CNME editor Mark Forker spoke with Wassim Berro, co-founder of AI start-up Burger Index, to be taught extra about how the corporate provides their shoppers entry to key listed knowledge that accelerates their time to market within the business F&B. in Europe and the Center East.
Wassim Berro and Maurice Karam are the co-founders of Burger Index.
The 2 met whereas finding out for an MBA in Madrid.
On the time of the MBA, Berro was primarily based in Qatar with Shell and Karam was employed by Microsoft, following the acquisition of Nuance, the place he had labored as a software program engineer.
Nonetheless, regardless of each working for big multinational entities, it grew to become clear in the course of the course that they needed to give up their company jobs – and pursue a profession in entrepreneurship.
Berro mentioned the pair have been an ideal match to enter enterprise collectively due to their totally different talent units.
“I used to be concerned in authorities relations and company affairs and Maurice was a software program engineer, so there was an excellent steadiness between us. I used to be very acquainted with that exterior stakeholder engagement that’s excellent for fundraising and gross sales – and his talent set was ideally suited for constructing a expertise product. Everytime you’re constructing a founding staff, particularly if you happen to’re constructing a expertise product, then you definitely want a co-founder with expertise expertise, in any other case you are arising with one thing that must be outsourced sooner or later. Maurice can construct the merchandise, after which I can go on the market and make gross sales and lift the capital we have to construct and produce the product to market,” Berro mentioned.
Berro explains how the entire idea of the Burger Index took place throughout his MBA in a category referred to as “the start-up lab”.
“Throughout the MBA, there was a four-week module referred to as the start-up lab. Primarily, what the course entailed was the number of a 5-person staff from over 400 MBA contributors, who have been then tasked with the accountability of arising with a enterprise concept. Throughout that month-to-month interval you might be given entrepreneurship programs, time to construct and validate your start-up firm – and you too can begin speaking to buyers. After ending that module, there may be then an optionally available interval on the finish of the MBA the place you’ll be able to choose totally different topics, and certainly one of them was referred to as enterprise lab. This lets you spend extra time working in your start-up, after which the top result’s the presentation of your marketing strategy to your start-up, which turns into the end result of your MBA mission,” a Berro mentioned.
Berro and Karam recognized that there’s a big hole within the F&B business when it comes to aggressive evaluation.
“Within the strategy of constructing any enterprise, your solely supply of information is Google. You mainly must go to Google and do a number of searches and simply hope you’ve got lined the whole market. Nonetheless, it’s merely not an correct strategy to analyze an business, validate a enterprise concept, and know what opponents are on the market. The way in which Google presents the info is a listing of knowledge primarily based on a rating, so once more the info is just not even historic,” Berro mentioned.
Burger Index has described itself because the Blomberg of the F&B sector as a result of its potential to index historic knowledge.
“The rationale we referred to as ourselves the Bloomberg of the F&B sector is as a result of we thought if you happen to have been to create a Google for an business and index all the info traditionally. Primarily what which means then is that each single factor in that business is tracked in actual time, it is traditionally listed, and you’ve got entry to it,” Berro mentioned.
Considered one of Burger Index’s first prospects was McDonalds in Spain.
“The way in which an organization like McDonalds makes use of our system is earlier than their advertising staff goes out and does a promotion technique for 2023, they will return in time and take a look at all of the 5 Guys promotions from final yr when did they do promotions, how typically, what was the period, what was the low cost and what was the message? Now, except you had a human sitting there for a complete yr watching that model, there’s nowhere on-line you’ll find that info. The identical applies while you need to monitor the value of a person product, you’ll be able to see the value and promotion now, however you do not know what the value of that product was 12 months in the past except somebody was sitting there watching it and recording it in a sheet Excel,” mentioned Berro.
Berro added that by merely indexing historic knowledge they assist their shoppers with go-to-market methods.
“The easy strategy of traditionally indexing details about product costs and promotions makes publicly out there knowledge extraordinarily worthwhile to the shoppers we work with. What we have discovered is that by accessing publicly out there knowledge, utilizing it the precise means after which cleansing it up, it provides our shoppers unimaginable visibility,” mentioned Berro.
