A year later, it raised $20 million, the food tech industry’s largest Series A in history. In 2019, Lunchbox secured $2 million in seed capital, after being rejected by 72 investors. There is a lot of energy in the venture space now.” A lot of restaurants closed, but a lot of restaurants are opening. Everyone wants to be a part of the story in 2021, to help expand business. “New York is packed, everyone is back here. These days, he feels that New York City is coming back to life, and looks like a great place to raise venture capital in 2021. He had two failed startups before launching Lunchbox. It was while working for the burger chain that Nabeel got firsthand experiences with third-party delivery companies, observing their predatory practices and getting the feeling that customers were being exploited. Nabeel learned English watching Martin Scorsese films and worked his way up the corporate ladder to become Bareburger’s chief marketing officer. At the time a standalone restaurant, Bareburger is now a franchise boasting over 50 outlets, in a way mirroring Nabeel’s own entrepreneurial success. Though he didn’t speak English, he managed to find a job, working as a busboy at Bareburger to support his family. Nabeel, who was featured on the Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ list, moved to the U.S. Delivery is available in LA, Northern California, NYC, and Chicago. The app offers pickup options across C3’s network, which includes about 200 communities. Nabeel believes they have helped minority chefs broaden their customer base. In an effort to reach smaller businesses, Lunchbox has partnered with C3 platform and created CitizenGo, an app where people can order directly from ghost kitchens. According to Nabeel, for every $100 a consumer spends on Lunchbox, the restaurant makes around a $25 profit, compared to $5 when the sales are through a third-party platform. “They’re not just about saving money-it’s also a question of, increasing margins,” the techpreneur says. The focus is on chains that have between 10 and 100 restaurants. Lunchbox clients include Bareburger, where Nabeel started out, Clean Juice, Mexicue, Zaro’s Family Bakery, and Fuku. “We help restaurants convert third-party sales, GrubHub sales, into first-party sales,” Nabeel explained. Unlike most marketplaces, which charge clients on a per-order basis, Lunchbox has a flat monthly fee per location for chain restaurants. Credit: Nabeel Alamgir, LunchboxĪn alternative for restaurant chains and ghost kitchens In addition to web and app design, Lunchbox handles point-of-sale operations, online orders, marketing, loyalty programs, and data-crunching for restaurants. Nabeel Alamgir, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi-American based in New York, believes he has the solution to help restaurants cut down on such expenses.Ī former busboy at Bareburger, in 2019 Nabeel founded Lunchbox, an online ordering platform that helps restaurants reduce their dependence on third-party marketplaces. Since COVID-19 took indoor dining off the table, restaurants have resorted to takeout and delivery, often relying on third-party platforms like Uber Eats and GrubHub, which charge commissions from 15 to 30 percent per order.
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