Meet the two MIT graduates helping restaurants increase sales through data

Running a successful restaurant business is not only difficult but the profit margins could be tiny, in addition to long labor hours. Some restaurant operators are adopting an online version of their business to maximize profits.

As such, a significant number of them depend on several channels to be successful online. “These include multiple delivery aggregators, white-label ordering platforms, QR code systems, reservation systems, pos and inventory systems,” according to Forbes.

However, operating many channels successfully is usually difficult. This is because restaurants often have to attend to customers who show up at their physical locations. This is where Nene Anagbogu and Colin Webb come in with Sauce. It is a startup that provides analytics and dynamic pricing for restaurants. 

“We’re the perfect combination of restaurant, data and product,” Anagbogu and Webb told Forbes. “Our families started small businesses, and we worked in restaurants, so we know what our customers are going through.”

The duo said they decided to focus on small businesses because many of those businesses don’t have data or a pricing team. As a result, they are left in the dark when it comes to making pricing decisions and how to operate their online sales channels, they said.

“Restaurants that use their data effectively can more easily improve their business, capitalizing on their strengths while evolving the aspects of their business that need more work,” Anagbogu and Webb told Forbes. 

“Restaurants who take advantage of their data can gain more customers, set more accurate price points, create products that people love, discontinue ineffective products and initiatives, manage their staff, and procure supplies in a way that makes their businesses more effectively profitable,” they added. 

“When restaurant owners forgo making the most of their data, they often leave money on the table. They’re either underpriced or overpriced, undersupplied or oversupplied, understaffed or overstaffed; each can significantly impact their margins.”

According to the duo, one of their customers, Rachel’s Kitchen, saw “a 64% increase in sales in just four months” after using their software.  

Prior to starting Sauce, Anagbogu and Webb said they were exploring a way to help restaurants expand to new spaces at a low cost. It was in the course of trying to improve the value and revenue of restaurants without them having to do any additional work that led to the birth of Sauce.

Anagbogu and Webb met while schooling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They have worked on several projects, including working on data and tech solutions from fintech to self-driving cars to Apple products. They were also recently featured on Forbes’ 30 under 30, a special feature about trailblazers under the age of 30.