How cheap pub schnitzels helped this company raise $16m

afr.com:

Food ordering business Ordermentum, whose digital system is used by 40,000 pubs, clubs and cafes, has raised $16 million in fresh capital to drive growth as value-seeking diners head to pubs rather than higher-end restaurants.

It has just acquired food wholesaling business Foodbomb, adding an extra 100 food suppliers to Ordermentum’s existing 750 suppliers selling steak, schnitzels, chicken, seafood, coffee beans, bread, milk, fruit and vegetables to pubs and cafes via the platform.

Ordermentum founder and chief executive Adam Theobald said the last two months of trading had shown that households were honing in on value options as they navigated through cost-of-living pressures. A pub meal was viewed as offering good value as cautious consumers traded down from a higher-end restaurant option.

“The volumes we’re seeing had a nice recovery out of the last (July) school holidays,” he said.

Ordermentum founder and CEO Adam Theobald (centre) with Foodbomb founders Paul Tory (left) and Josh Goulburn (right) 

Ordermentum has added about 6000 pubs, venues and cafes to its user numbers in the past nine months, with the business now covering 40,000 outlets. Mr Theobald said about half of Australia’s pubs used the system.

Australia’s largest pubs business, operated by Endeavour Group, the owner of Dan Murphy’s and BWS, has some of its pubs using the system, while Australia’s second-largest pubs group Australian Venue Co, which runs 212 pubs, is also a user.

Private equity giant KKR sold its 80 per cent stake in Australian Venue Co for $1.4 billion three weeks ago to another private equity player, PAG, which also owns Patties Foods, the maker of Four’N’Twenty pies.

The purchase price of Foodbomb isn’t being disclosed. Mr Theobald