on our client’s end.
Once we realized the need for data-driven lunch, we knew our “catering company” had to be different. Through mistakes we have made, we learned that traditional food delivery isn’t fit for the office. Sometimes it’s too fancy. Usually it’s late. Always it’s mediocre. And it’s never relational.
We had to change that. By adopting a SaaS mindset where we work with clients on a “subscription” basis and use technology and innovation to drive our service, we’ve been able to build a company that designs, builds and grows with the same energy as a team of software engineers.
Want to learn more about the team and service? Follow us on Twitter @siftedco.