Food Terminal — the first culinary complex of its kind in Israel

 As the name suggests, it unites several kitchens into a single space designed like an airport terminal, each with its own unique story and flavors. At Food Terminal, you'll find four distinct culinary worlds: the legendary "Ze Sushi," the Vietnamese "Vong," "Big Eve" with spectacular burger flavor combinations, and "Savage"—a kitchen centered on the charcoal-grilling experience that connects global culinary styles.

The Ze Sushi Group

The group has been bringing flavors and culinary experiences from around the world to Israel for 18 years. Their first branch in Basel now looks like the opening shot of two decades filled with business initiative and no intention of stopping. Currently, the group's complexes provide deliveries to thousands of people daily and are one of the most sought-after ordering hubs in the central region. 

Need, Problem, Opportunity

The Food Terminal complexes were opened during COVID-19 to serve as a single center for ordering diverse, high-quality, and delicious food that would suit the tastes of several diners at once and arrive in the same delivery. Delivery orders skyrocketed during the pandemic; often, friends, couples, or families sat down to order food, with everyone wanting something different: the kids want pizza, the parents want a salad, and the friends want a burger. Ordering separately from different places made every shared meal tedious, with each restaurant having different preparation and arrival times. The Food Terminal team identified the need for a single place providing a variety of food types in one delivery and subsequently embarked on their new culinary-business journey.

"Both Tennis Players and Restaurants Need Statistics to Grow"

Any restaurateur who hears the concept immediately understands the challenges involved in executing it—starting with managing four different kitchens in one complex, dozens of dishes, BOM (bills of materials), hundreds of raw materials, timing dish outputs to the customer, and more. 

To meet this challenge, the group recruited Oren Trosman, VP of Operations and Procurement, who brought an approach based on efficiency and professionalization via technology. "Just like in sports, the secret in the restaurant business is statistics. If a single kitchen is hard to manage, when it comes to four, the logistical difficulty is immense. If you stick to the numbers, it's easier to succeed. We have a fundamental need to support operations with a smart system."

 Upon joining the group, Oren replaced the existing ordering system and implemented the Zester solution to leverage its capabilities. "For me, it’s not just an order management system, but much more—a source of up-to-date data, end-to-end management of the entire food chain in the restaurant, and a tool we leverage in many directions."

Efficiency Through Data

"The principle is very simple—the more you grow, the more control you need. Our approach is to adopt technologies that tell us the story, preferably in real time. Add to that the reality every restaurateur knows: succeeding today is very complex.  Manpower is becoming more significant than before, rent is rising, delivery costs bite into profit, and food costs add to the erosion. For us, the direct significance is that our management needs to have the utmost precision and professionalism."

After Food Terminal implemented the product, they connected to the complexes' point-of-sale (POS) systems and began receiving a full situational picture. "We immediately understood which dishes were sold versus the amount of raw materials used to prepare them, and we got a full picture of the management." For example, Oren says that shortly after using Zester, they discovered discrepancies between the amount of raw material ordered and the amount actually sold, resulting from a lack of attention to the raw material quantities listed in the recipes.  These and other discrepancies were quickly identified and corrected through training. "Using Zester saves us 2–5% of food costs. Nothing can replace that. They gave us back control."

Responding in Real-Time

"One of the ways of thinking and operating that Zester changed is the ability to react and manage in real-time. Ultimately, this translates into saving time, money, and bureaucracy. As an example, the complexes now discover discrepancies between actual performance and orders within a few days. Another example is being credited right when the goods are delivered via the automatic comparison Zester makes between what was ordered and what was supplied."

Or as Oren puts it: "Today we have the freedom to manage our restaurant and deal with the business itself—flavors, recipes, performance improvement—instead of bureaucracy."