Miami startup Boxie helps restaurants manage deluge of online food orders

If you’ve ordered at a restaurant counter or arrived there for a pickup lately, you likely noticed the chaos going on just beyond: half-assembled orders spread out everywhere and seemingly no process to how they are readied for delivery.

These days, restaurants from the neighborhood sandwich shop to your favorite special-occasion destination are delivering. Indeed, about 50 million Americans order delivery meals, and online orders for the nation’s restaurants were growing 20% year over year even before the pandemic. The proliferation of services like UberEats and DoorDash have made it easy for the consumer, but for the restaurant, it’s a growing challenge.

Boxie, founded by Lemay Sanchez and winner of the 2022 Miami Herald Startup Pitch Competition’s Florida International University track, helps restaurants manage online orders. Boxie’s smart lockers adapt perfectly to existing restaurant workflows to maximize efficiency for restaurants, customers and delivery services, said Sanchez, CEO and co-founder. “It’s a huge pain point for the industry sorting through all these orders that come in.”

Born in Cuba, Sanchez has lived in the Miami area since he was 13. He has started and led two other successful companies, one in marketing and branding, and one that provides a CRM automation product. But he said Boxie gives him the first opportunity to build a company that could have a large effect globally in an industry that touches everyone.

With Boxie (goboxie.com), Sanchez has two co-founders, both accomplished engineers. He’s known Daniel Galano, his lead for embedded systems, since he was 8 years old. His other co-founder, Arian Acosta, heads the startup’s cloud architecture and came up with the initial idea for Boxie.

Before launching, the team conducted 105 interviews with restaurant owners and industry players, including large restaurant groups, and over 50 delivery drivers.

“The worst issue we identified is that it requires so much staff to quarterback the order surge and with rising costs for staff this is something that restaurants have to fix,” Sanchez said.

While Boxie has competitors, its modular smart lockers are easy to install right out of the box. Restaurants can buy more as they grow. The average need is about six units, Sanchez said. The smart lockers, connected to Wi-Fi, share information with one another and the kitchen, such as when a particular food item has been sitting too long, as well as providing business metrics.

About a half dozen locations now use the lockers, and in about two months, Boxie will fill about 260 pre-orders and then open sales more broadly. Boxie is also in advanced conversations with two well-known restaurant brands, Sanchez said.

The startup makes money through product sales and monthly subscriptions. The smart lockers cost $595 each, and a $12 monthly fee per unit ensures integration with any point-of-sale software and third-party delivery service.

Boxie is launching with a splash this month at the giant National Restaurant Association Convention in Chicago as part of the trade show’s Startup Alley. To date, the startup has been self-funded, but Sanchez plans to open a seed round in August.

Boxie’s showroom in South Florida is at General Hotel & Restaurant Supply, 13900 NW 82nd Ave. in Hialeah.

This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.