ItsaCheckmate

Vishal Agarwal, an MBA graduate from a non-technical background, while working as the Chief Marketing Officer of a retail e-commerce startup, realized that the lack of technical knowledge was hindering him from performing at his best. He then started to spend more time with the engineering team to understand the role of technology in business. During his stint at the startup, Vishal understood the importance of technology in serving the objective of a business. This also made him aware of the fact that technology is being under-adopted and under-utilized in the restaurant and hospitality sector. The restaurant business was not as seamless as e-commerce. Restaurant operators were reluctant to move ahead and try new advancements. “This was because the technology solutions offered in the hospitality domain were costly and were point solutions that addressed specific issues, requiring restaurants to manually intervene to get the information flowing between different tools. As the restaurant operators come from a non-technical background, they had difficulty in using such solutions. In a nutshell, the restaurants were offered tools rather than solutions,” explains Vishal. This drove Vishal to found ItsaCheckmate to offer intuitive, easy-to-use solutions for restaurants at affordable costs.

The first solution developed by ItsaCheckmate was a mobile app that enabled restaurants to send checks directly to the mobile phones of diners and get paid automatically. As a result, the diners do not have to wait for a physical check to be given at the table. "They could just finish their meals and walk out of the restaurant—the reason why the company is called ItsaCheckmate," remarks Vishal, its founder and CEO.

However, he explored more of the hospitality landscape and identified another major problem, which had surrounded the restaurant operators for long. While one of the largest revenue and growth drivers for a restaurant is delivery, it comes at a steep price with the “Wall of Tablets” created by each third-party delivery service provider having their own tablet. ItsaCheckmate competently solves this issue.

Streamlining Restaurants’ Takeaway Orders

Vishal reckons that operating a restaurant is not an easy task; it takes a lean operation and a small margin of error to deliver quality meals to customers. In addition to the diners, the restaurants take orders from third-party order delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Amazon Restaurants, Postmates, GrubHub, DoorDash, and several others.

For each of these platforms, restaurants have separate tablets to receive orders, and then they input these orders manually into the POS and print the order in the kitchen printer, which makes the whole process tedious and slow. Also, managing multiple orders from multiple tablets manually is bound to result in errors, which the customers may not appreciate.

ItsaCheckmate’s solution completely automates the process. It integrates the third-party delivery orders with the restaurant’s POS system. This allows orders to flow straight from online ordering services platforms to the POS and directly to the printers in the kitchen—without any manual involvement. “It’s almost like the customer has the direct access to the kitchen and that has been the greatest relief factor for the operators where they do not have to worry about multiple tablets,” states Vishal. ItsaCheckmate integrates with renowned POS systems such as Revel, Toast, Brink, Linga POS, and NorthStar.

Adding further, Vishal says that ItsaCheckmate’s solution is not about dealing with the restaurant management but with the delivery. The company’s core objective is to make the delivery operations of its valued restaurant operators more efficient. “We are eliminating the ‘Wall of Tablets’ created by the third-party online delivery service providers and are making the delivery operations proficient,” he notes.

Delivering Solutions with a Personal Touch

Before beginning with the implementation process, ItsaCheckmate’s team first understands the requirements of clients, their menu, their operations, and how they function. For example, if ItsaCheckmate is integrating the POS of a restaurant with UberEats, the company first checks its menu, and then matches it with the restaurant’s menu and makes sure that both are in sync. After following these initial steps, the company then starts the integration process. “Though ItsaCheckmate is not a turnkey solution as it takes around two to three weeks to implement, but once integrated, it eliminates mismanagement and helps clients focus on other critical parts of the business,” states Vishal.

However, Vishal believes that technology alone cannot solve every problem; technology backed by a good support system is what solves a problem. And, that is why ItsaCheckmate has a strong team that gives every solution a personal touch. The company takes customer service very seriously and pays heed to each and every detail provided by the client. If anyone sends any query or issue to the company’s email address, Vishal always makes sure to be in the loop to check it personally. “My phone number is on the company’s website. To me, customer support is the most important aspect, because it helps us serve them better and direct feedback helps us in enhancing our services,” he mentions.

Moreover, ItsaCheckmate has a transparent and open pricing model. It offers a free two-week trial with no setup fee and a flat monthly pricing model.

This model helps operators continue to grow their revenue without worrying about increasing costs. “Even if your sales boost online, the cost will always remain the same. There will be no extra fee or hidden charges,” assures Vishal.

ItsaCheckmate’s clientele includes big brands like Gigi’s cupcakes, Pizza Press, Dig Inn, Honeygrow, Curry Up Now, and many more. One such happy client is Pokeworks. Managing Director of the client company, Kasper Hsu, says that working with ItsaCheckmate has really been a lifesaver when dealing with third-party delivery service tablets. ItsaCheckmate has not only helped streamline Pokeworks’ order-taking process but also helped the restaurant to not miss a single ticket or get an order wrong. “As a quick service restaurant (QSR), fast and accurate service is crucial for us. Earlier, when accepting orders with the tablet, we were only able to take one order at a time and often lose our place (scrolling) when there were multiple orders or items in a single order. However, with ItsaCheckmate, that issue has been eliminated with quick and easy to read tickets,” says Hsu.

With all of the orders now integrated into its Revel POS system, Pokeworks is able to get accurate reports on all of its third-party platforms. “Vishal and his team have been very accommodating and are always responsive to our requests. Their team was able to work directly with our store managers to ensure everything was set up correctly and working properly,” adds Hsu. “ItsaCheckmate team’s knowledge and familiarity with our POS system help expedite resolutions to any issues we encounter. I would definitely recommend ItsaCheckmate to any restaurant that is using third-party delivery platforms.”

Exceeding Expectations Today and Tomorrow

Today, ItsaCheckmate supports hundreds of its clients while fulfilling all of their requirements. The company wants to grow and serve better every day, and on that note, it has recently partnered with Serve—a blockchain-based platform. This collaboration will create a service that extends the reach of the growing on-demand restaurant business. Serve’s blockchain-based on-demand technology will not only aid ItsaCheckmate and its restaurant partners but also help drive transparency and decentralize last-mile logistics for food delivery customers across the globe.

As the founder and CEO of ItsaCheckmate, Vishal is a motivated leader always looking for ways to build strong relationships with his clients while driving his passion for positioning the company as a leader in the food delivery management landscape. In a short span of time, the company has already marked its presence in over 2,000 locations, and that is a testimony to the quality of service it offers. By continuing to define and deliver success to its clients, ItsaCheckmate is planning to extend its services outside the U.S., in Europe, Latin America, and Australia.

Likewise, ItsaCheckmate is also continuing to grow in terms of having more POS and third-party integrations. “Currently, we integrate with more than 40 online ordering platforms and 20 POS systems. In addition, we are also uncovering more problems in the hospitality sector, concerning accounting and menu-management. Those are the other problems that we are looking to tackle,” concludes Vishal.