Owner Raises $120 Million to Help Small Restaurants Tackle ‘Goliaths’

Restaurant and small business software startup Owner.com is now a $1 billion company.

The company announced the new valuation Tuesday (May 13) following a $120 million funding round, saying it would use the funding to create a “Shopify” for local business owners, beginning with restaurants.

“The fate of every business is being determined by its online presence. Consumers make their offline buying decisions online,” the announcement said.

“That’s a problem for local business owners. They need high-conversion websites, loyalty programs, and great digital marketing. Compare your local restaurants’ websites to Domino’s or Sweetgreen: you’ll see just how far they’re falling behind.”

Owner says it helps restaurants catch up by working with them to boost their online search visibility. The company also offers assistance with AI-powered website-building and automated marketing, offering tools such as localized search engine optimization (SEO) and a mobile app.

This way, the company said, the owner of a local pizzeria would gain some of the same advantages in reaching customers as “Goliaths” such as Domino’s, which Owner argues have thrived since COVID.

“The new world has been great for Goliath-sized corporations like Domino’s. Domino’s has invested billions in tech that drives online sales, loyalty, and re-ordering like clockwork,” the announcement said.

The news comes as inflation and economic uncertainty are forcing consumers to rethink their restaurant habits, as recent PYMNTS Intelligence research has found.

That data shows that two-thirds of consumers would adjust their grocery and restaurant spending. Of that group, half of the respondents say they would buy less, in terms of quantity, and half would go with cheaper options.

Overall, there’s some resistance to just forgoing dining out altogether, even with inflation. While restaurant dining is viewed as discretionary, only 14% of consumers said they would be willing to eliminate it entirely after price increases.

“But the willingness to move toward less frequent visits to the restaurant or to move to cheaper establishments may signal bumpy times ahead for the local establishments that may lose customers to the fast food joint down the street,” that report added.

“When surveyed about whether they would keep spending on table service at restaurants — in other words, going out to eat, 39.4% of individuals indicated to PYMNTS that they would ‘buy less,’ which is a nod to the fact that the ticket size of what’s spent at the table would decline; they could also opt to dine out less frequently.”