7.22.2025
New York City’s fast-casual scene is known for its intense competition, narrow margins, and endless demand for convenience. But for Poke Bowl, a growing local chain with 11 locations across Manhattan, the real challenge wasn’t serving great food, it was managing the chaos behind the scenes.
“We used to have a full-time employee just to deal with third-party delivery issues,” said Jonathan Hausner, co-founder of Poke Bowl. “Refunds, driver complaints, wrong orders, every day brought a new headache.”
Like most restaurants, Poke Bowl started out relying on big-name delivery apps. But as they opened more locations, the downsides added up, higher fees, more mistakes, and no real way to connect with their regulars.
So, they made a change. They started handling delivery themselves, with help from a tech platform called Sauce that runs behind the scenes.
Automating the Back End of Delivery
Poke Bowl now runs delivery through its own branded system, powered by Sauce’s technology. The platform integrates directly into their website and digital channels, letting customers place orders without ever touching a marketplace app. But the real magic happens behind the scenes.
Using AI, Sauce automates the entire delivery flow, from dispatching drivers to resolving issues and nudging customers to come back. If something goes wrong mid-delivery, the system reassigns the order and communicates with the customer. If a customer stops ordering, Sauce’s marketing automation kicks in with personalized incentives based on order history, resulting in fewer headaches, lower costs, and more loyal customers.
The impact on operations has been immediate. Payroll costs dropped as there’s no longer a need for dedicated delivery support staff, refunds decreased thanks to real-time issue resolution managed by Sauce’s ops team, and customer retention improved thanks to Sauce’s AI-powered marketing that brings diners back.
“We’re not anti-third-party,” Hausner clarified. “We still use marketplaces to reach new people. But when it comes to loyal, repeat customers, we want to own that relationship.”
A Broader Shift in Restaurant Tech
Poke Bowl’s transition is part of a growing movement among independent and small-chain restaurants to take back control of delivery. Rather than accept the trade-offs that come with third-party platforms, loss of profit, data, and customer control, restaurants are increasingly adopting white-label tools that let them run delivery their own way.
Sauce’s model is simple but effective. Restaurants pay a flat SaaS fee and pass on a small delivery charge to the customer, who enjoys the same speed and reliability as Uber Eats or DoorDash, without the app.
Under the hood, Sauce utilizes a vast network of national and local couriers and AI to route deliveries dynamically. The company even handles follow-up: if a customer leaves good feedback, Sauce pushes it to Google Reviews; if not, their support team steps in.
“It’s like having an ops team, a marketing team, and a logistics partner all in one,” Hausner said.
Tech That Doesn’t Get in the Way
One of the most compelling aspects of the platform is how little Poke Bowl’s team has to do to maintain it. Once a diner orders through the Sauce-powered menu, they’re automatically added to a retention workflow that sends personalized offers and reminders based on preferences and timing.
“There’s no dashboard to manage, no campaigns to set up. Sauce just runs,” said Hausner.
This low-lift, high-impact approach is especially attractive to fast-growing operators who don’t have time to micro-manage tech tools. It’s also helping Poke Bowl scale with confidence, opening new locations without needing to expand their support team.
The Future of First-Party Delivery
While AI gets plenty of buzz in hospitality tech, Poke Bowl’s story is a reminder that some of the most impactful innovations aren’t flashy, they’re operational. And for restaurants, operational efficiency is the difference between thriving and treading water.
As more restaurants look to ditch high commissions and own their customer relationships, the Sauce model could become the new normal. For Poke Bowl, the switch was more than a tech upgrade, it was a strategic unlock.
