At OrderYOYO, growth is on the menu

You are probably already familiar with OrderYOYO, especially if you order takeaway now and then. OrderYOYO is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides app and web platforms, payment solutions, electronic cash register systems, online marketing solutions, etc. to around 10,000 quick-service takeaway restaurants – local pizzerias, sushi restaurants, and the like. 

And they’ve been so successful that in a few years they’ve become Europe's leading white label solution in their field. 

But what has the explosive growth meant for OrderYOYO? And what major projects are in the pipeline? We have arranged to meet with CFO Jesper Hyveled to learn more about this. 

It’s morning, and the snow lies thick – also in Østerbro in Copenhagen, where OrderYOYO is located in a low, red lime-washed house. Jesper Hyveled greets us with a smile, ready to talk about his vision and role in OrderYOYO's growth adventure. 

Since Jesper took up the position as CFO in September 2021, OrderYOYO's growth curve has only gone one way: up. 

“One of the first things I was part of was making a strategic change with special focus on acquisitions. We executed a capital raise, and a few months later, we acquired a German company that was almost as big as OrderYOYO – and from there, we have just grown,” Jesper says. 

But growth also places new demands on OrderYOYO. “Our back-office functions must run faster, partly because we’ve grown too quickly in some periods for our existing processes to handle the growth without further ado,” he says. The new demands could relate to IT security or financial processes that need to be updated to work globally and fit the company that OrderYOYO has evolved into. 

“When, for example, we acquire a new company, they have their own way of doing things that need to be standardised – we have to transform all our figures, and our bookkeeping must be uniform. It’s crucial to resolve these tasks as quickly as possible, so that they don't add more manual work than absolutely necessary,” he explains. 

But what if it’s impossible to solve the challenges right away? Jesper frowns and replies: 

“Sometimes you must put out fires, but then you need to prioritise fixing it afterwards. Even if sometimes it cannot be done until six months later, because other things are more important to resolve right now and here.” Therefore, the solution is to have a plan that is sufficiently flexible for OrderYOYO to act if new opportunities arise, but also sufficiently firm to ensure that important tasks are performed on time. 

OrderYOYO's management has done this by, for example, establishing a fixed framework for their entire post-merger integration. “We have 15 tracks that we execute every time we buy a company, and if they are not followed, we have to pull the brake on our acquisitions,” Jesper explains and elaborates: “We cannot take in new companies until we have solved the basics; otherwise we end up drowning in manual tasks, resulting in too great commercial and operational risks. The toolbox and foundation must be in place before we start building fancy things on top. Otherwise, we build on something that is not in order.” 

And therefore, the next item on Jesper's agenda is to update OrderYOYO's processes to fit the development the company has undergone. “Our processes must be ahead of the company's size. So that we are ready for the next growth spurt, and then we’ll take the next step from there,” he says. 

This means, among other things, that on the financial side OrderYOYO is not just undergoing a finance transformation, but what Jesper with a smile calls 'truly globalisation, volume 2': 

“We have a mantra that says Global when possible – local when needed. And here we are ready to make the next move, especially in the back-office area, where the next step is to collect all commercial data and standardise the processes so that we can support the business commercially to an even greater extent.” 

The importance of having a solid foundation is a recurring theme in Jesper's philosophy on how to best fill the CFO role. 

“I would have liked to have started the transformation half a year ago, but in my experience the roadmap and transformation plan get better if I wait at least a year and a half before I start considering how to shape my organisation. Otherwise, it becomes too much best practice,” he says. 

A clear example of how Jesper's increasing knowledge has had a positive impact is OrderYOYO's budgeting model. In this connection, Jesper and his team's knowledge of the business's commercial KPIs has enabled them to forecast earnings rather accurately on a daily basis. And they can do that because due to their in-depth insight into all the details that drive people's behaviour when they order takeaway from a restaurant on OrderYOYO's platform. 

“We know what affects conversions, both nationally and depending on whether customers order via app or web. Often tiny things are decisive, like which payment solution is on top. And I wouldn’t have known this if I were to build a budgeting model that was so minutely KPI-driven 18 months ago.” 

“The strategy change is easy to make. Executing it is the hard part, but that's also where you reap the fruits, and we are really starting to reap the fruits of that strategy change now,” Jesper tells us. 

An important element in OrderYOYO's transformation plan has been Basico's Change Model. 

Basico's Change Model is a central element in our consultancy and participation in project and change deliveries. Through a thorough understanding of the problem and anchoring in the organisation, the model contributes to lasting and valuable change. 

The model is flexible and scalable, making it possible to adapt it in both scope, duration, and execution. 

More specifically, this means that focus is on the context and needs of your organisation. The phases are iterative, ensuring a dynamic and learning process, just as the model helps ensure collaboration and employee involvement throughout the project. 

This ensures that the solutions reflect new knowledge and changes and the most effective use of the project resources.