As people return to their favorite restaurants and bars, these businesses are faced with new supply chain issues. The increased demands for takeout in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a shortage of basic items like coffee cups, napkins, plastic straws and takeout containers. At the same time, on the rare occasion that business owners are able to source the supplies they need, they’re faced with huge cost increases and long wait times.
According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), these supply chain issues have had a moderate to significant impact on 86% of businesses.
What results is a situation where restaurants, coffee shops and bars either cannot find the supplies they need or find them at a higher cost coupled with increased wait times. At the same time, distributors don’t know where to go to market the supplies that they do have widely to the right audience.
Scott Graham – KEXY co-founder and CEO – has experienced this firsthand. “These problems are interconnected,” says Graham. “Restaurants lose money by tracking inventory inefficiently. Distributors miss out on 20% of sales opportunities due to lack of information. By law, brands cannot directly sell to restaurants, which limits their ability to market their products. We built KEXY to solve these problems by connecting different players in the industry.”
The name KEXY was derived from the Greek words “kainotomo” and “exypno” which mean “innovative” and “smart.”
What problems is KEXY built to solve?
In many cases, business owners can simply not find the supplies they need to serve their clients efficiently. Hotel, restaurant, bar and coffee shop owners have all reported having to improvise for items as basic as napkins. QHotels Management – an umbrella organization that manages global franchises, including some Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn and Best Western properties – is facing these issues firsthand.
As a case in point, QHotels Management CEO Vimal Patel says one of his hotels advertises 12-ounce cups of coffee but – at some point – they could only find 8-ounce cups with no lids. Things got heated when customers took to the Internet to complain bitterly about the substandard coffee cups they were offered. The last thing you want to do as a restaurant or coffee shop owner is give someone yet another reason to get upset before their first cup of coffee. Unfortunately, many of these establishments can only improvise and hope that their customers will understand.
KEXY functions by tracking inventory patterns and buying behaviors of establishments like restaurants, bars and coffee shops. The platform then connects these businesses to distributors selling the supplies they need. In this way, KEXY eliminates the hassle involved in sourcing supplies from the restaurant end and selling stock from the distributor end.
In 2020, Graham and fellow co-founder Forrest Young came together to improve the archaic system that was being used to facilitate business between distributors and restaurants. After realizing how costly and time-consuming all these processes were, they committed themselves to building a solution that worked for all parties. Convinced that there had to be a better way to conduct business between all the different sectors of the hospitality industry, they got to work – and thus KEXY was born.
KEXY offers an inventory management system for retailers, a sales platform for distributors, and a marketing tool for brands. As Graham says, “it’s our goal to bridge the gap between every segment of the hospitality industry and build a thriving community. We’re passionate about helping our customers succeed, and we’re committed to making the hospitality industry a better place for everyone.”
By connecting business owners with the supplies they need and connecting distributors with the right customers, KEXY makes life easier for everyone involved. Beyond that, KEXY is helping businesses in the hospitality industry to thrive and contributing to industry-wide growth.
What features does KEXY offer different sectors of the industry?
For starters, KEXY is the only platform that addresses supply chain issues from beginning to end of the hospitality supply chain. While there are alternatives on the market, these solutions only address the issues faced by one party in the supply chain. On the other hand, KEXY is built to serve retailers, distributors and brands, thus creating an all-in-one marketplace that bridges the gap between all parties.
Expand your reach
As a distributor, you have the products that restaurants and bars need, but it’s not always easy to reach them. As a result, restaurants have to go without the supplies they need to serve clients and you have to sit with dead stock that you could’ve sold. KEXY connects you to a wider audience of potential clients, ensuring that you sell these products off.
Manage your inventory and ordering more easily
Managing inventory and orders can easily consume several hours of the day. In fact, it’s not unusual for business owners to spend their nights catching up on this crucial task instead of getting much-needed rest. With KEXY, business owners in the hospitality industry can manage inventory and ordering in up to 85% less time.
Run laser-focused advertising campaigns
Brands and distributors often have a hard time targeting their advertising campaigns to the right audience. KEXY comes with a niche, ultra-targeted marketing channel that makes it easier for brands to put their products in front of the right audiences. As a result, these brands can multiply their ROI by up to 10x.
Conclusion
The hospitality industry is still struggling to recover from minimal sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point, adding supply chain issues to the equation can easily cripple a growing business. Rather than let this happen, you can give your business a second wind by signing up with KEXY.
Want to get plugged into KEXY today? The good news is that the platform is free for retailers – you don’t pay until KEXY delivers on the promises of more sales and faster growth coupled with less work on your end. The platform also comes at an affordable price for other sectors of the industry. You can easily sign up on their website today. Alternatively, you can always join the KEXY community on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
