By Orit Naomi, RTN staff writer - 9.13.2024
Linked Eats, a provider of third-party delivery revenue management software for restaurants, has acquired Sauce Technologies, a company specializing in AI-powered solutions for digital ordering. This acquisition aims to enhance Linked Eats’ platform by incorporating Sauce Technologies’ features in marketing automation and demand forecasting, strengthening its position in the growing market for third-party delivery management solutions.
Sauce Technologies, founded by MIT graduates Colin Webb and Nenye Anagbogu, has developed a strong reputation for its sophisticated automation solutions that help restaurants optimize their digital ordering strategies. Its core product leverages AI to adjust prices dynamically based on demand and dining occasions, enabling restaurants to increase both orders and sales. This acquisition brings valuable AI expertise and a proven track record of success to the Linked Eats team.
Robbie Earl, Chairman of Linked Eats, stated that the acquisition will “add further AI-expertise to our team and features” and help the company maintain its leadership in the evolving third-party delivery market, which is shifting towards a more profit-driven model.
The integration of Sauce Technologies’ features into Linked Eats’ platform will provide restaurants with a comprehensive suite of tools to manage their third-party delivery operations. This includes dynamic pricing, marketing automation, demand forecasting, and real-time performance monitoring, all within a single, user-friendly interface. Linked Eats already offers features like real-time price monitoring, an AI-driven marketing tool, SEO optimization, automated uptime monitoring, and communication tools for performance tracking.
This acquisition is particularly significant given the growing importance of third-party delivery for restaurants. As more consumers opt for online ordering, restaurants need effective solutions to manage these channels and ensure profitability.
Colin Webb, CEO and co-founder of Sauce Technologies, believes that the combination of Linked Eats’ platform and Sauce Technologies’ software will create a powerful synergy for restaurants, allowing them to “supercharge” their success in the digital ordering landscape.
Linked Eats, launched just a week prior to the acquisition by its parent company, Virtual Dining Concepts, currently serves 4,000 restaurants across more than 30 enterprise brands. The acquisition of Sauce Technologies, which had previously raised over $3.6 million from investors including Harlem Capital and Global Founders Capital, will expand Linked Eats’ reach and capabilities in the restaurant technology market. This move also allows Sauce Technologies to scale its solutions to Virtual Dining Concepts’ 4,000 digital restaurants across 30+ virtual brands.
