At a glance:
Gastronovi, a leading provider of cloud-based restaurant software, has utilized Odoo as its central operating system since 2015. By consolidating CRM, Subscriptions, and Accounting into a Single Source of Truth, the company increased its productivity by 100%. With over 140 custom Odoo extensions and a dedicated in-house dev team, Gastronovi now onboards 300+ customers per month, proving Odoo’s immense scalability for high-growth IT enterprises.
Company name: Gastronovi GmbH
Location: Bremen, Germany
Industry: IT
Established: 2008
Company size: 100+
Odoo users: 100+
Hosting type: On-Premise
Apps: Sales, CRM, Subscriptions, Accounting, Helpdesk, Planning, Project
For over 15 years, the founder-led company Gastronovi has been shaping the future of the restaurant industry, evolving from a startup in an attic to a trendsetter in the sector with over 150 employees.
As a full-service expert, the Bremen-based company offers a comprehensive smart solution that digitally maps the entire operations of a restaurant business. The scalable and modular cloud platform enables the holistic digitization of virtually all operational restaurant processes – including mobile ordering systems, table reservations, and kitchen monitors – as well as critical backend processes. These include complex inventory management, cost calculation, comprehensive analytics, marketing tools, and a fully integrated payment solution. Additional interfaces to external partners round out the system and connect further relevant business areas. Gastronovi also supports its customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in setting up a robust network and hardware infrastructure as well as in the implementation itself, relying on a network of highly specialized digitalization partners.
Their promise to customers is clear: restaurant owners should once again have more time to do what really matters to them – boost revenue, save time, improve customer service, and maintain full control over their numbers. With Gastronovi, processes are automated, costs are reduced, and profits are increased.
The rise of the four founders is rooted in their passion and their understanding of the industry’s challenges. Yet growth and success presented the company with new challenges.
Growing Pains and fragmented data – what happens when a start-up actually works out
In a small company data and information is shared easily and quickly. But the more people join, the more sources for error and gaps in the flow of information are introduced and data is fragmented. In the beginning these gaps seem minor and errors are quickly discovered and fixed but at a certain point it can become costly. Be it because of time consuming synchronization of data between different software solutions or errors causing customers to leave. This was one of the many learnings that the founders of Gastronovi had to accept, when their company became more and more successful.
Another big issue was a lack of transparency when it came to the entire business process. Without a unified software solution it was difficult to get an overview of the current status of projects, resources and other business KPIs. They relied on Solve360 for their CRM, Billomat for accounting and maintained a lot of data in Google Sheets, but in order to keep growing they needed an alternative.
A new solution was needed. The team evaluated heavyweights like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and HubSpot. But none of these options truly aligned with the company’s DNA. It wasn’t until they discovered Odoo that the founders found software whose modular structure could adapt to Gastronovi’s business model – rather than the other way around. The open-source philosophy was and remains an important factor for Gastronovi GmbH.
Creating a Single Source of Truth for Sales and Accounting
Switching to a new ERP system takes courage. You’re entrusting the operational heart of your business to a new technology. Gastronovi took this step in 2015 and was rewarded for it. What began with basic functions quickly evolved into a comprehensive integration: lead management, CRM, accounting, and project management were migrated to the Odoo platform one after another. With each step, confidence in the platform grew – as did internal expertise. As their knowledge of Odoo grew, they recognized further automation opportunities that Odoo offered them.
Gastronovi considers these automations as the key to its continued growth. Today, tasks are created and assigned by the system. For example, if a customer purchases a printer, the system automatically triggers the “network planning” task for the IT department. Employees know immediately what needs to be done, and no information gets lost in a software silo. Another advantage: The time spent on the task can also be tracked within the same task, allowing services to be billed precisely at the end.
“Automation features in Odoo provide tremendous support, making it possible for a project manager to handle many different projects at the same time without losing track of them. It doesn’t matter who the client is – whether a small bar or a large franchise chain – we can implement any concept effectively in Odoo.” Andreas Jonderko, Managing Director of Gastronovi
In addition to its services, Gastronovi also manages the logistics of its hardware components and all subscription management within Odoo. These processes can be seamlessly integrated with the existing modules. Thanks to this all-in-one approach, Gastronovi’s data quality has improved significantly. Processes are fully traceable, which serves as the foundation for analysis and optimization. This creates transparency and, consequently, legal certainty, as all procedures are uniformly documented in case of doubt.
After some initial hesitation, reliance on the platform proved not to be a hindrance, but rather a springboard. This success motivated Gastronovi to integrate additional business processes into Odoo:
Reseller Portals: External partners gain centralized access to all relevant information. The interface radically simplifies complex processes, reduces the need for follow-up inquiries, and boosts sales effectiveness.
Ambassador program: A fully automated referral marketing tool. Odoo generates links, tracks referred customers, and enables the rapid payment of bonuses.
Digital business cards: The system automatically generates QR codes for all users based on current master data – efficiently and always up to date.
Today, thanks to these stable processes, Gastronovi can onboard over 300 customers per month. To manage this, the company built an in-house Odoo team that now consists of seven developers. This strategic decision transformed the software from a mere application into a true operating system, guiding the company’s journey from startup to industry leader.
Double the performance with less effort – Gastronovi gets the most out of Odoo
Odoo offers over 70 apps that can be quickly installed and used right away. But Gastronovi took it a step further. They recognized early on the opportunities for their specific business processes and combined their in-house IT expertise with Odoo’s potential. As a result, they have built over 140 custom extensions themselves and deeply integrated them into Odoo. The result is a company that has successfully made the difficult leap from startup and established sustainable processes.
“For us, Odoo has evolved far beyond a traditional ERP into a true control and enablement system. This became particularly clear in areas where we initially underestimated its impact—most notably in our collaboration with our resellers and customers.” Andreas Jonderko, Managing Director of Gastronovi
Odoo has been helping Gastronovi design and optimize processes since 2015. It has since become an integral part of the company’s DNA, and Gastronovi’s “Odoo fans” attend the Odoo Experience every year. There, they gain valuable insights into Odoo’s latest developments. Through this long-standing and in-depth partnership, Gastronovi has achieved key competitive advantages.
Results
Transparency: Whether it’s service delivery or receipt printing, all products are recorded and tracked in Odoo’s apps from the first lead through to billing. This “look under the hood” provides real-time data for strategic decisions.
Flexibility: Thanks to Odoo’s automation, Gastronovi was able to set up an ERP system that adapts to its needs. The result is a platform that supports employees and empowers them to meet high quality standards.
Scalability: Gastronovi took a chance on Odoo and was rewarded. The decision to consolidate all processes into a single platform allowed them to create structures that could then be easily scaled.
Quality: With the end of data silos, the customer is once again the focus. Automated tasks and reminders guarantee consistently high service quality, as no detail in customer care is overlooked.
In the end, the numbers speak for themselves. Gastronovi was able to boost its productivity by 100% in the core areas of sales, project management, reporting, and billing. The decision to adopt a centralized platform has paid off: Less administrative work means more time today for what really matters – the customers.
