Helping local business owners survive & thrive

Meet Adam and Dean

Founders at Owner

Learn how we got here, what keeps us going, and why our customers love Owner. This is personal for us.

Local business owners are heroes to us.

They risk everything – years of their lives, their families, their savings – to pursue their dreams. They create jobs, give unique flavors to their neighborhoods, and inspire people in their community by showing them that owning their own business is possible.

They’re the heart of our economy, creating the majority of new jobs. They also represent hope in our communities. They remind us that it’s possible to rise from being an entry-level worker to becoming a business owner one day, as 70% of restaurant owners do.

But local business owners are on a path to extinction. Just 20 years ago, 60% of the restaurant world was owned by independent mom and pops. Today, that number is 40%, and dropping by the year. National and global chains keep taking over, while mom-and-pops keep shutting down.

A technological revolution is going on.

Independent restaurants are being destroyed by large corporations. Tech companies like Grubhub charge predatory fees and take away all of their customer relationships – not even sharing customers’ names, let alone contact details. 

Plus, massive corporations like Domino’s Pizza are spending billions in marketing and technology to gobble up market share.
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Mom-and-pops can’t keep up.

Independent business owners need a level playing field.

Difference made since 2020

3M+ served users
restaurant guests that have used Owner
2,000+ restaurants helped
independent restaurants in the USA
$400M+ sales driven
online orders through our software
$150M+ saved fees
helping restaurants protect their profits

How it all started

Adam Guild was inspired to start Owner after an experience he had in saving his mom’s business.

Adam Guild was inspired to start Owner after an experience he had in saving his mom’s business. She was struggling because she didn’t have the right tools to grow her dog grooming business. She asked him for help, and he built the first version of Owner for her business. He saw how having the right technology made a huge difference in her life—how she transformed from a stressed single mom to a proud, self-made success.

He partnered with Dean Bloembergen, the best technology leader he knew – who had experience building technology for large restaurant corporations like Blaze Pizza and Sharky’s. Dean’s parents are also small business owners, so he deeply loves helping people like them.

We’re unlocking 10x the market opportunity by expanding globally.

Today

Thousands of American restaurant owners use Owner to succeed online, and millions of guests use the experiences we build.

$10 billion addressable market opportunity.

5 Years

Millions of restaurant owners and hundreds of millions of consumers use Owner, as we 10x the market opportunity by expanding globally.

$100 billion addressable market opportunity.

20 Years

Tens of millions of local business owners use Owner to succeed online. We're building to scale across every local business type.

$1 trillion addressable market opportunity.

Like Shopify + HubSpot, for local business owners.