Startup.Miami recently highlighted the need for more “exits” — deals where a company takes over a majority stake of another company.
That happened just a couple of weeks ago, when SpeedETab, a Fort Lauderdale-based company that has only been around since 2015, had its majority stake purchased by Paymentez a Miami-based payments platform for goods and services that operates in Latin America.
We talked to cofounder Adam Garfield about what the company plans to do with its new cash (the exact amount is undisclosed), and how it plans to take over the takeout industry.
What is it?
SpeedETab was born from the most primal of South Florida needs: cutting in line. The idea was to allow hungry and thirsty customers to be able to download an app to order ahead so that their food and drinks would be ready as soon as they got to the restaurant or cafe.
“Delivery is great, but not everyone wants delivery,” Garfield told Startup.Miami. “They don’t want to have to pay the fees, have strangers handling the food, the food can take a long time to get there. Our focus is on the in-store experience, and making it frictionless, from when you open the door to when you leave.”
In just two years, they’ve expanded to approximately 200 locations of restaurants and food trucks across the country, from New York to Texas — though you won’t always realizing you’re using them, since they’ve now expanded to “white label” ordering services, meaning they power a company’s takeout platform, but you won’t see the SpeedETab label on it.
Here’s a list of confirmed Miami locations that use SpeedETab:
- All Day
- Arsht Center
- Bianchini Mercato
- Box of Chacos
- Coyo Taco (all locations)
- CPR Kitchen
- Della Test Kitchen
- DIRT
- Dr. Smood (all locations)
- Elia Gourmet
- Japanito
- Loba
- Miam Cafe
- Miami Flea
- Mister Block Cafe
- Panther Coffee (all locations)
- Pura Vida
You can find other locations, including ones in Fort Lauderdale, here.
What does the Paymenetez investment mean?
Besides a tidy windfall for SpeedETab founders Garfield and Ed Gilmore, the investment will allow them to continue to expand throughout the country. And they’re hiring!
Garfield also points out that his company shows that “scale-ups” don’t need to involve hiring lots and lots of employees, something the Kauffman Foundation’s measurement of growth companies required.
“One of the beautiful things about software is the ability to grow and scale exponentially without necessarily adding a ton of overhead or resources. That’s the basis of software,” Garfield said. “For us, we’re able to go from 15 clients to 150 clients relatively easily, without necessarily adding tons and tons of new employees.”
Why South Florida?
Garfield grew up in Miami and attended the University of Florida. Gilmore moved to Fort Lauderdale a few years ago to oversee Motorola’s apps and user interface team, and decided to stay and be a part of the growing ecosystem here.
“We liked the idea of being one of the first real success stories to come out of South Florida, to be a big fish in a small pond,” Garfield said. “It’s a community — everyone knows each other, supports each other more than I think you would find in Silicon Valley, Boston, or New York City, where there’s just a lot of saturation.”
What’s next?
You can catch SpeedETab at eMerge Americas. Actually, you won’t really have a choice if you’re hungry – if you want to order from any of the food trucks there, you have to do it through SpeedETab, as part of a sponsorship with Visa.