Burger Index has constructed AI fashions that clear and course of knowledge, however what does that imply?
“Nicely, for instance, if McDonald’s in JBR is on Google, TripAdvisor, Talabat and Deliveroo, the system does not determine it as 4 totally different shops, it connects it – and identifies it as one retailer. When a product known as Kevin Bacon and does not say burger, our system identifies it as a burger primarily based on picture and ingredient recognition. What empowers AI is that everytime you do an evaluation, all the info is totally clear and you understand precisely what number of burgers are in a market and what number of Shawarmas are being offered inside two miles. the radius of your online business – and that cleansing course of is absolutely what makes knowledge so worthwhile to prospects like McDonalds,” mentioned Berro.
Historically, when it comes to aggressive evaluation, McDonalds used archaic strategies reminiscent of hiring a advertising company to conduct analysis. Nonetheless, as Berro factors out, it has all the time been reactive, whereas the Burger Index now permits them to be proactive.
“After we began working with McDonald’s in Spain, they instructed us that they employed a advertising company that targeted on 5-6 of their essential opponents to test what new merchandise and promotions they have been launching, and that was a course of that it was made by hand – and that is fairly stunning when you consider it on this digital age. The worth of our system is slightly than aggressive evaluation being a reactive factor you do month-to-month or quarterly, it turns into proactive as a result of each time your competitors provides a product, removes a product, modifications the value, or launches a brand new promotion. then that info involves you mechanically. It permits your staff to see these alerts each morning and perceive that, for instance, 25 of their 50 opponents are selling proper now, however why is that? Ought to we go on promotion now, they’re pushing all their costs up so is that this a superb time for us to lift our costs? All of that turns into proactive info that I obtain each day,” Berro mentioned.
The Burger Index co-founder mentioned one of many methods customers can entry their knowledge is thru the SaaS platform.
“We give them a login, and the best way it really works is mainly it creates datasets. For instance, you can create a dataset primarily based on the shops in your locality. I need to take a look at each retailer inside 5 miles of Enterprise Bay that has Shawarma on the menu, so you may create that dataset. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to add different filters, reminiscent of a ranking of 4 stars and above and a value vary. When you create that knowledge set, it turns into energetic and all the knowledge you obtain is totally distinctive to you,” Berro mentioned.
Berro added that meals distributors use their instrument to know the whole addressable market.
“For instance, Nestle created a plant-based meat referred to as Candy Earth. They will make the most of the facility of our system to see what number of eating places have plant-based meat on their menus and likewise rank that knowledge. For instance, I can rank it by shops which have probably the most areas, shops which have probably the most plant-based meats, and shops with the best rankings. “Primarily, primarily based on the quotient of these three issues, you all of the sudden have a lead record primarily based on the businesses most definitely to purchase massive volumes of your product,” Berro mentioned.
Burger Index is seen in each the European and Center Japanese markets.
Attributable to his earlier function with Shell and having labored in Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, most of his community connections have been primarily based within the GCC, so it made sense for them to focus on the Center East market.
“Maurice and I met in Madrid and that is the place we determined to construct the enterprise. As soon as we constructed it, the primary paying buyer was in Riyadh, a cloud kitchen referred to as Matbakhi, which additionally just lately raised $2.3 million in seed funding. After we have been elevating funds, we had loads of motion from the Center East, however while you have been elevating funds in markets outdoors of your property base, then you definitely additionally must show that the product works and that there’s a demand for it there. If you happen to’re constructing a start-up in Europe and also you’re making an attempt to lift cash from the Center East, then you’ll be able to’t simply go and get cash from the Center East primarily based on European income, it’s important to show income in that market,” Berro mentioned.
Berro concluded a glowing dialog by highlighting the urge for food for Burger Index within the Center East.
“We’re very targeted on the UAE and KSA and have offered probably the most datasets in Riyadh. Within the GCC area, there’s a big urge for food to increase shortly into that market and get there first, however it’s a very “darkish” place. We’re in a position to give them social demographics and F&B kitchen distribution knowledge, and that is very worthwhile to them, particularly after they’re making an attempt to find out the place they need to open,” Berro mentioned.
