When our cofounder Oren started Oren’s Hummus Shop, a restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, he wanted to communicate directly with customers. Oren thought that if he could learn from mistakes and address any problems in real-time, his customers would appreciate the hands on approach and he could learn how to improve his business.

Oren quickly realized how challenging this would be. He could not be in store at all hours to talk to customers and, even when he was on site, many customers were too busy or embarrassed to talk to him. Worse yet, some customers would express satisfaction to his face only to go home and post a negative review online. This felt incredibly unfair and frustrating to Oren, so he decided to do something about it.

Oren partnered with his friend Adi to build a tool that would enable customers to easily and immediately contact him and his managers directly, without having to register or reveal personal information. It basically enabled customers to instant message or text message him just as they would a friend or a family member.

That solution was OwnerListens and the results were incredible. Not only was Oren able to address customer complaints effectively, he also received tremendously useful feedback about his menu, staff, and ambiance. This resulted in changes to the business that significantly improved customer satisfaction. Oren's Hummus now enjoys a four star rating on Yelp, four and half stars on Tripadvisor, and four and half stars on UrbanSpoon. A second location opened in 2014 in Mountain View CA.