Otto Othman, PINCHO cofounder & CEO, on leveraging its unique tech stack as it scales nationallyOtto Othman, PINCHO cofounder & CEO, on leveraging its unique tech stack as it scales nationally

The elevated Latin street food concept PINCHO, with 10 locations in South Florida, is building a buzz that it hopes will carry it into markets across the U.S. Key to that buzz? A unique, tech-forward experience.

Otto Othman, cofounder and CEO of PINCHO, said that he and his cofounders built the concept as a restaurant they would want to visit themselves, using their gut instincts and intuition to design something that would resonate with customers in Florida and beyond.

As such, they spent a lot of time thinking about creating a fresh, engaging experience.

“We were always about branding, always about marketing, always about really making sure that we were controlling the experience from A-Z, you know — all of the things that you do as a marketer,” Othman said. “And so we applied that to our business and we were very lucky along the way that people ended up thinking that what we were doing was very cool.”

Technology in particular has been key to that experience. Othman said the founders spent a lot of time thinking about how they could build an innovative tech stack, “from loyalty to our POS to integrations with everything around the kitchen, kitchen equipment — everything has always been top notch.”

That work up front insulated PINCHO from the worst of the pandemic. In fact, Othman said, 2020 was one of the brand’s best years.

From that position, PINCHO was able to accelerate its tech investments, specifically around its loyalty program.

“We said, OK, if we want to build a relationship with our guests and PINCHO is a human being, how do we do that?” he said. “So we started creating really cool experiences, like secret menus, and reaching out to guests and saying, ‘Hey, you know what? You've been loyal because you've been here to our restaurant, you've spent X amount of dollars. Here's what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to give you a curated experience like no other.”

Otto Othman will be speaking at CREATE: The Future of Foodservice in Denver, taking place Sept. 19-21.

Contact Sam Oches at [email protected]