Hi, Yaro here, and this is the vision behind Pickpad.
We’re building a solution powered by sensors and machine learning to seamlessly connect the physical and digital worlds.
By doing so, we provide businesses with a new layer of data points and take them to the next level of operational efficiency and customer experience.
Most b2b tech companies operate within the same layer of digital data, competing by utilizing the same data points in slightly different ways.
Almost all companies now are “powered by AI” but there’s nothing magical about AI on its own. The results from any ML model are entirely dependent on the quality of the input source. If you feed the model the same data, you’ll get the same results.
That's why we go beyond and add a new dimension of data points by leveraging sensors.
Sensors are everywhere these days — in my Apple watch, your robotic vacuum cleaner, or someone’s Tesla.
For example, without the sensors in my watch, I wouldn’t be able to track my sleep, heart rate, running distance, speed, tennis shots, and more. It’s like navigating without GPS — sensors are critical for countless services that rely on them, making everyday life better.
So why not apply the same concept to business operations?
Sensors are inexpensive and generate enormous amounts of data. And now, with the rise of machine learning, it’s the perfect time to process that data, cut through the noise, and deliver clear, actionable insights.
That’s the bigger picture of what we’re building: solution that connects digital and physical worlds.
And Pickpad is the first implementation of this concept.
We’re focusing on the restaurant industry because it’s where my core expertise as a founder lies. Over the last 15 years, I’ve launched a food delivery marketplace with millions of orders delivered, a ghost kitchen chain, and a restaurant commerce SaaS platform. Through these experiences, I’ve come to understand the industry well, and I’ve seen that not all problems can be solved by software alone.
Within the restaurant industry, we’re laser-focused on fast food and fast casual brands, as this is the largest and most solid segment, with 400,000 locations in the U.S. and the highest adoption of digital solutions.
Digital commerce in this category is growing incredibly fast. Some brands, like Taco Bell, KFC, Sweetgreen, and Wingstop, now receive more digital orders than offline. This shift is creating entirely new processes and challenges that restaurants never faced before. And we’re here to solve them.
We’re targeting specific problems that arise at the critical point where the physical and digital worlds intersect — the pickup zone.
At this point, all digital orders — whether from kiosks, mobile pickups, or deliveries — go offline.
It’s crazy, but billions of digital orders are still managed manually in the U.S. each year.
Here’s the typical manual workflow after the order is prepared:
Find the order in the system
Double-check for accuracy
Mark the order as ready
Place the order on a pickup table or rack
Assist a customer/driver in finding the order
Return to the system to mark it as completed
This process repeats hundreds of times a day in busy stores, leading to problems with labor efficiency, order accuracy, data accuracy, and customer experience.
In today’s digital-first world, restaurants have just a few seconds to interact with customers and demonstrate hospitality. Yet many fall short because they’re not ready for this new reality.
There are no longer separate digital and physical experiences. There’s only phygital — a seamless customer journey that unites both worlds.
And Pickpad is the solution for this new phygital reality.
Pickpad is a low-cost smart order pickup system powered by sensors and ML, designed to boost operational efficiency and provide exceptional customer experience.
It doesn’t change existing processes, requires no extra space, and integrates seamlessly with store’s design and tech ecosystem, including POS. Just place an order on a pad, and everything else runs like magic.
While operating in the background, Pickpad saves hundreds of hours of manual tasks, double-checks every order on the fly, automatically updates statuses, provides a new layer of crucial data points, and boosts customer retention — allowing staff members to focus on what truly matters — service and hospitality.
Welcome to the new phygital world!
And please join us on this journey, whether you’re a restaurant ready to try the product or an investor eager to shape the future together.
Yaro Tsyhanenko, founder