kea, Mountain View, California, United States: kea

Written answers to the questions

Total 197 words used.

With restaurants facing mass labor shortages, stressed restaurant staff struggle to keep up with the pace of customer demand. Even back in 2017, restaurants weren’t able to keep their quality consistently, trending at 1-2 stars below their typical Yelp ratings year-over-year. Order make times were over 20 minutes and a whopping 40%+ of phone order calls were not being answered.

Realizing the extent to which restaurant managers would have to go to address service issues, Adam Ahmad realized that hiring practices at restaurants were table stakes, but not answering the phone was mission-critical. 

CEO Adam Ahmad founded “The Cashier in the Cloud” in 2017. Since then, kea has been on a mission to empower restaurant chains by enhancing customer service, streamlining operations, and boosting revenue through human-centered conversational AI. As of 2024, kea has digitized phone ordering for seven enterprise-level restaurant chains.

kea uses natural language processing to customize, upsell, confirm orders, and process payment through a PCI-compliant system. The technology features a “human-in-the-loop” to ensure a smooth ordering process. 

The company has served over 1,000,000 guests and has raised $29.6M from VCs including Marbruck, Xfund, Streamlined Ventures, Deepcore, Heartland Ventures, and Morningside Ventures. 

Total 250 words used.

kea is why many restaurants survived the pandemic throughout 2022 and started to thrive in 2023. 

A testament to this transformative impact is the success story of PINCHO, a local Miami restaurant chain, which kea supported by managing all its to-go orders. The surge in revenue not only stabilized PINCHO but catapulted it into an expansion beyond Florida in 2023. kea's prowess in navigating the operational challenges has attracted partnerships with five new restaurant chains between 2022 and 2023, including Newk’s Eatery, Blaze Pizza, and California Fish Grill, encompassing hundreds of restaurant locations. 

Across seven restaurant brands utilizing kea, net GOV consistently ranged between $20,000 and $30,000 per day, reflecting kea's ability to generate over $4,000 daily per restaurant solely through adept phone line management. Within a mere three months of integrating kea into their operations, Newk’s achieved a substantial 50% reduction in phone lines, reducing the restaurant chain’s operation costs. 

kea also up-leveled its product in 2022. That year, kea achieved PCI compliance, meaning the company followed 12 key requirements, 78 base requirements, and 400 test procedures the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) created to reduce data breaches and protect the data of cardholders. 

Beyond individual restaurant or product success stories, kea experienced remarkable growth in 2023. The company nearly doubled its workforce and secured an additional $8M in venture capital. This infusion of capital positions kea for continued scalability, enabling the company to extend its influence to more restaurant chains and customers. 

Total 242 words used.

kea has spearheaded the conversational AI movement, distinguishing itself amidst a landscape teeming with new AI startups and heavyweight tech companies like Uber Eats and Doordash. What sets kea apart is its battle-tested technology and its profound impact on people's lives and bottom lines.

Restaurant operators have noted that kea has helped workers in the “front-of-house” feel less stressed. Patrick Waiyawaytar, Vice President of Information Technology at California Fish Grill remarks, “kea’s AI technology allows us to streamline processes, easing the workload for our cashier team and ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.”

Front-of-house can focus on the customers inside the restaurant and don’t have to worry about the phone ringing off the hook, knowing that customers on the other end will be helped. A cornerstone of kea's customer-centric approach is its innovative "the human in the loop" feature. Rather than using AI only, which often has a 50% success rate, kea’s system integrates live agents into the call. These agents monitor the voice AI ordering system, increasing order accuracy and customer satisfaction.

With kea’s cashier in the cloud, mass labor shortages and high turnover rates will be a concern of the past. kea's unwavering commitment to prioritizing both the customer and the restaurant owner has elevated it above emerging competitors. kea is an AI technology replacing traditional phone lines and serving the whole restaurant community, making as a formidable contender for the Company of the Year for Food and Beverage.

Total 30 words used.

• website: kea.ai

• Video of demo call sample of Newk's Eatery Order.

• Video testimonials from kea's customers: Newk’s Eatery executive

• Article in Nation’s Restaurant News on kea's partnership with Newk's.