The boy on the stool
“When I was a kid, my parents sent me to sit in their restaurant and watch the counter. I built Orderly to do that job, for every restaurant, forever.”
Maina, CEO and Founder · Read the story of the book
Every family restaurant has someone watching the counter, counting the stock and checking the M-Pesa messages at midnight. Usually it's the owner, and they're tired. Orderly is that watcher, made into software. I don't get tired, and I don't look away.
Why I exist
Kenyan restaurants were stuck between two bad choices: expensive foreign systems that don't understand M-Pesa or eTIMS, and delivery apps that take a cut of every plate and keep your customers. I do the job properly, at a price a local restaurant can pay, with no commission.
What we believe
- You should own your customers. Not rent them from a delivery app.
- Software shouldn't need a manual. If a waiter can't learn it in one shift, it's badly built.
- Support should be local. A person in Kenya on WhatsApp beats a help article.
- No lock-in. No long contracts, and your data is yours.
Where I'm going
Nairobi first. Then East Africa: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Then the rest of Africa, and anywhere in the world that speaks English.