Boostbar wins 100 point of sales in six months

Various providers of workplace meals focus on freshness, with the majority serving a premium market of white-collar workers. The downside of this approach: a large part of the workforce remains unserved. Additionally, the industry is challenged by the food waste predicament resulting from up to 40% unsold meals. Zurich based startup Boostbar has dedicated itself to addressing this gap with its innovative solution for white- and blue-collar employees.

Founded in 2020, Boostbar provides a fully modular, self-service food and beverage solution encompassing a fully equipped coffee bar with a snack kiosk, smart fridges with on-demand fresh meals and smart freezers stocked with premium frozen meals packaged in biodegradable packaging. “We want to allow companies to provide healthy and sustainable meals to their teams at any time and at affordable prices. In most places, this means being able to offer at minimal fixed cost and pricing full meals starting at 8 to 10 Swiss Francs,” says Pascal Uffer, CEO and founder of Boostbar.

The secret behind this competitive positioning: a fully digital & highly scalable operating model, with close to zero food waste thanks to ultra-long shelf life products with zero additives as well as an on-demand fresh offering from local producers through Boostbar’s “Virtual Canteen”. All of Boostbar’s POS run on a common connectivity platform, with centralised stock management and a flexible payment system, which allows employees to use their existing company badges, or pay directly via contactless or TWINT.

24/7 technology as a service for operators
Boostbar also works hand in hand with operators: hospitals, caterers, hotels or retailers, who want to create their own 24/7 offering. In these cases, the startup provides technology, which allows these operators to offer their own products through Boostbars’ self-service solutions.

Steady growth despite pandemic
February this year, the startup just had two points of sales (POS). As of today, they have won 100 POS at customers ranging from blue-collar sites to premium offices, with a staff size from 30 to several hundred employees. The largest win to date is a leading Swiss industrial company, where Boostbar will provide everything from coffee and snacks to complete meals across more than 30 POS. The financing round this April also enabled the company to pick up speed and grow its team to 11 employees. Thanks to this fast growth pace, Boostbar has now secured CHF 2 million in ARR (annual recurring revenues).

The corona pandemic was an accelerator for Boostbar’s fast growth. “Office managers are rethinking the future of their workplace. In that, F&B plays a central role, with a demand for innovative, personal & sustainable solutions. Oftentimes we work directly with canteen operators: our solution allows them to offer their own fresh products 24/7 and reduce opening hours at the same time! In the last week alone, two hospitals went live with this solution, and the trend is rising,” states Carina Schörgenhofer, co-founder and Business development manager at Boostbar.

Uffer attributes Boostbar’s success to the company’s focus on the B2B customer, rather than the technology itself “We focus 100% on identifying our market’s biggest pain points. And then use design and technology to address them through our solution. And I’m proud to say: thanks to our tech partners’ and our own industry experience and our strong & diverse team, at a faster pace than what could have dreamt off.”

(RAN)