orderTopia is new on the scene – launched at the end of last year by Dan Epstein and Brian Williford. You may have already met Dan while eating Downtown – he’s also the owner of Eppies. They have a pretty ambitious goal – the re-think the whole point-of-sale systems and ordering processes of restaurants and retail stores.
Currently, new businesses have to invest in expensive touch-screen computers or complicated software (think QuickBooks) as well as purchase bar code scanners, computers etc. These systems are expensive to install, difficult to maintain and rarely integrate with a store’s other operations (like online ordering). orderTopia hopes to change all that by offering a cloud-based point-of-sale system that easily integrates with a merchants website as well as connects to customer’s social profiles. The cloud POS runs on cheap hardware (i.e. a laptop or iPhone) and maintenance and upgrades are handled automatically behind-the-scenes (picture the difference between purchasing Microsoft Outlook and using Gmail). And because the software already lives on the Internet, its an easy step to connect with customers where they hang out – Facebook, Twitter etc.
orderTopia is already up and running with several local merchants including Revolutionary Soup, Mellow Mushroom, O’Suzanna and more.
Hi, I'm Daniel Strickland. I run
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Thanks for the nice write up. Brian and I are really excited about orderTopia–we think we’re on the cusp of something big. We’ve turned on online ordering for a couple restaurants (Eppie’s in Charlottesville, and a few Elevation Burgers around the country). The next steps for us will be bringing more stores online, both local and nationwide. At the same time we’ll be be rolling out full-featured mobile ordering. You’ll be able to order food and pay for it straight from your iPhone or Android.
The other great thing about orderTopia is the opportunity it’s given us to meet more of the Charlottesville tech community. Charlottesville has a ton of tech talent, and orderTopia has enabled us to work with some very smart folks, as well as make some great friendships. We’ve been very lucky to be building orderTopia in a place like Charlottesville that has such a great tech and startup scene.
Thanks Dan! I dream of the day when I place all my food orders with my iPhone.