10.13.2025
In the delivery-first era, independent restaurants have faced an uphill battle to compete with major brands and third-party marketplaces that dominate customer relationships and margins. That imbalance has sparked a new wave of restaurant technology aimed at helping operators reclaim control of their brand, data, and profitability. One company leading that charge is Sauce, founded by Li-ran Navon, a former hospitality tech innovator who has made it his mission to level the playing field for independent operators.
Sauce provides a white-label ordering, delivery, and AI-driven retention platform that allows restaurants to manage logistics, optimize courier selection, and drive repeat business without surrendering control or paying steep commissions to intermediaries. In 2024 alone, Sauce users collectively saved more than $20 million in third-party fees. Restaurants such as Smash House Burger Bar and Poke Bowl have reported double-digit sales growth and major gains in operational efficiency. Behind the scenes, Sauce leverages real-time courier scoring, predictive routing, and AI-powered marketing automation to help operators make faster, more profitable decisions while keeping the guest experience on-brand.
In the following Spotlight Interview, Navon discusses how Sauce is redefining restaurant delivery economics, the importance of customer ownership, and how intelligent automation is shaping the future of restaurant operations.
Can you tell us a bit about your professional background before Sauce and how those experiences shaped the way you approach building a restaurant technology company?
My career has always blended hospitality and technology. Before Sauce, I built one of the first voice-ordering platforms, Say2eat, through Coca-Cola’s incubator. That experience showed me how difficult it is for smaller restaurants to keep up with big brands and how the right tech can close that gap. It shaped my conviction that independent operators deserve the same tools and advantages as the largest players.
What problem did you set out to solve with Sauce and what was the “aha” moment that convinced you this model could work at scale?
I saw that restaurants were losing their customer relationships, and much of their margin, to third-party marketplaces. They didn’t own the data, they didn’t control the guest experience, and they were paying 20–30% commissions. The “aha” moment was realizing we could provide a white-label delivery and ordering OS that gave restaurants their own simple, cost-effective, and brand first infrastructure.
Who are some of Sauce’s customers today and can you share any success stories or case studies that illustrate the impact you’re having on their businesses?
We work with a wide range of independent and multi-unit restaurants across the U.S. For example, Poke Bowl in Manhattan used Sauce to streamline deliveries and reduce refund issues by tapping into our courier network. They went from juggling multiple delivery apps to managing everything in one place, which freed up their team to focus on the food and the guest experience. As another example, Smash House Burger Bar in Florida used our AI-powered marketing module and grew online sales by more than 60% in eight months. They were able to reach past customers with personalized campaigns and keep them coming back week after week. Stories like these remind us how impactful the right tools can be for growth and guest loyalty.
What is your long-term vision for Sauce? Do you see the platform evolving beyond delivery optimization into other areas of restaurant operations or guest engagement?
Our vision is to become the operating system for delivery-driven restaurants. Delivery logistics will always be a core piece, but we’re already expanding into AI-powered retention and marketing automation. Long term, we want to empower restaurants to own the entire guest journey, from order to delivery to repeat engagement.
Many operators feel trapped by rising marketplace commissions. In practical terms, how does Sauce help restaurants keep the customer relationship and more of the margin?
With Sauce, orders come through the restaurant’s own website, not a marketplace, which in most cases, greatly reduces the commission cost to the restaurant. We use a simple flat fee so operators know exactly what they’re paying for. More importantly, they control the customer data and the relationship to help drive repeat business. In 2024 alone, we saved partners over $20 million in third-party fees.
Integration is everything in restaurant tech. Which systems do you consider “must-integrate” (POS, payments, loyalty/CRM, inventory, kitchen screens), and how do you handle API variability across brands?
We use abstraction layers and connectors that normalize different APIs into a consistent internal model. This way, restaurants can connect Sauce into their existing systems without long, painful integrations.
If a brand uses multiple couriers (Uber, DoorDash, local fleets, in-house drivers), how does Sauce determine the best fulfillment option per order (price, SLA, distance, courier reliability, surge, weather)?
Every order is scored in real time across multiple factors: courier reliability, distance, SLA compliance, pricing, even weather. The system then picks the option that delivers the best service at the best cost.
How do you measure reliability? What SLAs matter most (acceptance time, pickup ETA, delivery ETA, success rate) and how do you surface those in your dashboards?
The most important SLAs are acceptance time, pickup ETA, delivery ETA, and completion rate. We surface these in live dashboards so operators can see courier performance at a glance and adjust as needed.
Cancellations and refunds are pain points. How does Sauce centralize incident management and keep the guest experience on-brand while reducing refund leakage?
All refunds and cancellations are handled through a single, branded support layer. That prevents over-refunding, ensures accountability with couriers, and keeps the guest experience consistent with the restaurant’s brand rather than a third-party marketplace.
For smaller operators without data science resources, how do you translate analytics into action—e.g., smart discounts, time-of-day pricing, courier mix optimization?
We embed the intelligence directly into the platform. Sauce suggests discounts, promotions, automatically optimizes couriers, etc. Operators don’t need analysts, the system does the heavy lifting and turns insights into automated action.
How does Sauce support first-party ordering strategies alongside marketplace exposure. Can brands run both without cannibalization?
It doesn’t have to be either/or. Restaurants can still list on marketplaces for discovery, but Sauce helps them build first-party channels for loyalty and profitability. That way, they aren’t cannibalizing but instead complementing with stronger economics on their own channel.
You recently launched an AI-powered customer retention module at the New York Restaurant Show. What was the thinking behind it and why is retention such a critical piece for restaurants today?
Retention is where profitability lies. Acquiring customers is expensive, but keeping them is where restaurants make money. Marketplaces don’t share data, which makes loyalty impossible. Our retention module fixes that by sending personalized offers and campaigns automatically. We immediately showed a 20 to 30 percent increase in repeat orders.
What kind of impact do you expect this module to have on the overall value proposition of Sauce, and how do you see it changing the economics of first-party delivery for operators?
It changes the economics of first-party delivery. Restaurants see higher lifetime value, lower marketing costs, and more predictable order volume. Over time, we expect even higher retention lifts, which will make delivery dramatically more profitable.
What are the most overlooked operational changes a restaurant should make to unlock delivery profitability (menu engineering for travel, packaging, pickup flows, kitchen throttling)?
One of the most overlooked areas is the operation itself. Technology only works when the basics run smoothly. That means thinking about how food travels, using packaging that holds up on the ride, tightening pickup flows, and pacing the kitchen so orders don’t bottleneck. These adjustments can make delivery more efficient and profitable and when paired with Sauce, the gains multiply.
How do you think about geographic nuance—urban vs. suburban vs. campus; U.S. vs. international—when it comes to courier availability and cost structures?
Markets look different depending on where you are, but generally speaking, urban markets have dense courier availability and lower costs, while suburban markets require hybrid approaches. Sauce adapts routing, fleet strategy, and pricing models to each market.
As you look toward 2026 and beyond, what does your roadmap for scaling Sauce look like? Will international markets or new verticals be part of the playbook? Any big plans in terms of new products, partnerships or strategic initiatives that you can share with us?
We’re scaling deeper into the U.S., and adding new AI-powered capabilities. Further partnerships with POS providers, payments, and data platforms are on the horizon. The long-term goal is to become the go-to delivery OS for restaurants worldwide.
Finally, what do you want restaurants—and diners—to feel when they engage with Sauce compared to third-party delivery apps?
For restaurants, we want them to feel in control of their brand, their customers, and their margin. For diners, we want it to feel like they’re ordering directly from the restaurant they love with a seamless, reliable, and personal experience.
