Ocean Deli Pizza is a family owned and operated business. What started out as a convenience store and sandwich shop, has now turned to a staple in the community with a broad menu selection for everyone to enjoy; six months ago they switched to Popmenu and, well, the numbers speak for themselves.

We'll get straight to the point—Popmenu is not a point solution

We caught up with the owner and managers of Ocean Deli, a casual deli and pizza shop of Wallop Island, VA to see how Popmenu has changed their restaurant. Andy Tiftikidis was skeptical of additional technology; after all, he'd successfully run Ocean Deli for 34 years without it. However, at the outset of 2020 they were ready to grow their business and find new customers. Their first technology partner, a third-party online ordering service, did OK. Sales grew 5%. But that came with the sacrifice of not being able to affect Ocean Deli's presence on the platform and they didn't receive any information about the new guests they were serving.

How were you using technology before Popmenu?

We were only using Slice. We tried it for a little and it did pretty well. Not going to say it didn’t. But it was pretty frustrating. I had no control over anything on the app. I also didn’t like that the ordering didn’t take place on my website. Sure it helped us get into a new realm of customers because of online ordering, but our sales only went up 5% month to month. It was a decent tool, but was pretty one dimensional.

- Andy Tiftikidis

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Enter Popmenu. Pavlos, manager and Andy's son, instantly recognized the value of not only having direct ordering on Ocean Deli's site, but also having digital tools that speak to each other to create promotions, change prices on the menu, and gain more traffic through the built-in SEO and ADA compliant website.

Were you skeptical about adding new technology? 

"Oh yes, very skeptical. I am a 60-year-old Greek immigrant who came to the states when I was 16. The only time I use technology is when I use my phone to trade stocks and crypto. I grew up in this industry and have owned many businesses. I haven’t used technology in any of them until Popmenu came around. I will say, I wish I knew about it sooner! Sure, you can have a successful business, but Popmenu has taken this 35 year old business to a new level."

- Andy Tiftikidis

Within the first six months with Popmenu, Ocean Deli saw its daily website visitors increase from 60 to 500 as well as a 150 percent increase in weekly online order revenue.

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Beyond the numbers

“Year over year, we were always a $1.6 - $1.7 million-dollar business. Now, after just six months with Popmenu, we are trending to an over $2 million-dollar business in sales. Popmenu has helped our operations tremendously with more online orders coming in, keeping us more efficient, allowing us to change prices on the fly, and the list goes on. Not only has it helped more sales come in, but Popmenu has also helped us cut costs in a big way."

- Andy Tiftikidis

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