86 Repairs—an innovative platform that streamlines and optimizes equipment repair and maintenance for restaurants—today announced it closed a $2 million round of seed funding from multiple investors including TDF Ventures, HAVI, Gordon Food Service (GFS), GHS Holdings, Tamarind Hill, Invest Detroit Ventures, Network Ventures, and the Cleveland Avenue State Treasurer Urban Success Fund (CAST US), an initiative to bridge the capital and resource gap for Black, Latinx, and women-owned companies in Chicago’s South and West Side neighborhoods. The investment will be used to accelerate the company’s aggressive growth and product development which offers collective intelligence and robust data insights previously untapped in the foodservice equipment and supply industry.
Data-Driven Approach Shapes Post-Pandemic Restaurants
“86 Repairs harnesses the power of technology to create a real and innovative solution for the restaurant industry. We’re impressed with 86’s ability to tackle R&M and other back-of-house pain points in a proactive way,” said Will Rayner, Principal, TDF Ventures. “We see big potential for this data-focused approach, especially as we enter a new phase for restaurants in a post-pandemic world.”
Founded by established entrepreneurs Joe Gallagher and Daniel Estrada, 86 Repairs is a subscription service that manages the entire end-to-end repair process and provides actionable insights to improve back-of-house operations. Through its aggregated data, 86 Repairs offers insights into which equipment is breaking, how expensive it should be to fix it and the cost of labor and parts to execute a fix. Since its launch in 2018, 86 Repairs has partnered with 700+ restaurant locations, saving them an aggregate of $1,775,506 and counting through a streamlined, data-driven approach to service management, preventative maintenance, and on-demand equipment repairs. In 2020, 86 Repairs experienced 93 percent growth.
“86 Repairs brings a visionary approach to this often overlooked, yet critical back-of-house aspect of the restaurant sector,” said Don Thompson, Founder of Cleveland Avenue, LLC, a privately-held venture capital firm that accelerates and strategically invests in innovative food, beverage, and restaurant concepts and emerging brands. “We see application and scalability across the industry and are extremely enthusiastic to invest in their concept, proactive solution, and pioneering technology.”
“Restaurants have faced immense challenges since the start of the pandemic. Keeping kitchens up and running is essential to bouncing back, but too often it’s an expensive and time-consuming headache,” said Estrada, CEO and co-founder, 86 Repairs. “Our secret sauce has been to create efficiencies, synthesize data and reduce costs. This infusion of capital will accelerate our innovation and insights so we can continue to best serve our customers and save them money—allowing them to focus on what matters most to them—their guests.”
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Restaurants spend three percent of annual revenue on repair and maintenance. The National Restaurant Association projected $899 billion in sales for 2020, corresponding to nearly $27 billion a year spent on repairs. To help alleviate this burden and financial strain, 86 Repairs offers a suite of services including its subscription model, which offers on-demand service incident management as well as its recently launched Preventative Maintenance product. With Preventative Maintenance operators can take a proactive approach to mitigating downtime, failures, and unnecessary repair costs.
“COVID-19 has presented unprecedented obstacles for restaurants, however 86 Repairs has been a constant asset for us in managing our kitchen operations,” said Al Hank, COO, Famous Dave’s (BBQ Holdings Inc.). “As the industry starts to stabilize, even more operators will seek 86 Repairs’ service and realize the value to operators and managing costs.”
The Chicago-based restaurant tech company previously raised $1.5 million in a round of pre-seed funding led by Tamarind Hill, with additional investments from MATH Ventures and Gordon Food Service (GFS). For more information, visit www.86repairs.com.
About 86 Repairs
86 Repairs is an innovative platform that optimizes and manages end-to-end equipment repair and maintenance for restaurants and provides actionable insights to improve back-of-house operations. Since its launch in 2018, 86 Repairs has partnered with 700+ restaurant locations, saving them an aggregate of nearly $1.8 million and counting through a streamlined, data-driven approach to service management, preventative maintenance, and on-demand equipment repairs. The company’s repair and maintenance solution is used by growing, multi-unit restaurant groups including: Castellucci Hospitality Group, 4 Rivers Smokehouse, Peas and Carrots Hospitality, and operators of brands like McDonald’s, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-Ins, and many others. Learn more at https://www.86repairs.com.
