SYDNEY, N.S. — There aren’t a lot of local success stories in the current COVID-19-influenced economic climate but all signs are pointing to a Cape Breton company behind an increasingly popular online delivery system as one of them.
“We were growing before this but this is certainly pushed along even more,” said Click2Order co-founder and CEO Matt Stewart.
“We decreased our fees when all of this started because restaurants were so much more reliant on services like ours. We didn’t want to come across as trying to take advantage of a situation. I think that’s probably also led to some restaurants using us versus other services. I think we looked at the human aspect of it as well and made sure we weren’t going to gouge the customer or be opportunistic.”
The delivery service that gives a restaurant its own branded online ordering system was one of the winners of the inaugural Spark Innovation Challenge for early startup companies, held in Cape Breton in 2014. It’s been growing ever since.
Bob Pelley remembers a competitive inaugural Spark competition that saw Sona Nanotech win the top prize of $50,000. That Sydney startup company is now based in Halifax and working on a rapid test kit for COVID-19.
“I do recall that Matt and his team, they won $10,000 at the time, and it was one of those things where I recall the judges being totally impressed,” said Pelley, the regional manager for Innovacorp, the organization behind the competitions.
“One of our concerns was would they be able to do something with $10,000. To their credit, they were able to build a system and launch it and grow it year over year.”
Pelley has family in Corner Brook, N.L., where Click2Order has recently launched and he’s said there's excitement around its arrival in the community.
He’s also heard from other markets, including Halifax, where it has yet to launch but where there is great interest in its arrival.
“I’ve read some articles that have said this type of situation is going to lead to a lot of regional players like Click2Order because of that gouging aspect ... of the larger brands in the space. It will see what happens when things get back to normal.”
These days, Cape Breton clients of Click2Order include franchisees and individual and independent eateries.
When Freshii opened on Charlotte Street, Sydney in August, the owners of the "health casual" restaurant considered all delivery and online options before deciding on CB Eats and Click2Order because they wanted to support a Cape Breton-based company. Rates were also better than competitors and their customer service has proven itself time and time again.
“Matt Stewart has been super awesome to deal with, the drivers have been really good, always on time and very professional,” said Kathleen MacDonald, co-owner of the restaurant. “There’s not much to complain about them, honestly.”
The app and an associated delivery service with variations on the brand CB Eats have spread across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.
“Sydney is the only spot where we manage the fleet and we never used to,” Stewart said of the CB Eats delivery service. “It’s something we have recently done but in Antigonish we have a partnership with a taxi company. “
When Click2Order broke into the Alberta restaurant market in Grand Prairie in 2017, an existing delivery network was utilized while branding the entire hybrid service that used their application as GP Eats.
“Some of the third party apps that were already in place, their fees were quite high, sometimes as high as 25-30 per cent, which is basically the entire margin of a restaurant. Most of them lose money on those transactions.”
Partnerships also exist in other places where existing taxi and delivery services are available.
“That’s the norm for our operation, partnering with existing fleets that are already up and going and have the capacity to handle orders and it works well for both of us.”
The Cape Breton-developed software integrates all necessary communication between restaurants and the local delivery fleet.
Word of mouth and some past media articles have helped get word of Click2Order out to other restaurants. Stewart said existing clients, especially those that are part of franchises, have also been a source of new business.
Setting up their system for new customers often depends on the complexity of a menu and shipping times for associated equipment but can take as little as 24-48 hours.
“If you are in our backyard we can have it to you the same day but if it’s New Brunswick or out west it can be three to four days but certainly in that time frame we can have restaurants up and going … so that when the equipment arrives, they can theoretically turn it on that day and start.”
There are five full-time employees associated with the Click2Order company and a further 10-15 who are part of the CB Eats delivery service.
If you factor in the independent fleets and drivers associated with Click2Order across the country, some 50 or more people are employed.
“We are not a success story yet but we are certainly trying to get there.”
