Dallas software startup Conversable has signed a partnership deal that could help Conversable expand its social ordering service to restaurants like Applebees, Chipotle, Jamba Juice, and Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
Conversable, led by founder and CEO Ben Lamm, announced the integration with New York-based software company Olo on Tuesday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Olo, founded in 2005, provides customers with an ordering platform that uses brand’s existing systems, helps them skip the line, or get food delivered. The integration with Conversable will allow Olo customers—including the well-known restaurant brands mentioned above—to gain easy access to add Conversable’s social media ordering and customer service to their offerings. The move could have a big impact on Conversable if Olo’s customers choose to opt in, Lamm said.
“The integration with Conversable manages to pull all of these gritty parts of a digital transaction into something that feels very natural to the customer,” Marty Hahnfeld, Olo’s chief commercial officer, said in a release.
Olo marks Conversable’s fourth partnership since it went live with Dallas-based Wingstop in June. A month after its began serving Wingstop customers, it expanded to Plano-based Pizza Hut and Austin-based Whole Foods.
Conversable’s platform is powered by chatbots, a computer program that automatically interacts with consumers based on their questions. The idea is to allow consumers to request more information, submit an order, or even request their favorite items, which the chatbots keep on file, through social messaging apps like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and Slack.
In addition to partnering with restaurant and retailers, Conversable also has landed partnerships with EY, which is training 150 of its professionals on conversational commerce, and Booz Allen, which is exploring the use of chatbots to extend customer care and content.
