Rags to Riches – From Busboy to a $70 Million Startup Valuation

About the Episode

This episode of Food & Beverage Talk gets personal in discussing the challenges of entrepreneurship and working in the food and beverage industry. Nabeel Alamgir is the co-founder and CEO of Lunchbox, a digital ordering and marketing platform specifically for the restaurant industry. He talks about his experiences with three start-ups, lessons learned from mistakes, the successes and challenges experienced with Lunchbox, advice on forming partnerships, and the importance of honesty in marketing and sales.

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In this Episode

4:28 What is Nabeel Alamgir’s background as an entrepreneur, and how did he get into the food and beverage industry?
11:24 What is Lunchbox’s mission?
14:40 What was the experience of fundraising $70 million in investment funds in three rounds for Lunchbox?
24:34 What were the main lessons learned from hiring people for a start-up?
27:35 Advice for founders thinking about a partnership.
32:16 How important is honesty in building a brand and building a business?
35:30 How do the investors and the Board of Directors for Lunchbox interact with the founders?
39:20 What is the most difficult problem for Lunchbox at its current growth stage?
41:20 How is the enormous potential of digital branding impacting the growth of small and large restaurants?
44:25 What are the challenges in marketing products to different generations?
46:30 What is the impact of social media as a marketing tool?
51:10 How is digital marketing impacting food and beverage spaces?
53:37 Advice to restaurants struggling to expand their business.

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Resources Mentioned in This Episode

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Acronyms or Terms Used in This Episode

  • MVP – minimum viable product

Meet Our Guest

Nabeel Alamgir

Nabeel Alamgir

CEO and co-founder of Lunchbox | New York, New York

Nabeel Alamgir is the CEO and co-founder of the digital ordering and marketing platform Lunchbox. After immigrating to the United States as a teenager from Bangladesh, Nabeel spent his American life in the restaurant industry. He began his career in the industry as a busboy at Bareburger. In this New York-based better-burger chain, he eventually rose to lead the marketing and technology departments as Chief Marketing Officer at age 25. As CMO, he helped Bareburger expand from 5 locations in New York to over 40 locations across the world and developed a tech stack that defined the brand as a leader in restaurant-tech adoption. What started as a standalone restaurant is now a franchise with over 50 locations, a testament to Nabeel’s entrepreneurial success.

Inspired by his firsthand experiences from the front to the back of the restaurant, Nabeel launched Lunchbox Technologies in 2019. The startup provides multi-unit restaurants with an online ordering system and marketing engine and has raised over $70 million from investors like Coatue Management and Primary Ventures.

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