BuzzTable

What BuzzTable does

BuzzTable is a private, for-profit software company headquartered in New York and founded in 2011. Per its firmographic description, it operates as a guest management platform and is positioned as the first such platform to combine a mobile wait list with a connected guest engagement application. The company's product surface centers on helping restaurant operators manage waitlists and engage guests through mobile, connected experiences, suggesting a B2B vertical-SaaS model targeting the restaurant industry.

BuzzTable has executed a capital strategy spanning multiple early-stage rounds totaling approximately $26.2M in disclosed funding, including a $25K seed from Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in May 2011, a $150K raise in December 2011, a $1M round led by Reign Ventures in November 2012, participation in the Microsoft Accelerator program in May 2013, and a $25M Round 2 in June 2013. In July 2015, the company expanded through acquisition of Cogsy, an undisclosed-target restaurant technology company, signaling an intent to broaden beyond core guest management into adjacent restaurant tooling.

The company operates with 101-250 employees per firmographic data, led by CEO Mani Kulasooriya, with a leadership team including VPs of Marketing, Engineering, and Global Delivery, SVPs of Product and Sales & Marketing, and heads of brand and marketing management. The breadth of the executive bench is consistent with a mid-stage operating company, though no recent product launches, partnership announcements, AI capabilities, or revenue disclosures are present in the input data, limiting visibility into current scale and trajectory.

Name

BuzzTable

Legal name

Mad Mobile, Inc.

Website

https://trycake.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

BuzzTable is a New York-based guest management platform founded in 2011 that provides restaurants with a mobile wait list and connected guest engagement application working together.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Fees: CAKE bundles all hardware, software, support, and updates into processing rates. No monthly SaaS fees, no add-on subscriptions. Pricing is customized based on restaurant volume. Processing rate is locked to ensure predictable costs.
2. Hardware Included in Processing: All CAKE plans include commercial-grade hardware (POS terminal, customer display, payment reader) with lifetime equipment replacement and upgrades. No separate hardware purchase or leasing required.
3. Guest Manager Add-on: Table management and reservation system available as add-on starting at $79/month. Includes floor mapping, wait-list management, and reservation management features.
4. POS Wraps Custom Branding: Custom-branded POS wraps turn checkout terminals into brand statements. Restaurants can order custom artwork designs for their POS terminals.
5. Gift Cards: Gift card program with custom artwork options. CAKE facilitates gift card sales and redemptions through POS integration. Ordering through eCard Systems partner.
6. CAKE Capital Financing: Working capital financing for restaurants. Fixed fee financing (no interest) with payments as percentage of restaurant sales. Loans issued by Celtic Bank. CAKE EZ Pay offers hardware financing with no credit check, no interest, no fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

BuzzTable operates a guest management platform that combines a mobile wait list with a connected guest engagement app, enabling hospitality operators to manage queues and interact with guests digitally. The platform is positioned as the first offering to integrate these two capabilities into a unified system for guest flow management.

Product overview

CAKE is a restaurant-first POS platform acquired by Mad Mobile from Sysco in December 2020, now operated as a comprehensive all-in-one restaurant technology solution. The platform consists of a core CAKE POS system complemented by hardware devices (CAKEpop Handheld, Kitchen Display System, Self-Service Kiosk) and integrated software modules (Online Ordering, Loyalty & Marketing, Gift Cards, Guest Manager, Reporting & Analytics). CAKE offers three pricing tiers (Core, Growth, Scale) with no monthly SaaS fees—costs are built into processing rates. The platform integrates with hundreds of third-party applications including Olo, DoorDash, Uber Eats, 7shifts, QuickBooks, Restaurant 365, and Crunchtime. Financing options include CAKE Capital for business growth and CAKE EZ Pay for hardware. The system is backed by Sysco partnership and powered by AWS for AI capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CAKEpop: Handheld POS device - the smallest, lightest, most durable handheld POS on the market for tableside ordering and payment.
• CAKE Capital
• CAKE EZ Pay

Products and services

• BuzzTable Guest Management Platform The BuzzTable Guest Management Platform is an integrated software system designed for hospitality venues. It combines a mobile wait list with a connected guest engagement app, enabling operators to manage guest queues digitally and interact with guests before, during, and after their visit.
• BuzzTable Mobile Wait List The mobile wait list is a component of the BuzzTable platform that allows hospitality guests to join and monitor their place in a venue's queue via a mobile interface, reducing friction associated with traditional in-person wait management.
• BuzzTable Guest Engagement App The guest engagement app is a connected component of the BuzzTable platform that enables hospitality venues to communicate with, inform, and engage guests throughout their visit experience. It operates as the engagement layer tied to the mobile wait list.

