SLOeats
“Can a consumer-paid subscription model replace commission-based delivery apps as the primary marketing channel for independent restaurants?”
Founded2022
HQSan Luis Obispo, California, United States
FoundersJonathan Allen (CEO), Alex Kavanaugh (CTO)
IndustryVertical SaaS / Restaurants
The story
SLOeats is a hyper-local restaurant deals membership app launched in 2022 by two Cal Poly grads in San Luis Obispo. Instead of the DoorDash/UberEats commission model (~30% to restaurants), SLOeats charges consumers a $9/month membership fee and gives partner restaurants free marketing plus BOGO deals to drive dine-in traffic. The company remains tiny (2 employees) and geographically focused on a single college town — no embedded finance ambitions beyond subscription billing.
Last 12 months
—
Product timeline
2022
SLOeats founded by Cal Poly grads Jonathan Allen and Alex Kavanaugh as a restaurant membership app for San Luis Obispo· pivot
2025
Grew to 18k+ users and 55+ partner restaurants in San Luis Obispo; monetized via $9/month Pro Pass subscription· banking
The stack
1 layer disclosed in SLOeats’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Accounting gap: none