Message from Yumpingo’s CEO, George Wetz

Over seven years ago we created Yumpingo to help restaurants address a significant problem: Restaurants are in the experience business, yet measuring those experiences in any significant, actionable way has always been frustratingly evasive.

It was the drive to solve this problem that captured the imagination of our founder Gary Goodman, with myself as a co-founder, leading the development of the product, and Andy Walker, the other co-founder, leading the operations and marketing.  

That drive also led us and the incredible team who’ve joined us along the way to create a market leading guest experience management service that measures those experiences with a precision and accuracy that no other platform can offer. With that insight we’re delivering a deep level of  understanding that is enabling restaurateurs to pro-actively improve guest experiences. 

The ability to truly improve guest experiences was always our key focus and that’s what sets Yumpingo apart. The results we have seen continue to surpass our early ambitions – On average our clients have increased the number of happy guests by 14% and reduced unhappy guests by 34%. 

As many of you now know, late in 2022, Gary was unfortunately involved in a traffic accident, which meant that he was no longer able to play an active part in the leadership of the business. 

With that monumental change, we had to rethink some of the structure of the business. From November 2022 I stepped into the role of CEO of Yumpingo, and after a year in that role, and despite the start we faced, it’s been fascinating to reflect on how our business has developed in that time. 

It’s been an incredibly tough period for Gary’s family and the rest of the people that knew him, including the Yumpingo team. I’m so proud of how the team responded in the wake of such an unexpected turn of events. They stared reality in the face, kept calm and channeled their energies into the positive areas they could impact – taking ownership of the service we offer our customers, and finding new ways to help them.

That spirit has been fundamental for our continued to grow in both the UK and the US markets, building our services and widening our customer base into a broader range of hospitality companies – fast casual, coffee shops, kiosk, pubs and breweries. This expansion has given us a strong platform for growth and success, taking Yumpingo out to a new audience to deliver even more improved experiences.

To now build on this platform,  we restructured some roles to lead our company through this next phase. Andy Walker is now our COO and Manuel Kanah, a cornerstone of the development of our product, is now our CTO. We have an exceptional team of leaders who have also stepped up to help drive Yumpingo’s success, including; Matt Holy, Jess Orton, Steve Motion, Claire Fiddler, Darren Jackson and Clare Bennet. But it’s not just them; I also want to thank the rest of the team who have contributed greatly throughout the business.

So what’s next? Well, now with years of experience working with brands around the world, the level of expertise and advice this team can now offer our customers is very different to anything they’ve experienced before, with stunning results. Having a great product uncovers the issues and opportunities, but to really deliver great guest experiences you need to implement this intelligence into the day-to-day operations of a business, and align that insight with the strategic imperatives of the brand. That’s why our industry experts are looking forward to working hand-in-hand with brands alongside the technology, providing the deep strategic insight they need to thrive in a competitive marketplace. 

Evolution is key in the hospitality business. In the past year, we’ve evolved ourselves and now as we continue to grow the business, expand the service we offer our users and develop the product, we’re looking forward to building on that original vision, for the next twelve months and beyond.

All the best,

George