Waitr Holdings Stock

Waitr Holdings Inc., together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, operates an online ordering technology platform (the Platform), providing delivery, carryout and dine-in options, connecting restaurants, merchants, drivers and diners in certain cities in the United States.

The Platform uses the 'deliver anything ASAP' model making it easy for consumers to order food, alcohol, convenience, grocery, flowers, auto parts and more, and includes proprietary in-stadium mobile ordering technology. Additionally, ASAP facilitates access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions for restaurants and other merchants, a business that the company continues to have growth potential.

The company entered into the business of facilitating access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions through the acquisition of ProMerchant LLC, Cape Cod Merchant Services LLC and Flow Payments LLC (collectively referred to herein as the 'Cape Payment Companies') in August 2021 (the 'Cape Payment Acquisition').

The company's strategy is to bring in the logistics infrastructure to underserved populations of restaurants, grocery stores and other merchants and establish strong market presence or leadership positions in the markets in which it operates. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated in approximately 800 cities in the United States. As of March 15, 2023, the company operated in approximately 725 cities in the United States. The company's business has been built with a merchant-first philosophy by providing differentiated and brand-additive services to the restaurants on the Platform. These merchants benefit from the online Platform through increased exposure to consumers for expanded business in the delivery market and carryout sales. The Cape Payment Acquisition is part of the company's overall growth strategy, positioning the company to be able to facilitate access to a full suite of third-party payment processing solutions to its base of restaurants and other merchants in targeted industries.

The company generates revenue primarily when diners place an order on the Platform. The company's revenue consists primarily of net fees received from restaurants and net diner fees generated on these orders. Additionally, in connection with the Cape Payment Acquisition, the company generates revenue by facilitating merchant access to third-party payment processing solution providers.

Operations

The company has created a differentiated software Platform, purpose-built to connect restaurants, merchants, drivers and diners. The company's business has been built with a focus on quality through providing brand-additive services to restaurants, which in turn benefits diners by providing a diverse restaurant selection and a great customer experience. Additionally, the company facilitates mid-sized retail and e-commerce merchant access to payment processing solutions with third parties. The company has multiple third-party processing relationships and its intention is to leverage their various options for the benefit of merchants operating in face-to-face, online, MOTO (mail order, telephone order), and other transactional environments.

Business Strategy

The company's strategy is to provide access to attractive third-party payment processing solution options, as well as state-of-the-art POS systems coupled with advanced mobile smart terminals, to better serve its restaurant clients, as well as other merchants.

The company's strategy is to expand its ecosystem, which consists of its restaurants, merchants, diners and independent contractor drivers, through the enhancement of its Platform and providing additional products and services, including the facilitation of access to third-party payment processing services for its ecosystem.

The key elements of the company's strategy are to development of new products and services and investment in new technology; remain in markets where the company has a strong presence; pursue Strategic Acquisitions; deliver an excellent diner experience; and leverage relationships with its restaurant partners.

Marketing

The Platform is an important extension of restaurant branding. Restaurants promote the Platform as a feature for their diners through in-restaurant advertising collateral, such as door stickers, table tents and push cards, and other promotional items. The company's remaining sales and marketing initiatives are through paid digital marketing, social media strategies and local sponsorships. The company's restaurant relationships also allow it to market third-party payment processing services and solutions.

Sales

The company's sales team is particularly focused on offering restaurants access to its Third-Party Payment Processing Referral Service. The company's sales team is uniquely positioned to facilitate access to third-party payment processing services to these restaurants. The company views the existing restaurant relationships as a conduit through which it can engage with its restaurant partners to understand their needs and offer additional services and products as appropriate, such as facilitating access to third-party payment processing services.

Products and Services

Restaurant Products and Services

Restaurant Onboarding: The company offers restaurants a streamlined onboarding process that features direct menu management and high levels of customer service from its market level management and restaurant support team.

Product Features: The company provides restaurants with the ability to offer promotions and tailored daily specials, optimize orders through analytics and manage restaurant menus. The Platform includes a dedicated mobile application for restaurants which simplifies the aggregation of restaurant order and delivery tasks onto a central in-app controller and provides flexibility to edit menus based on inventory or promotions. This can be performed through user-friendly hardware that receives orders on-site and integrates them seamlessly into existing kitchen flow. The company also provides integration with certain online ordering and point-of-sale vendors in order to further enhance its restaurant partners' efficiency when fulfilling orders generated on its Platform. The Platform is also able to provide featured placement of certain restaurants within both the mobile and web applications.

Restaurant Support: The company also provides restaurants with a team of support representatives to ensure timely responses to inquiries, contributing to an overall high-quality restaurant experience.

Delivery: The company provides an ordering and delivery Platform for restaurants through a network of independent contractor drivers to address the growing demand for delivery services. The company also provides delivery services for restaurants and other retailers who have ordering platforms without delivery.

Diner Products and Services

Features: The Platform simplifies the diner ordering process to a few steps. These include setting location, specifying delivery method, immediate or future order, selecting and customizing menu items and tracking orders until completion. Diners have search capabilities to locate a certain restaurant or search by cuisine type and can easily view their favorite restaurants and past orders.

Restaurant Selection and Customization: The restaurants on the Platform offer diners a wide array of cuisine types, both from local independent restaurants and national chain restaurants.

Customer Support: The company also provides diners with a team of customer support representatives, which can be directly accessed through its mobile and web applications to assist with any inquiries and to ensure a high-quality diner experience.

Third-Party Payment Processing Solutions

The company facilitates mid-sized retail and e-commerce merchant access to third-party payment processing solutions.

Customers

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the company served approximately 1 million Active Diners.

Seasonality

The company's business tends to follow restaurant closure and diner behavior patterns with respect to demand of its service offering. In many of its markets, the company has historically experienced variations in order frequency as a result of weather patterns, university summer breaks and other vacation periods. In addition, a significant number of restaurants tend to close on certain major holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, among others. Furthermore, severe weather-related events, such as snowstorms, ice storms, hurricanes and tropical storms have adverse effects on order volume, particularly if they cause property damage or utility interruptions to the company's restaurant partners.

Intellectual Property

As of December 31, 2022, the company had registered trademarks covering 'Waitr', 'Bite Squad' and 'Delivery Dudes' and the stylistic designs associated with its brands. In February 2023, the company abandoned the Waitr trademark registration.

In 2021, the company registered the domain name ASAP.com, along with several other related domain names, in connection with its comprehensive rebranding. In June 2022, the company filed two trademark applications for 'ASAP'. In August 2022, the company initiated its rebranding initiative and introduced its new 'deliver anything ASAP' business model, expanding its food-delivery services to a broader array of products. The company's rebranding included the consolidation the company's technology platforms into a single application.

As of December 31, 2022, the company filed two patent applications in the United States, which seek to cover proprietary inventions relating to its products and services.

History

Waitr Holdings Inc was founded in 2013.