December 16, 2025
Founder Stories
If you don’t know me, I’m Brad-Lee, founder of ServeMate.
Before building tech, I was behind the fryer, running a Fish & Chip shop in Gloucestershire with my dad.
ServeMate didn’t start as a business idea. It started as a problem we lived with every day.
Our phone never stopped ringing, staff were stretched, orders were missed, and customers got frustrated. So we built a Voice AI to answer the phone properly. That technology now powers major brands, including Domino’s.
But once the phone problem was solved, something became obvious: the real issue wasn’t the phone — it was the system behind everything.
Tablets, aggregators, EPOS add-ons, loyalty apps — none of it was designed to work together. So we built what didn’t exist: a full operating system for takeaways.
Then we tested it the only way that mattered.
We ripped out our old systems and installed ServeMate in my own shop.
The Aggregator Trap
Every owner knows the feeling. The printer buzzes with a £40 order, but once commission and VAT come off, you’re barely breaking even.
At our worst, around 70% of our delivery orders came from aggregators. Turning those tablets off felt terrifying. What if the orders stopped? What if customers didn’t switch?
But staying stuck was worse.
The Real Test: My Dad
My dad is a traditional chippy owner. Incredible fryer. Hates technology.
His biggest fear was simple:
“Will this make things harder for staff or scare off older customers?”
The opposite happened.
The AI phone now takes orders accurately — even with thick Gloucestershire accents — and the kitchen just hears the printer go. No ringing phones. No rushed conversations.
Even more surprising, we watched older regulars confidently use the self-order kiosk because the pictures made it easy. No pressure, no confusion.
If it worked for my dad, it would work for anyone.
The Switch Wasn’t Hope — It Was Gamification
We didn’t move customers off aggregators by asking nicely.
We moved them by changing behaviour.
Instead of trying to compete on ads or discounts, we built a loyalty system that felt like a game — simple, visual, and rewarding from the first order.
Every customer ordering direct could see their progress. Not just “points in the background”, but clear milestones:
Order once → you’re started
Order three times → you unlock VIP status
Keep ordering → free food, priority offers, exclusive rewards
People didn’t need explaining. They got it instantly.
Then we tied that loyalty system directly into the real world.
Every aggregator order left the shop with a message explaining, plainly, that the customer had paid more — and that ordering direct unlocked rewards and cheaper food. No guilt. No begging. Just transparency.
Once customers downloaded the app, the progress bar did the rest.
This is the key part most shops miss: loyalty only works when customers feel momentum. When they can see they’re close to something, they don’t go back to starting from zero on an aggregator.
The Numbers That Changed Everything
Here’s what £10,000 in delivery sales looked like for us:
Aggregators
£10,000 sales
~£3,600 lost to commission and VAT
£6,400 left in the bank
ServeMate (Direct)
£10,000 sales
£0 commission
Low fixed monthly fee
£9,800+ left in the bank
That’s over £3,000 extra per month — without selling a single extra portion of food.
The Result (Under 30 Days)
Aggregators dropped from 70% to 10%
Direct orders grew to 90%
Over 1,000 active loyalty members joined from online orders alone
Customers didn’t disappear — they committed
We didn’t lose volume. We built ownership.
Now on a Friday night, the printers are buzzing, drivers are busy, the Just Eat tablet is silent, and the money stays where it belongs.
Why I Built ServeMate
I didn’t build ServeMate to sell software.
I built it to protect independent takeaways from the aggregator tax.
We now use the same level of technology — Voice AI, loyalty, kiosks, and a full operating system — that national chains use, but built for real shops like ours.
If it worked in a traditional Gloucestershire fish & chip shop, it can work in yours too.