Will Clem is well aware of the problems restaurant workers have with not turning up for work. It was common for at least one person to have car trouble or stay home with sick kids, making it a frequent occurrence on weekends for Will Clem, co-founder of Memphis Meats, and owner of Baby Jacks BBQ Memphis.Clem needed to fill a Friday night shift so he set up his laptop in the drive-thru line of one of his restaurants. He then took orders from home via remote access to the system. Clem didn't realize that he wasn't actually ordering from the kitchen. Bite Ninja was born, a platform that allows remote hire technology for restaurants.Clem met Orin Wilson in 2020 to create the company. He worked on the technology for one year before it was launched in March. Today, the company announced pre-seed funding of $675,000 led by AgFunder, Y Combinator and Manta Ray.Clem and Wilson envisioned a technology to allow restaurants to reopen or return to normal business hours after the pandemic. Many restaurants were unable to hire workers due to the lack of available labor. Wilson explained that the workers, also known as Ninjas, could work at the counter or drive-thru from home and appear on-screen to customers via their menu boards.He said that if a restaurant is jammed, it takes an army of people to manage the rush. However, it is unreasonable to ask them to change into their uniforms and drive to their cars last-minute to make it in time to be there for an hour or two. They are in control of their own schedules and can choose the shift that suits them best. We have typically five to ten people bidding for each shift.Bite Ninja offers a better experience to potential workers who may not be interested in fast food jobs. Clem stated that many of the 3,000 Ninjas who are currently working for the company are retired moms or stay-at-home mothers with customer service experience but can't physically go into a shop. The company also works with the Nurse-Family Partnership in order to assist women getting back into the workforce.The company started with three pilot programs, and now offers services at curbside and front cashier locations. Bite Ninja will be able to scale its initiatives, hire more software engineers, and prepare for a national rollout at food chains.Bite Ninja was launched earlier in the year and is now being used in over 2,000 stores.Manuel Gonzalez, AgFunder partner, stated that restaurants are an important part of entrepreneurship. However, the pandemic forced over 110,000 restaurants to close their doors.Bite Ninjas solution reduces restaurant owners' costs and increases worker income, he stated. Because restaurants are so important to the economic, cultural, social, and community spheres, it helps entrepreneurs as well.
