Backhouse: The Future of Foodservice Equipment Sourcing Is Here

Running a hospitality business is expensive, complicated, and chaotic. The to-do list begins as soon as an operator wakes up, whether it’s reviewing the previous night’s shift notes, scrambling to find coverage for a morning call out, heading to the farmer’s market, or desperately trying to troubleshoot an ice machine that decided it was going to stop working overnight.

When the to-do list includes tasks that are required for the doors to open, procrastination isn’t an option. In this industry, every second and every dollar counts—but too often, operators have to make a choice between saving time or saving money for the sake of getting something done. 

We know the struggle far too well. Our founder, Max Mandell, comes from a family line of restaurant owners, dating all the way back to the 1950s. As Max went from avoiding homework and eating family meals at his mom’s restaurant to working shifts there, the curtain was pulled back, and he realized just how inefficient every aspect of the business could be. 

Max grew frustrated: over the years he worked at the restaurant, technology was developed to support things like ordering, labor, and inventory, but there was no change to the clunky, siloed processes of buying and selling equipment. He had no visibility into what a fair market price for the equipment would be, and he knew other operators didn’t, either. They didn’t have the time to spare on doing research and collecting quotes; they were just hoping for a deal without knowing if one was actually there.

There had to be a better way. 

He saw his supplier friends struggling, too. They didn’t have the data to price themselves competitively in market, and they were relying on time-consuming, old-school ways to develop new business, like cold calls and emails. So, Max set out to develop a solution that would serve both the hospitality industry he came from, as well as the foodservice equipment suppliers that support it.

Backhouse is an AI-powered commerce platform that functions as an autonomous assistant to overworked operators and a business development tool for the vendors and distributors who sell to them. It’s already transforming equipment procurement for brands like TimeOut Market, Hilton, and CoolSips, saving them countless hours and an average of 27% on equipment purchases.

The future of foodservice equipment sourcing is Backhouse, and we're ready for the rest of the industry to join us. Here's the value operators and suppliers can expect from our solution.

Product Discovery

In our personal lives, we tend to have preferences and patterns in what we buy based on brand loyalty, specific features, perceived value, or all of the above. The same is true in procurement: if you’ve been using the same product for years, it creates a consistent menu item, and the price is within budget, why look for an alternative? And in hospitality, we know we don’t have the time to do that, anyway.

Backhouse does the research on behalf of operators. Our technology takes equipment request specs provided by our customers and compares them against a catalog of over 500,000 items to identify all matching products and manufacturers. Foodservice buyers are empowered with more choices, uncovering products they didn’t know existed that may be even better matches for their business needs.

Market Transparency

It’s somewhat easy to keep the pulse on the shifting price of commodities, or to know the hourly rates that’ll attract top talent in the local labor market. But tracking foodservice equipment prices? Much more difficult. Operators are buying the first items from the first vendor that turns up that meet their specs because data isn’t accessible enough to make informed decisions or to know if they’re getting a good deal or not.

Backhouse empowers hospitality operators with options for both products and suppliers. After a customer selects a product that suits their needs and requests pricing, Backhouse uses the power of AI to collect bids from vendors and distributors autonomously. Within 24 hours of request submission, our customers have a range of quotes to review from the trusted suppliers in our network. 

Operators no longer have to waste time calling around, hoping a local supplier has what they need in stock at a reasonable price. Instead, our sourcing process creates a free market on operators’ behalf to ensure they’re getting the best possible price on equipment without wasting a single second on data collection.

Supplier Exposure

Hospitality operators are saving money on procurement with Backhouse, but that doesn’t mean suppliers are missing out on profits. Inclusion in our network means more exposure, creating new business opportunities for vendors, distributors, and manufacturers. 

Vendors and distributors in the Backhouse network are matched with buyers within their service area, opening up revenue streams without the hassle of digital advertising or cold calls. Meanwhile, manufacturers get more eyes on lesser-known product lines from buyers with high purchase intent, increasing the opportunity to make sales.

In a world where the first page of search engine results are crowded with ads and (potentially incorrect) AI results, vendors who partner with Backhouse have peace of mind knowing their products will get in front of the people who want them, when they want them.

Elevating Hospitality

No one gets into this industry because they love paperwork and budgeting. But the reality is that, with the million things to manage in foodservice, time gets sucked into administrative tasks, money goes where it shouldn’t, and operators are given fewer opportunities to create memorable experiences for guests. Not exactly fulfilling work when the heart’s in hospitality.

Backhouse automates and streamlines sourcing workflows so hospitality operators can spend more time with guests, where it truly matters, and spend more wisely. We’re also giving suppliers more business opportunities with competitive price intelligence and exposure to new customers. Everyone, from the operator to the supplier to the guest, wins. 

We aren’t here to tell operators and suppliers how they should do business. But we are confident that the more people who join us on our mission, the more efficient and more profitable it’ll be for them to run. After all, McKinsey has reported that “Organizations that employ leading-edge purchasing practices achieve almost double the margins of companies with below-average purchasing departments.”