E la Carte

E la Carte

Industry	Restaurant
Founded	2008
Founder	Rajat Suri (CEO, Co-Founder) Gichini (Ernest) Ngaruiya (Co-Founder)
Headquarters	Redwood City, CA
Area served	Nationwide
Number of employees	40+
Website	elacarte.com

E la Carte is a privately held technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley’s Redwood City, California that builds specialized tablets and software for restaurant tables. The Presto tablet allows restaurant guests to order food, play games and pay for their bill on demand.^[1] The company was founded in 2008 by MIT students Rajat Suri and Ernest Gichini Ngaruiya.

History

While at MIT in December 2007 pursuing his Ph.D., Rajat Suri got the idea to start E la Carte while he was at a restaurant with colleagues from MIT and Harvard. They struggled to split their restaurant bill, taking over an hour and making many mistakes. Rajat then decided to abandon his Ph.D. and start E la Carte.^[2] In 2008, he founded the company and then moved its headquarters to Silicon Valley in 2010.

In 2013, Applebee’s announced its plans to install 100,000 Presto tablets nationwide.^[3] This rollout is the largest tablet rollout to date by any enterprise.^[4] Some of E la Carte’s other customers include Genghis Grill, and Evergreen Restaurant Group, a franchisee of Outback Steakhouse.^[5]

Funding

E la Carte was seeded in 2008 by Romulus Capital. In 2010, E la Carte raised additional seed funding from Y Combinator, Drew Houston, SV Angel, Alexis Ohanian, Steve Huffman, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit and other angel investors.^[6] In 2011, E la Carte raised $4 million in funding from Lightbank^[7] created by Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. In 2013, E la Carte raised $13.5 million^[8] in Series B funding from Intel Capital and Romulus Capital. Another round of funding of $35 million Series C was raised in September 2014.

Presto Tablet

The Presto tablet is manufactured by E la Carte and built for restaurants. The Android-based, Intel-powered wireless Presto tablet is ruggedized and has a compact design that withstands spills and bumps in a restaurant environment. It has an illuminated credit card reader, a dynamic LED light and a rechargeable, removable battery.^[9] Presto integrates with a restaurant’s Point of Sale^[10] (POS) system and allows guests to order food, play games and pay from their table.^[11]

Competition

TableTop Media, a Dallas based company are now market leaders with their Ziosk tablets. Ziosk serves over 50 million guest each month as per their website.

References

1. "Changing the Way we Dine". CNN. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
2. "Restaurant Tablet Startup E la Carte orders up 13.5m". Venture Beat. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
3. "Applebee's to offer tablets at every table". nbcnews.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
4. "Applebee's to serve tablets at every table". usatody.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
5. "Customized Tablet For Restaurants E la Carte Raises $13.5M from Intel Capital and Others". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
6. "E la Carte Raises $4M from Groupon Co-Founders to Bring Tablets to Restaurant Tables". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
7. "A Tablet that Pre-Dated the iPad, E la Carte's Presto, Gets a taste of Venture Funding". fastcompany.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
8. "E la Carte Raises $13.5 Million to Bring Tablets to More Restaurants". mashable.com. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
9. "E la Carte Updates Presto Tablets for Restaurants". Hospitality Technology. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
10. "Applebee's to roll out tablets at all U.S. restaurants". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
11. "Applebee's Will Install 100,000 Intel-Backed Tablets Next Year In Record Rollout". Forbes. Retrieved 13 February 2014.