Tech at the heart of operations at CoZine

Have you ever wondered how restaurants manage to prepare delicious food in record time, while keeping customers happy? The answer may lie in cutting-edge technology that allows restaurateurs to work smarter, not harder! Technology is revolutionizing the restaurant industry, providing restaurant owners and consumers with more convenient and personalized experiences. The CoZine food court, located in the suburbs of Lyon, is one of the best examples of this evolution as it combines innovative technological tools with an enriched relationship with the consumer.

How to build a profitable shared kitchen model

Discover the CoZine universe

The CoZine food hub is based on the Food Court model. It is a restaurant concept that brings together several kitchens in a shared space. Each kitchen is different, offering customers a variety of culinary choices in one location. At CoZine, customers can order and enjoy the food on the patio, with enhancements to come and take their order away, or have it delivered directly to their home or office. For the latter option, many restaurant owners are now using platforms to offer deliveries directly from their kitchen to their customer's home. We find the platforms UberEats, Deliveroo, Just Eat ... There are several advantages to being on these platforms, including access to a larger audience, simplification of the ordering process, the ability to create special offers ... However, these benefits come with some challenges for the restaurateur, such as the need to find a balance between the cost of commissions taken by the platforms and the profitability of their business.

For this reason, tools like DOOD are present to create its own sales channel. Indeed, CoZine has chosen the DOOD solution to develop its own online ordering platform. The choice was made on the ability of DOOD to address all uses, on the spot, to go in click and collect and soon in direct delivery. CoZine's goal is to bring an additional powerful direct sales channel to restaurant owners in addition to delivery platforms. And the success is proven today, since up to 30% of the turnover is made on the spot and to go, therefore outside the delivery platforms, confirms Dimitri Mieral, founder of CoZine.

The importance of the human aspect at CoZine

Dark kitchens can sometimes seem impersonal and cold because there is no direct contact with customers. However, CoZine, as a food court, offers a more human experience for consumers. Customers can pick up their orders from the restaurant owners, ask questions and even watch how their food is prepared. This interaction creates a warmer, more "human" relationship between the restaurant owners and the consumers. 

This hybrid approach makes it possible to build an omnichannel CoZine brand experience and, for the restaurant owner, to maintain a direct relationship with consumers in order to build loyalty. CoZine has designed its model exactly in this way: 

First, because of the configuration of the place with "drive" windows open to customers. Then, thanks to the technology and the combo DOOD x RusHour that they offer to any restaurant owner setting up: access to customer data via online orders made on the marketplace operated by the DOOD technology that allows pre- and post-order communication actions; and customer information brought up by RusHour to personalize the customer relationship, such as the number of times the customer has ordered Confirmed by Billel Chebbi, owner of "Le Shiro", present at CoZine for 14 months:

‍"I appreciate keeping a powerful and immediate link with our consumers: at CoZine, we are in direct contact with consumers via the "drive" zone which allows us to keep a strong customer contact while responding to new digital consumption modes via smartphone or web. Consumers appreciate being able to follow the preparation right in front of them, keep a direct link with the restaurant owner, the possibility to order in advance (via DOOD), the possibility to eat on the terrace at CoZine, etc."

A technological synergy

Even so, for restaurateurs to achieve their goals, platforms must be at the heart of their strategy.

As mentioned, CoZine offers a DOOD x RusHour technology package to facilitate business management across the entire value chain: on the consumer's side, direct order taking via its DOOD platform, and on the restaurant owner's side, optimization of operational management and performance monitoring via RusHour. RusHour centralizes the orders arriving on DOOD, but also all the other delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Epicery... RusHour aggregates the order flows of DOOD and the platforms, but also integrates cash registers such as Sumup, French Caisse... All connected channels, the solution allows for real-time sales monitoring. It is then easy for a restaurant owner to identify his business generating channel, his best sales and his best customers. 

"All this is transparent for the consumer as well as for the restaurateur, because all the technological bricks work in a fluid and efficient way," says Dimitri Mieral. "The CoZine-DOOD x RusHour combo reconnects the restaurateur and the consumer by breaking away from the 100% digital Dark Kitchen model: CoZine is open to the public, DOOD is a way to address all digital uses, whether on site, takeaway or delivery. And finally RusHour, guaranteeing customer knowledge and practicality of the operational process."

Billel CHEBBI, complete :

‍"By integrating Cozine, one integrates a complete offer allowing to save time and energy. At your disposal, the DOOD and RusHour suite of tools allow for a quasi-automated operation to optimize the management of the various platforms and orders received. It becomes simple to sell on multiple channels, without headaches and with total control from a clear and intuitive interface."

Order optimization and time saving

Thanks to RusHour, CoZine's restaurant owners can centralize all their platforms, manage their menu, and access their delivery data in real time. All this on a single tablet. A huge time saver for CoZine tenants, who can manage their orders from one place. 

In addition, several options are available to optimize the ordering process: automatic acceptance of orders, adjustment of preparation times for restaurateurs, real-time arrival of delivery personnel, one-click inventory adjustment... All these details make the restaurateur and consumer experience much smoother and faster.

"Our choice fell on RusHour because all their features are well thought out, it's a French company on a human scale where we are in close contact with the whole team." Dimitri Mieral, founder of CoZine.

In addition to the possibility of developing a multi-use direct channel, the CoZine ordering platform with DOOD has been designed to optimize the customer experience through pre-ordering. The idea is for the customer to place his order in advance and thus limit the waiting time at the time of withdrawal, a feature particularly appreciated by office customers at lunchtime. For restaurateurs who manage their production with limited stocks, it is necessary to educate their customers to make reservations in the morning to ensure that they can enjoy their dishes at lunch, as is the case at Daddy's Donuts.

"The printers are printing the first tickets as early as 9am, and some even print them at night", says Dimitri Mieral.

According to Mr. Chebbi, the use of technology has been a key element in developing his business.

‍"Everything is done to develop my business on a daily basis: monitoring preparation time, identifying and personalizing each customer, pre-ordering a dish in advance are all possibilities at my disposal that allow me to work more efficiently every day to satisfy our consumers and build their loyalty over time."

How the DOOD, RusHour combo strengthens the effectiveness of CoZine

Some tools are quickly becoming indispensable, such as RusHour to improve the efficiency of the ordering process on the restaurant side and DOOD to develop its direct channel. Today more than ever, customer experience is the new challenge for retailers. And they can count on RusHour and DOOD to understand this.