The future of hospitality technology

Behind the scenes of Presto’s IPO

 

Welcome to First Bite, a Nation’s Restaurant News podcast, your daily source of news from NRN hosted by Holly Petre.

Today, we’re talking about the latest restaurant technology company to go public.

Labor automation company Presto became the latest restaurant technology company to go public last week, with an initial public offering of $120 million from a merger with special acquisition company, Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp. The restaurant tech space has been hot this past year, from unicorn IPOs to a flurry of fundraising and M&A activity from smaller tech startups. It only made sense for Presto — which has made a name for itself in labor tech solutions over the past 14 years — to join the throng.

Presto CEO Raj Suri started Presto 14 years ago after working as a waiter during the peak of the 2008 recession and has since tried to move the industry forward toward improving the guest experience through labor automation tools. The next step in their evolution was completing a previously announced merger with Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp. on Sept. 21, raising $120 million, less than analysts had initially hoped, though Suri is not too worried about macroeconomic challenges that might influence the valuation of his company.

Moving forward, Presto will make a lot of moves in the restaurant space through acquiring other smaller brands, and Suri hinted that Presto will have more to announce on that front in the near future. Suri wants Presto to be a leader in moving the needle forward on what restaurant tech companies are capable of, in terms of providing solutions for the industry.

Hear more from Joanna Fantozzi, who spoke with Suri last week.

Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode.

Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

TAGS: Technology
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