Drop into our Founders Intro - Callum Steward

callum@vizulink.com (Callum Steward) — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 15:02:34 GMT

Meet the Co-founders- Callum Steward

After 6 or 7 years of building a tech brand in a competitive space, the teams hard work started to create recognition for our innovative tech solutions, therefore when Annaliese from Mustang Group approached us about creating a tech stack that would help resolve the challenges faced in the hospitality industry we were excited to be involved!

After hearing the challenges and discussing the resolution I realised these challenges were not independant to just Mustang Group. The hospitality industry is faced with increasing pressure to find commercially viable solutions that get products to the customer, with large margins being taken from the merchant to operate current delivery models we saw an opportunity to create a fairer deal for everyone.

We instantly knew this was a bigger job than originally planned, but this didn't scare Annaliese off or myself as we were both passionate that there was a better solution.

Where is your value in the Founder Relationship?

When I started Vizulink, I had a vision of creating a company with innovation at the forefront. We are a software integration and digital signage company that are constantly evolving to always deliver the best solution for each client.

During the pandemic, many restauranteurs were forced to look at more ways to allow consumers to interact with their products, and this was not limited to restaurants but many retail offerings too. Understanding how demand and trends were evolving encouraged us to look at Drop Hop with huge foresight and a focus to even things, encouraging local business transactions coupled with sustainable electric delivery methods.

In order to deliver this it would take a proper software platform with architecture for scalability, and of course I took pleasure in explaining that our team had the skill set to deliver it.

With Annaliese's expertise in the hospitality industry and great knowledge of her current business integrations, our passion for creating a sustainable delivery platform started to come together.

Drop Hop was born and is now here! We want you to come on the journey with us to create a better delivery platform for everyone, with your support and our agile approach to feature requests we can make this a reality. We’d love to hear customer feedback from all our partners as Drop Hop continues to grow and adapt to the needs of our users. This is homegrown tech and the possibilities are endless!

Drop into our Founders Intro - Annaliese Hughes

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 13:56:31 GMT

Annaliese Hughes

Co-Founder of Drop Hop & Managing Director of the Mustang Group

Why a delivery APP?

Why not?! I saw an opportunity early in the pandemic that was yet to be realised in the local delivery space; there was a gap to innovate and improve on existing takeaway delivery APPs and a growing unrest that restauranteurs were being exploited. I am not technically minded which often surprises people, especially when I’m drawn into conversations in the tech space. For me Drop Hop is the product that enables our solution to work, it was always the solution I was passionate about, and it so happens that turned out to be an APP. There are multiple components and moving parts that make an APP successful, the technology is just one of those parts.

Where is your value in the founder partnership?

I am a restauranteur, beginning as a waitress 20 years ago and working my way to Managing Director – hospitality is my space and Southampton is my home. I have seen both the benefits and the challenges that big delivery companies present to our industry and witnessed the delivery market swallowed up by Silicone Valley tech giants. I felt it was time to readdress the balance and utilise our city’s talent to create a homegrown delivery APP - that’s where Callum came in.

During the first lockdown I created 3 cloud brands based on the dark kitchen models I’d seen succeed during my time in London. These brands operated from our existing commercial kitchens but with forced closures I needed delivery APPs to make these new businesses a reality – if we didn’t deliver these brands there was simply no business. There is a huge vulnerability in this need, big delivery companies recognise this and charge huge commissions rendering sales almost profitless after costs are deducted. If you are a pop-up brand or a small independent these fees can seriously threaten your brands growth, swallowing up profit margins and paying you only once commission is deducted. I appreciate that a service needs to be paid for, but the disproportionate commission favours only the delivery giants, never the customer, the community, the restaurant nor the delivery drivers – this is especially damaging to emerging brands who need the exposure delivery platforms offer but see little cash return for each delivered order.

I am culture driven, and dispute that technology is somewhat value free and faceless. Drop Hop has given us an opportunity to build a positive culture through our platform by creating an Application rooted in values; those values permeate our comms and our interactions with merchants, tech partners, customers and community. Although Callum and I have differing approaches to business we began in week one with the shared belief that Drop Hop would ‘offer value to all our partners’, and 18 months later it’s a mantra we are committed to in everything we do.

What is the future for Drop Hop?

Drop Hop is in its infancy, largely down to being self-funded and backed only by Mustang Group and Vizulink. Our ability to ‘aggressively’ attack the existing market is hampered by the size of our pockets, but this has no impact on the scale of our plans or the continual diversification of our tech to explore new possibilities in eventing. We had always set out to disrupt the big players in our hometown, and with the support of an innovative business community we have exciting partnerships to put Drop Hop on the map. This Spring will see the launch of a pontoon delivery partnership with MDL marinas, connecting innovative grass roots technology with our maritime and sailing communities. Our sustainability commitment has been supported by the Southampton City Council RIDES e-cargo bike initiative and local business CycleHub – local partnerships such as this are the turnkey to unlocking the possibilities that exist on our doorstep. We are really only just starting…….

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Drop into our Founders Intro - Callum Steward

Meet the Co-founders- Callum Steward

Drop into our Founders Intro - Annaliese Hughes