Whether with family, friends, colleagues or strangers, sharing a meal often makes us closer. Food can act as a source of common ground, serving as a way to get to know one another and fostering connection across different cultures, backgrounds, generations and languages. Food is something humans can’t live without, and it’s long brought people together across great distances and even time. This, in part, is what makes the role of restaurants and food service workers so critical in our world. During the pandemic, many restaurants were scraping by—some didn’t get to the other side, and others just barely made it. Many in the industry are still struggling with staffing and keeping up with increasing online orders. When you’re busy trying to run a restaurant or craft tasty meals for others, managing technological demands is not only an entire field of its own, it’s next to impossible to handle amid business ownership, nonstop food orders and customer service needs, among many other priorities.
With the impact technology and shifting ordering-in habits have had on the restaurant industry in mind, I had a chance to sit down with Krystle Mobayeni, cofounder of BentoBox. In our conversation, Mobayeni offered her insight into the current needs of restaurateurs due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, what she wants to solve within the foodservice industry and where she sees the future of restaurant technology.
Liz Elting: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Could you please introduce yourself to the readers and tell us a little bit about your career?
Krystle Mobayeni: I’m Krystle Mobayeni, the cofounder of BentoBox and the head of restaurant solutions at Fiserv. I founded BentoBox in 2013 after working with restaurants as a web designer, where I found that existing technology drove a wedge between restaurants and their guests. At the time, there was no all-in-one solution to help restaurants unify the various tools they use to succeed in their mission for hospitality.
Our passionate team built our platform to empower modern restaurants to build their digital presence, diversify revenue, engage with diners and increase operational efficiency. In November 2021, BentoBox was acquired by Fiserv. Today, I lead restaurant solutions, the restaurant vertical within Fiserv that includes brands like BentoBox and Clover for restaurants.
Elting: You began your career as a web designer, what led you from designer to tech founder? What was that journey like and what spurred you to create an e-commerce platform that builds tech-based solutions for the restaurant industry?
Mobayeni: During that phase of my career, it was difficult to find a solution that provided everything restaurants needed to do online in a way that accurately represented their brand and the experience that diners could expect. Technology was becoming increasingly important to the dining experience, but the most available solutions were from third parties and marketplaces, which created a barrier between restaurants and their diners. An online presence can offer restaurants a direct connection to diners, and for diners, provide a preview of the hospitality experience. To build a solution that addressed these needs was a no-brainer.
Today, we’re witnessing another shift towards a more integrated and contemporary technological approach in restaurants, one that bridges the gap between online and on-premise experiences and reduces conflicts among different technologies. It’s a very exciting time to be in the space.
Elting: Before becoming a founder, I worked at another company in the same industry; seeing the ways we weren’t comprehensively meeting the needs of our clients was the impetus for starting my own company. How did your experience working with restaurants in a design capacity influence your business? Can you talk about the benefit of industry experience as a founder?
Mobayeni: Definitely. After working with a number of restaurants, I noticed a pattern: I was solving the same pain points over and over again. With my background in design and technology, I was in a position to help solve these issues by building the platform that became BentoBox. A restaurant’s digital front door is often the first time customers interact with their brand, so it’s important that their website is a seamless, functional and accurate representation of the experience a diner could expect in real life.
Elting: You grew up with a mix of different cultures (something I can relate to myself and that heavily influenced my career). How did that experience impact you as an entrepreneur? What influence would you say the cultures and experiences you were exposed to had on your entrepreneurial journey?
Mobayeni: I’m a first-generation American. My parents emigrated from Iran to the U.S. in 1976. When I think about passion points for me, I’ve always been excited by hospitality. A lot of first-generation Americans feel this way: you have your one culture at home, another where you go to school, and then there is a third culture that you create to bridge the others. For me, that bridging of worlds and creation of connections happened in restaurants. Dining out was the sole activity that made me feel like I was inviting my parents into the world I created for myself in the U.S. while revisiting our culture. My family gave up so much to come here. That’s always stuck in the back of my mind and as a result, really informed my approach to being an entrepreneur.
Elting: I’m fascinated by the role food and dining plays in different cultures and how it can be a profound connector for people of all walks of life (oddly enough, when my family moved to Portugal, it was because my father was opening a restaurant there). I’m curious, did your upbringing influence your view of the dining experience? If so, how? And did that play a part in you founding BentoBox?
Mobayeni: The more time I’ve dedicated to developing technology to bring hospitality online, the more I’ve contemplated why I chose to address this particular challenge—for me, it was deeply personal. Many of my most cherished conversations, unforgettable experiences and most fulfilling moments have transpired over a meal. My upbringing in a Persian household, where hospitality held significant importance, was key in shaping that perspective. And ultimately, it influenced my approach to the dining experience.
Elting: I often tell budding entrepreneurs and students that you don’t need to invent something brand new or start from scratch to innovate. Sometimes it’s about improving and building upon what’s already there. Were there specific problems you were looking to solve from the get go when you came up with the idea for BentoBox?
