Charles Neale Gerencser of The Restaurant Heroes

An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Charles Neale Gerencser (founder and Executive General Manager) of The Restaurant Heroes, which was honored in our:

• 2022 Best Tech Startups in San Luis Obispo

Tell us the origin story of The Restaurant Heroes – what problem were you trying to solve and why?

In the spring of 2020, the pandemic began to take a very serious toll on the domestic restaurant industry. Beloved restaurants began to shutter and more than 15% closed their doors for good. Running a restaurant is already hard and profit margins are very slim, while the growing pandemic made the situation for most restaurant owners incredibly difficult if not altogether impossible. As a technologist and restaurant lover, I knew that a principal reason most of the industry was caught so flat footed by the pandemic had to do with a lack of understanding and use of the appropriate technology. I created The Restaurant Heroes to save beloved restaurants in communities all through the United States by bringing technology and novel revenue opportunities to the industry we all know and love. As of June 2022, we are active in over 60 markets and growing!

What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?

One of our greatest challenges was finding technology partners that worked as hard and as passionately as we do on a daily basis in delivering on our mission. Fortunately, we began our journey by partnering with RELENTLESS Management Group a venture advisory and accelerator group here in our home town that connected us with our initial core partners, and the rest is history.

What does the future hold for The Restaurant Heroes?

We believe by adding a handful of additional technology partners in 2022, we will be able to cover all technology and revenue expansion needs within the American restaurant industry. Our new partnerships and integrations with NextBite, Constant Contact, BrewFirst, and Commission Buddies (among others) are setting our licensees up for eminent growth and additional success.

What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in San Luis Obispo?

Without the support of early partners like RELENTLESS, Giftbar, and CheddrSuite (all of which are based here in SLO), our ramp up period would have taken much longer. We are proud to be “SLOcals”.

What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

For any business owner, I’d suggest learning two very important quotes. These are ideas that drive our everyday at The Restaurant Heroes:

• “Never mistake activity for achievement”- John Wooden
• “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts!” – Winston Churchill

For more exclusive interviews, see our full Profile of a Founder series