Name of your startup: The Apptopus

Names of people on your team: (Management) Daniel Hernandez – Founder – CEO, Prem Doraitswamy – CTO, Briya Leung – General Operations Manager, Awais Ahmed – COO, Izza Rongcales – Integrations Manager

A snapshot of the problem your startup will solve to make the world a better place:

The Apptopus solves many of the struggles that small and medium sized restaurant owners face with the rise of online ordering and delivery. We help restaurants manage all the chaos by consolidating orders from all the delivery service platforms into one dashboard, one tablet and one printer. We reduce commission fees paid to third party platforms by the restaurants, and we provide an account manager to help with any issues restaurants might not be able to solve on their own, be it because they are too busy or don’t know how.

The Apptopus is also a marketing solution in that we help design and modify online menus and build digital store fronts. It’s like having an entire e-commerce marketing team for a fraction of the cost.

We are now operating in 13 cities across California, and restaurants that work with The Apptopus are generating up to $30K per month in additional revenue. We work with food trucks, quick or light service restaurants, and ghost kitchens and 80% of the businesses we work with are owned by Latinos. Online ordering is a crucial extension of a restaurant, it’s no longer a luxury, it is a necessity and it’s here to stay. Even post-COVID, customers will continue to order online.

“I am excited to be part of Santa Cruz Works accelerator program because it's a local program that has a lot of support from the community, and I think that is really valuable to a startup. The modules are more tailored to where we are at, instead of a one size fits all. There are a lot of additional perks that are included with being a member of the accelerator program that can help us scale while maintaining our costs low.” Daniel Hernandez, CEO and Founder, The Apptopus

You can learn more about the inspiring story of how and why The Apptopus came to be here.