Intro: As consumers in the food and beverage (F&B) industry are looking for new and safer ways of eating out, and businesses are seeking better customer engagement models to sustain in a post-pandemic world, it’s time to disrupt this industry and democratize the experience in the hands of the end user. The most recent innovation was to provide last mile delivery as a convenience. The time has come to define the New Frontier Beyond, taking little conveniences into a platform of experiences.
Amealio is the brainchild of Shaker Dixit, who blends his passion for food and technology to transform the end user experience.
The desire to create an end-to-end marketplace was on Shaker’s mind for a while, which led to the creation of Amealio, a marketplace powered with a voice and AI-based assistant that is universally accessible through various channels on the phone, web and voice assistants seamlessly.
The Beginning
Based out of California, Envisionard Corporation started its journey towards the end of 2020, while the world was reeling from the pandemic. Shaker and the team, thereby curating the finest ideas to make this experience a reality. He adds, “Unifying people’s eating habits and their convenience on a single platform, I also wanted to create the ultimate marketplace for hyper-personalized experiences, topping it up with the best of voice, mobile, and AI technology.”
Even though technology has evolved at a rapid pace in recent years, we have yet to see it improve our lives in the real world, particularly in the food and hospitality industry. Specifically, voice technology is confined to home automation and entertainment. Amealio harnesses the power of this amalgamated tech of voice, mobile, and AI to create a seamless experience from discovery to delivery and many more food ordering interactions on one platform woven into a fabric of connected experience. Voice interaction has been added to welcome the ease of engagement for users of all ages and can be experienced from anywhere, speaking naturally in the language of your comfort. Shaker adds, “Users can place orders, requests, book events, and pay seamlessly without having to touch screens, and AI powers the personalization in the food industry by offering suggestions and experiences customized to their tastes and preferences.”
On naming the platform ‘Amealio’, the founder explains, “Ameliorate is a phrase that is used to make things better. Since it was all about food, it was adapted to a-meal-io.” His favorite way of describing this platform is’ Think Food, Think Amealio ‘, a Super App for a Superior Experience.
Amealio, the Marketplace
Aids users with…
…features like putting yourself on a waitlist, walk-in from home, ordering ahead, dine-in, curbside delivery, skip the line, RSVP or getting a ticket for an event, and a variety of other conveniences seamlessly on one platform. Shaker says, “While our primary focus is on user centric experiences, we also want to enable businesses with futuristic technology and build better connections between them and end users.”
Transforming the F&B, Hospitality
Envisionard strives to provide a hyper-personalized experience to its users through powering the marketplace with advanced technology. The platform revolutionizes the food technology industry by democratizing experiences in the hands of users. The super app revolves around the user’s journey of experiences when engaging with restaurants, bars & clubs, hotels, leisure areas, and various other F&B establishments. It uses Advanced Technology (Voice) and Mobile to transform the experience of ordering in or eating out. The focus is to ensure a simple yet personalized eating experience through various interaction points for users, along with the convenience of digital wallets and e-payments.
- Amealia is the Smart voice assistant that accentuates Amealio to simplify the experience on voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Nest and Web across various commercial food establishments and storefronts, like fine dining restaurants, hotels deployed on commercial storefronts and room for conveniences. It can be accessed through multi-modal interactive devices, serving the customer with appropriate human interaction, with suggestive and cross selling at the point of purchase. The user here needs to say Amealia and place a request. It will take care of everything effortlessly.
- As a virtual hostess at commercial store fronts, it aids guests of fine dining establishments with a waitlist, walk-in, reservations, and orders for takeaway, curbside, etc. deployed at the reception.
- Its extended version also serves as a personal assistant in hotel rooms and resorts, allowing you to place requests for amenities, order food, book appointments for spas, travel packages, and more with voice commands from the comfort of your hotel room, on a variety of voice assistants/mobile devices.
- Additionally, the company is already ideating and building a prototype using the same platform with the new name -Tiya’, a voice-activated concierge service for salons, spas, Ayurveda centers, and health and wellness centers deployed on storefront, is also in the works for next year.
Eat for a Cause
Above all, Shaker’s objective is to do business with the greater good in mind. “I wanted to launch an initiative within the company in the beginning itself to create awareness of how vital it is to give back to society,” he adds.
Thus, Envisionard came up with the idea of the Envision Udbhav program, which would include unique hosted campaigns for non-profit organizations that crowdsource micro-donations on the application platform. Student volunteers would work with non-profits and local communities on select projects or causes to contribute their time and effort, thus inculcating a giving back mindset at an early age.
Growth and revenue
Envisionard started its journey amid the pandemic, even before the first vaccination drive started. Therefore, it was difficult to get started with a limited set of available resources, while putting together a team and establishing the procedures.
However, working through the pandemic has allowed the team to work within flexible hours, leading to rethinking new strategies and practices. From the vision of a single person, it emerged into a passionate team of 90+ people in less than a year. Shaker says they are still evolving. “We started this initiative bootstrapped and with the support of friends and family, we have a product which is used by more than 50+ customers and hundreds of users. “Currently, we are looking at stabilizing and localizing this platform in India and the USA market and going through typical teething issues, similar to any startup, exploring, experimenting, and taking feedback to incorporate into the product journey and pipeline,” he adds.
Team that Stays Together, Grows Together
Concerning Amealio and the master minds behind it, Envisionard Corporation is a fleet of industry leaders and experts. Shaker’s team, as he quotes, is dedicated to realising his vision and is now shaping it into reality, inside-out!
Envisionard Corporation’s founding team of talented minds include:
CEO, Founder, Shaker Dixit
With 20+ years as an Entrepreneur, Business and Technology Advisor with the Big 4, Shekar has worked with C-level executives to manage multi-million dollar programmes of 500+ companies across the globe.
Chief of Technology, Anand Vangala
Anand is an accomplished IT professional known for his technical acumen and contributions to the industry. He is an industry expert with more than two decades of experience in the ERP and Mobile Applications landscape.
Head of Operations, HR & QA, Raghav Mamidipalli
Raghav, who has seen the rise and the transition of Amealio through various phases, is an expert with 16+ years of industry experience in Operations, HR, and QA. Via Udbhav-Envisionard’s social platform, Raghav believes in the power of small acts of kindness that make the world a better place to live in.
Head of Marketing & Communications and Chief Advisor, Praneeth Dixit
Praneeth is an industry leader who has led strategic management consulting services and marketing advisory with 20+ years at different geographies. He is an industry expert best known for his analytical, success-driven approach.
VP – Product & Enterprise Applications, Prabhaakar Balasubramaniam
Prabhaakar, a supply chain, logistics, and procurement expert, has been a part of the industry for 18+ years, delivering complex IT programme transformations across various industry segments.
Our Steps Towards a Prosperous Tomorrow
As we embark upon this journey to revolutionize the overall dining experience for all, our next steps towards the future will be about making Voice Technology live and deploying it for commercial use. Team Envisionard is already working full-throttle on these aspects and it is likely scheduled for release by the end of this year in the US. The vision is to curate the path by harnessing the power of Voice, initially with commercial storefronts and gradually expanding into people’s homes while spreading the widespread experience to other places as well.
One Market at-a-time
Delving deeper, Shaker has a clear vision of becoming one of the top three FoodTech aggregators to enhance customer centric experiences in the F&B and Hospitality industry while also extending their base from the US to Canada, the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
