SAMIR ZABANEH

CEO of TouchBistro

Pivoting Point-Of-Sale Through a Pandemic

by Kenny Hedges

Samir Zabaneh is a veteran of the payments industry who truly believes in improving customer service. It’s no surprise that TouchBistro, the allin-one POS (Point-of-Sale) restaurant management system that Zabaneh joined as CEO in 2021, has been top-rated for guest experience.

How

did you get started with TouchBistro? Did you come from the restaurant, technology, or another industry?

My history with the company is long. I got to know the company early on. I came into this industry initially from the payments world. I was at Moneris Solutions and quickly realized that payment processing on a stand-alone basis is a good business, but it could become much better when you provide vertical-specific software to the SMB [small-to-midsize business] segment.

That’s when I met Alex Barotti, who was a founder at the time. The company had just completed the product…so we started a partnership with Alex where we pre-paid for a number of licenses and had exclusivity to distribute TouchBistro products here in Canada. I stayed close to the company since then. I joined the board in 2017, and in April of 2021, I joined as CEO. But, in 2020, I left the job that I had before and started helping Alex manage the business through the pandemic.

The introduction of POS hardware in restaurants was a major breakthrough. What do you think is next for TouchBistro and the restaurant industry?

The pandemic, while it was terrible for many industries — including ours — it reminded everybody, all the stakeholders, that adopting technology is the best way to weather storms like the one we have seen. Technology adoption is important, and we are true to our belief to stay focused on delivering the best technology to our customers. Not only to help them run their business in the most efficient way, but also increase their sales.

We are working with partners and investing in areas to extend our product reach — not just in the front of the house but also to the back of the house — to make the way to operate the business so much easier and get our customers to focus on what they wanted to focus on when they opened the restaurant: to make great meals and delight their guests.

Since 2013, you’ve held a number of prestigious positions. Currently, you’re CEO while sitting on two separate boards. What’s the key to balancing that level of work?

First of all, you have to like it. If you’re going to spend that much time in the business world, you have to like it, and I really enjoy it. The companies I sit on the boards of are great companies where I contribute and learn from my fellow board members. All of the learning I take from all the companies, I usually take that knowledge and apply that across any company I’m actually involved in.

I’m at the stage in life where I do have time and actually enjoy it a lot. I’m learning a lot, and it’s nice to work with smart people and have different point of views. So, I’m actually having fun. Working hard but having fun! //