Flynt, the platform revenue optimization solution, raises €2.2 million. Thibault Desplats explains himself

Why did you create Flynt?

With the Covid context that we have experienced, the catering sector has experienced a huge upheaval with the explosion of home delivery which has recorded growth of more than 50% between 2019 and 2021 and an average today of 7 out of 10 orders that go through delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat. Overall, you should know that these include nearly 50,000 virtual and physical restaurants in France. While delivery is an increasingly important revenue lever, at the same time, competition is increasingly fierce with between 500 and 1,500 new restaurants being added each month. It is, and will therefore be more difficult for brands to stand out on these platforms, to have visibility and to acquire new customers. Hence the creation of Flynt, this unprecedented solution at the global level which, in short, optimizes the income of restaurateurs on delivery platforms by boosting their visibility.

This type of solution did not exist in France?

The promotional logic that was known from other sectors such as tourism or the hotel industry, remained very limited in catering. Until then, the only common on-line distribution channel for catering was Fork.com, which allowed tables to be reserved in advance, with promotional offers placed in low-traffic slots. But the exponential growth of delivery has given rise to new needs and revealed the urgent need to implement yield management strategies on prices. For the record, it was my end-of-study dissertation theme, about ten years ago: yield management in catering. Since then, through my various experiences at TheFork, then within the startup Skello which I co-founded, I have been able to measure the potential in the sector and the lack of solutions in the same way as my partner, Wuillaume, a graduate of polytechnic, passionate about data and restoration and who loves to analyze trends and make projections. A pooling of skills that allowed us to quickly launch ourselves around dynamic players such as Pokawa, Mum Dim Sum, Thaï at home, OFC who helped us build the tool. Today, we have more than 300 customers including, among the chains Côté sushi, Fresh burritos, Big Mamma, Matsuri…, among the independents, Poutinerie, Station Krishna… and in dark kitchens including OFC, Dévor, Delicious…

What are the new challenges faced with this abundance of offers?

The challenge for restaurateurs is to stand out on these platforms which, via their algorithms, classify restaurants according to several parameters: customer rating, volume of orders generated, operational excellence… But like all sectors, it is the promotional offers that improve visibility. They are a great argument to attract new consumers. Except that restaurateurs are lost on the real pricing strategy to adopt on each of these platforms. Because the nerve of the war is, of course, to gain visibility, but also to optimize its profitability by adjusting its proposals and its prices at all times so as not to sacrifice its margins either. Catering today takes the same path as the hotel industry once did with the arrival of Booking, Expedia and others. Few hotels today do not determine the price of their rooms without taking into account a large number of parameters such as seasonality, the number of rooms remaining available, competition, etc.

Why is a revenue optimization tool necessary today?

Until then, if a restaurateur wanted to start a promotion on the platforms, he could only offer one offer at a time and per point of sale. To schedule another, he had to wait for the previous promo to end. Flynt, accessible online, is made up of 3 main functionalities: promotion planning, measurement of the ROI of its actions and competitive intelligence. Plugged into most cash register tools such as Zelty, Tiller, Lightspeed, Innovorder, etc., our solution will allow them to have a summary of the trends and performance of their points of sale, with key indicators such as: turnover, profit , number of sales, average basket. At a glance, he will be able to see his peaks and drops in attendance and then be able to program a dynamic pricing strategy. For example, if from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., there are not many people, he will be able to practice – 30%. On the other hand, if at 8 p.m., its attendance increases, it can drop to -10% or even cancel the offer. And, if at 9 p.m., the activity calms down, he can launch a bought, a free. The pricing strategy will thus be able to be programmed and the tool will roll them out, at the right time, on the platforms.

Who is this solution for?

We are targeting restaurateurs who are already on delivery and click & collect platforms and who already have a certain proportion of their turnover on these platforms. We will allow them to gain visibility, in number of customers (we manage to double on average the acquisition of new customers by having the right price at the right time), to earn money and profitability (we is to an increase in average profitability on the platforms of 15 to 30% after two months of use) and to save time on the implementation and analysis of these strategies. Because it’s one thing to create strategies, it’s another to know what is the ROI of each of the actions that restaurateurs push, which allows them to stand out better on the platforms, to raise or lower their average ticket …. The idea today is clearly, via this new generation of tools, to regain control over these new distribution methods, to have more understanding and to adopt the right pricing strategy. In short, to put an offer forward at a given time, to plan a local strategy adapted to each of the points of sale, to each day and each time slot to find or boost traffic. Besides tracking all of its sales history, measuring what is profitable and what is not is vital. It is also possible to know how a restaurant is ranked on the platforms, how are the competitors chosen and what their promotional offers are.

Why this fundraising and what levers?

This €2.2 million fundraising led by Kima Venture (with the BPI), accompanied by entrepreneurs such as Bertrand Jelensperger (LaFourchette), Patrick Asdaghi (Foodchéri/Seazon), but also Arthur Waller (Pennylane), Guillaume Lestrade (Eero) , Christophe Chausson (Chausson Finance), Olivier Vaury (Mano-Mano) will enable us to triple our workforce to reach 50 people by the end of the year and to recruit Techs, salespeople, account managers and also accelerate our technological developments and our services. A V2 is planned for June with integrated intelligence that will automatically trigger the pricing strategy in real time depending on the activity and the V3 which will arrive in 2023 will offer additional automatic recommendations and recommendations to restaurateurs. Finally, as of this summer, we will set our sights internationally with a target of 1,000 customers by the end of the year.