SPOTLIGHT ON QIKSERVE

What's worse than being stuck in a long line? Being stuck in a long line while you are hangry. Hanger and annoyance are the two emotions that Daniel Rodgers first felt when he knew he had a problem to solve. Qikserve is an enterprise platform that is all about giving your hospitality guests the best experience possible – so they spend more, come back more and tell more people how great you are. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well so is the story and manpower behind the startup.

Who are you?

Hi, my name is Daniel Rodgers and I’m the CEO & Co-Founder of QikServe. I’m an experienced business consultant and entrepreneur, starting two other businesses before setting up QikServe. I care passionately about technology and its capacity to create positive change in the world. Outside of work, you’ll usually find me cycling, socializing, exploring my home country of Scotland and spending quality time with my wife and two kids.

What is QikServe and how did it come to be?

QikServe is a platform for providing digital self-service in the hospitality sector. I founded the company with Ronnie Forbes in 2011, after a bad restaurant experience gave me an idea...My wife was working in London and I took our children there for a holiday. One day at lunch while my wife was at work, we took a seat in a full restaurant, with a line at the register and a line of people waiting to get a table. I quickly realized that I now had to leave my table (and my children) to order my food. This made for a stressful ordering process - trying to remember my table number and order while continually checking back to make sure the kids were okay. When I got back to my table I immediately went to look for an app that could solve the problem I had just experienced. I could not find anything and so QikServe was born...Today, we are headquartered in Edinburgh, with our U.S base here in the Atlanta Tech Village. Our customers are hospitality operators, particularly those in the thriving fast-casual restaurant sector, who are looking to gain a competitive advantage by adding self-service elements to their business.

What is the problem you are trying to solve and how?

We develop software that allows restaurants, cafes, and bars to provide their customers with the ability to order and pay for food and drinks directly from any device – whether from a mobile, tablet, website or kiosk. This is important because the hospitality sector has lagged behind sectors like banking in terms of self-service technology, but is now quickly moving to change that. Our platform helps our customers adapt to consumers‘ increasing adoption of mobile devices in their daily lives and also brings significant advantages to restaurants by helping them achieve efficiencies, reduce labor costs, and increase average spend.

Best day with the company?

There are too many to mention individually, but I will never forget our Christmas night out in 2016 after signing our first proper enterprise roll out deal. There was such an outpouring of pride and a real sense of achievement that brought the team together.[caption id="attachment_17399" align="alignnone" width="444"]

Another great day with the QikServe team. You know what they say, teams that run together, stay together![/caption]

What is the most challenging aspect of being an entrepreneur?

Definitely focus and prioritization. You want to do everything, but ultimately you have to make choices that sometimes mean there are things you don’t end up doing. It’s the only way, but you can’t help but feel you’re sometimes leaving value on the table.

What is the best part about being in the Village?

"The Atlanta Tech Village is a great space for us; it’s vibrant, friendly, and the staff is always there to greet you. The rooftop setting is ideal; perfect for if you need a change of scenery. In the few months we’ve been here, we’ve been able to grow our network considerably and make friends with people across the startup ecosystem. I’m looking forward to working alongside the ATV community as we grow QikServe’s presence in the U.S." says Jason Barnes, Implementation Consultant.

What are your words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs?

Just start. You're going to get it wrong, things are not going to go your way. It will be hard and you'll need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and start over and over again. If you don't think you can do that then it's probably not for you. Oh, and learn to sell 😉.With 13 nationalities and 14 languages represented, this diverse team is changing the hospitality market as we know it! It is best said by Qikserver Dave Baker,

I love being a part of an industry that makes hospitality and exceptional service accessible to everyone. By creating new ways for customers to interact with brands we have an opportunity to enhance the level of service any company could provide. Providing solutions for the differently abled and non-native language speakers only makes us all a closer community.