Curbit to Expand to 100,000 Locations by 2027

Curbit, the California-based capacity management solution for restaurants, aims to be in 100,000 restaurant locations by 2027. Curbit helps restaurants ensure handoffs that are timely, fresh and high-quality.

Brands that have already signed up for Curbit’s software, which optimises kitchen performance and takeout delivery options, include Smashburger, Lazy Dog and Flanigan’s. Currently, Curbit is based in 300 US restaurant locations, with plans to launch in Asia and Europe soon. Curbit has also recently announced a tie-up with Microsoft to have its software hosted on its Azure cloud platform.

Microsoft will provide critical digital infrastructure and AI, with real-time capabilities, enabling Curbit to offer enterprise-grade speed of service analysis, accurate guest expectations, real-time order progress, robust kitchen performance and sentiment analytics.

Curbit revolutionises restaurant takeout, from Drive-Thru to Drive-Up

Curbit’s founders, a software engineer and a real estate expert, realised how much expensive real estate was used by a restaurant drive-thru, with customers having to stop at three separate windows to order, pay and collect. 

Founders Scott Siegal and Kevin Pidduck developed an ordering system where the customer could order via a smartphone app and have the food ready for collection on the restaurant doorstep – known in Curbit as the ‘drive-up’. 

Curbit’s popularity grew during COVID, when people had no option but to order takeaway food. Even today, according to Curbit, takeout accounts for 40-50% of most restaurant revenue. Mobile orders alone account for 14% of a restaurant’s total revenue on average. 

Curbit’s real-time data saves kitchen food preparation time and saves food waste (cutting down on food orders rejected by customers because it’s cold or soggy), but it also helps third-party delivery drivers from Uber Eats or, in the US, DoorDash and Grubhub, by saving them waiting time. 

Curbit is optimising the US$388bn US fast food market

Optimising the preparation and delivery of fast food in America alone is a huge market. The US quick service restaurant (QSR) market was worth US$388bn in 2023. Between them, Uber Eats and DoorDash deliver 3bn meals across the US each year. The global QSR market is expected to be worth US$1.5tr by 2028. 

“A restaurant kitchen is a custom manufacturing facility that creates a perishable good with a fixed time to consumption,” Curbit CEO Fran Dougherty told our sister title Business Chief. “We solve a pressing problem for restaurant operators and delivery service providers by analysing real-time speed of service to accurately predict order readiness. The result is fresher food, minimal wait times and streamlined operations.”

Dougherty believes that the fast-food restaurant market will see an increasing need for automation because it’s the only way to standardise customer experience. 

“There will have to be more and more automation because of the demands for immediate satisfaction by guests,” continued Fran. “The ability to get a known quality can only be done by automation. At a brand level there is going to be a need to automate as much as possible to manage that consistency.”

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