Mobayeni: When I conceived BentoBox, there were already websites and e-commerce platforms available, but none were tailored to the specific needs of restaurants. This gap in the market was the pivotal improvement that resonated with restaurants: it felt like a platform designed exclusively for them. Tasks as basic as menu updates, gift card sales or handling event inquiries were unnecessarily complicated with generic, one-size-fits-all platforms. I aimed to bridge the gap between technology solutions and customer relationships.
As for my advice to budding entrepreneurs and students: when you’re getting started, reframe the “no’s” and criticism you encounter as opportunities to refine and enhance your business. Early feedback is often highly relevant, so addressing it head-on can significantly benefit the foundation of your business.
Elting: Building a business that helps other businesses succeed presents its own unique challenges and rewards. Can you talk about your experience as a B2B founder? Do you have any insights other entrepreneurs could benefit from (whether B2C or B2B)?
Mobayeni: BentoBox was founded to help the world’s restaurants succeed in their mission of hospitality. One of the most rewarding parts of that mission is when our product and our team make a real, measurable impact on a restaurant’s business.
The time this was most obvious was during Covid-19. Restaurants had to close their doors and the only place they were available for business was online through their website and e-commerce. We got countless notes from our restaurant customers telling us they were able to keep their staff employed with the help of our products, or if it wasn’t for their ability to get creative through ordering, meal kits and virtual event tickets (all through our platform), they would have had to close their businesses completely. This really helped keep our team motivated and morale high during this difficult time.
That leads me to the insight I’d share with other founders: it’s critical to ensure that your team knows and feels the difference their work is making in the world. That is how, I believe, we’ve been able to maintain such a high-performing team. Every person knows the role they play in the lives of our customers, and driving success for them is what has made our business successful.
Elting: As many know, Covid-19 hit restaurants hard, with customers switching from dining out to ordering in en masse. How did you approach this industry upheaval and the unprecedented shift in what restaurants and their customers needed? What was BentoBox able to do for restaurants during this time? Has this changed in the past year or so as many have returned to in-restaurant dining?
Mobayeni: Prior to 2020, restaurants were just figuring out how to blend traditional hospitality with modern technology. Then the pandemic hit, pushing hospitality workers to adapt to takeout, delivery and online sales. To help restaurants make this leap, we launched online ordering in February 2020, enabling restaurants to handle pickup and delivery orders on their website while avoiding third-party commission fees. Throughout the pandemic, we also launched initiatives like a donation option for online orders, free webinars and pop-up shop fundraisers.
Today, the ongoing pandemic challenges, such as labor shortages and high demand for online orders, continue to affect businesses. For restaurants, third-party fees strain their customer relationships and impact their revenue.
Elting: What are your thoughts on the progression of technology in the restaurant industry? Is progress meeting current demand?
Mobayeni: My team is passionate about helping restaurants foster strong customer connections to provide a better dining experience. Part of this involves building software that identifies and keeps up with evolving customer needs. Diner data can be key to figuring out what customers like or dislike. For example, gathering feedback after an online order or reservation is complete, then surfacing that feedback to restaurant operators gives them a chance to take a look at what went right or could be improved for the future. One initiative I’m particularly proud of is our recurring industry trend reports that take a look at diner data and what it means for restaurants. Our 2022 report found that when a diner checked out a new restaurant, there was a 75% chance their journey passed through the restaurant’s website. We did another report that found that online research is almost as trusted as personal recommendations these days. All this to say, simplifying data analysis can improve restaurant operations.
Elting: What does the future of the restaurant industry look like? Where do you see restaurant tech going in the coming months or even years?
Mobayeni: The restaurant industry will likely see increased integration, automation and personalization in the future. As technology continues to evolve, there are very real use cases for iterations of existing applications and functions for better dining experiences. We anticipate seeing more personal options roll out for nice-to-haves, like customer loyalty programs, menu recommendations and tailored marketing as this technology becomes more commonplace.
AI will play a very important role in that process, both in the immediate term and in the future. Currently, generative AI can act as a labor-force multiplier for restaurants, saving time and reducing costs, which is a particularly appealing prospect for restaurant operators grappling with pandemic-related labor shortages.
Elting: What’s your favorite part of working in the restaurant industry? What about it drives your work to this day?
Mobayeni: I feel privileged to be able to serve an industry whose job is to serve everyone else. When our team provides great service or anticipates our customer’s needs, I notice that it’s recognized tenfold because the restaurant industry is one that values service above all else. Having had some of the most important experiences of my life at restaurants—celebrations, discovery of a new city, unwinding after a tough day—I’m grateful to be able to give back to restaurants.
Elting: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Mobayeni: Early in my career, I was struggling to transition from a designer to a leader and CEO. I was trying to model behaviors that felt unnatural and didn’t come easy for me. A veteran CEO said to me that I could choose the type of CEO I wanted to be. That did a lot in allowing me to recognize how my strengths could be repurposed in a leadership role and start enjoying my job as a leader.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.