Choco

I own a few restaurants at the moment..kinja sushi, one in Oakland and the other in concord and Los kinjas in Oakland as well. Lia (who basically helped with everything I needed) was so helpful and took care of any doubts that I might of had of using an app to order since I’m more of an old school type (texting orders daily/weekly). This app has organized my ordering process for me. Juggling multiple restaurants and placing their orders can be stressful. The Choco app has made things much easier for my managers and I. I have been using it for about a month now and have had no issues. Highly recommend for other business owners to use.

The Choco app has been truly convenient for ordering, especially with orders that oftentimes fall through the cracks when they are not as regular, having them front me center on the app makes a great reminder. I have also heard from a number of my suppliers that when they received the first order I made through the app they were really impressed by the professional presentation. I have recommended it already to colleagues of mine as well.

This app is great in theory but in execution on the receiving end, it is not. Having been a Bar Manager and a Restaurant General Manager, I understand the appeal. But... As now a sales rep for a beer/spirits/wine distributor, I have 75 accounts (about average for most reps). Accounts communicate their orders via email, text, and phone call. Sometime a combination of the above for their one/two weekly order. Enter Choco. I suddenly, without warning from accounts, now receive: an email with the order, a text message broken into multiple parts with the order, and a message notification from the app (which isn’t useful on the sales side). Additionally, I have accounts ordering things via message in the app (email notification and app notification but not a text message). Can you start to see where this creates confusion? Also, when we are out of stock on an item, it only forces us to communicate via email, text, or phone call to resolve it circumventing the entire reason for the app. Final question: every app has to make money somehow be it ads or some other means... how is this one making its money?