Teburu

Company: Teburu, Tampa

Principals: Leon McIntosh, Greg Ross-Munro, cofounders

The big idea: When St. Pete's Gondolier Pizza approached Leon McIntosh and Greg Ross-Munro's software engineering company to create an online ordering system, the pair quickly recognized an opportunity. There were a number of restaurants that wanted to offer online ordering without sending customers to a third-party website.

That's when 28-year-old Leon McIntosh and 31-year-old Greg Ross-Munro decided to start Teburu, an online food ordering system that provides a branded experience to customers and a stronger, more reliable back-end system for the restaurant, McIntosh says.

The company has built systems for 25 locations to date and is ready to turn on another 15, McIntosh says. Restaurants range from Sexy Pizza in Colorado to the Original Big Tomato in Fort Lauderdale. Teburu's system processes orders totaling between $2,000 and $6,000 a week.

McIntosh says Teburu's system is more attractive to smaller restaurant chains than competitors offering third-party systems that cost $1,200 for initial setup and $100 a month for the service. Teburu charges around $500 for setup and $50 a month for service.

The company plans to add 500 locations by the end of 2014. “The technology side is easy,” McIntosh says. “Now the focus is on sales.”

To assist with this ramp up, the team has joined organizations such as the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and recruited former president of Beef O' Brady's Nick Vojnovic as a board member.