Quantifiable outcome

• Online orders average 30% more than call-ins with built-in upsell suggestions at checkout
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration21 records

AI capability2 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• AWScoreTechnology or Integration · 1 April 2024Partnership announced April 2024 for Restaurant AI development. AWS provides cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities for CAKE's restaurant analytics and reporting features.
• Elo TouchcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2023Partnership announced November 2023 as GTM (Go-to-Market) partner for restaurant solutions. CAKE launched on latest Elo hardware in March 2024 with new UI, KDS, and CAKEpop mobile POS device.
• SyscoflagshipChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 June 2019Sysco partnership is CAKE's flagship distribution channel. Sysco built and launched mobile ordering solution for all Sysco restaurant customers (June 2019). CAKE acquired from Sysco in December 2020. Sysco refers restaurant customers to CAKE POS with coordinated switching support and dedicated Sysco support line (888.979.7225). Sysco opens new hubs near CAKE POS HQ for partnership activities.
• OlocoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for seamless online ordering from placement to delivery. Olo handles online ordering while CAKE manages POS and operations. Used by multi-location brands like Mia's Table.
• 7shiftscoreTechnology or IntegrationEmployee scheduling and labor management integration. Available for PAYG/multi-location operators requiring staff management.
• DoorDashcoreTechnology or IntegrationDelivery integration through CAKE Marketplace. Restaurants can offer DoorDash delivery without separate integration setup.
• Uber EatscoreTechnology or IntegrationDelivery integration available via CAKE Marketplace. Uber Eats delivery available through CAKE POS.
• QuickBooks (via Shogo)coreTechnology or IntegrationAccounting integration powered by Shogo. Automatically syncs POS data with QuickBooks for simplified accounting.
• EpsoncoreTechnology or IntegrationPreferred printing hardware partner for thermal receipt printers, impact printers, and label printers. Epson TM-M3001-NT used in customer case studies.
• CoverdashcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBusiness insurance integration. CAKE POS + Coverdash enables instant insurance quotes right from the POS system. Available on Growth plan.
• CrunchtimecoreTechnology or IntegrationKitchen display system (KDS) integration. Crunchtime Kitchen brings order and coordination to kitchen operations. Used by Mia's Table.
• LRS (Location Tracking)coreTechnology or IntegrationTable tracker technology that guides staff directly to guests. Boosts food delivery speed for limited-service restaurants.
• FishermanminorGTM or Marketing PartnerWebsite design solutions partner through CAKE POS. Restaurants can launch modern, optimized websites seamlessly connected with CAKE POS.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Resy: American Express-owned reservation and guest management platform for restaurants, overlapping directly with CAKE's Guest Manager module. Resy competes most directly in the reservation/waitlist slice of CAKE's offering rather than the full POS stack.

Direct peers

• Toast: Public restaurant POS platform and CAKE's primary named competitor, offering POS hardware, payment processing, online ordering, loyalty, and team management. Toast's scale, brand recognition, and integrated operating system make it the most directly comparable anchor for evaluating CAKE.
• Clover: Fiserv-owned POS platform with restaurant-grade hardware, payments, and an app marketplace. Clover competes head-to-head with CAKE in SMB and mid-market restaurants, and is explicitly referenced on CAKE's comparison pages.
• SpotOn: Restaurant and SMB POS provider combining payments, POS, marketing, and online ordering, with a particular focus on independent and multi-location operators. SpotOn is named on CAKE's POS comparison pages as a direct switch-out competitor.
• TouchBistro: iPad-based restaurant POS with integrated payments, online ordering, reservations, and loyalty, primarily serving SMB and mid-market full-service operators. TouchBistro competes with CAKE across nearly the same product surface and customer segments.
• Square for Restaurants: Block's restaurant-specific POS offering built on Square's payments platform, targeting the same SMB and multi-location operators as CAKE with POS, online ordering, and payroll. Square's transparent flat-rate pricing and broad consumer brand make it a leading direct comparison.
• Heartland Restaurant (Global Payments): Global Payments' restaurant-focused POS and payments suite for SMB and enterprise operators. Heartland is referenced by CAKE as a switch-from competitor and operates in the same integrated POS-plus-payments category.
• Lavu: Restaurant POS platform with POS, online ordering, and payments aimed at small and mid-sized operators. Lavu is explicitly listed by CAKE as one of the legacy systems its Growth tier is designed to displace.

Broad incumbents

• Lightspeed Restaurant: Multi-vertical commerce platform with a restaurant-specific POS offering covering POS, online ordering, and payments for SMB and mid-market operators. Lightspeed competes with CAKE in the mid-market while also serving retail and golf, making it a broader incumbent.
• NCR Aloha (Oracle Food & Beverage): Enterprise restaurant POS platform under NCR/Oracle Food & Beverage, serving large chains and franchise operators. CAKE has an Aloha API partnership to extend Aloha with mobile ordering, positioning NCR as a broader incumbent CAKE complements rather than directly replaces at the very top of the market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@trycakenow
• Xx.com/buzztable
• Facebookfacebook.com/318042164902502

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BuzzTable