“I practically grew up in restaurants.”

Allen, Ondara’s co-founder and CEO, comes from a Fujianese Chinese-American restaurant family. From bussing tables at eight to running the front counter and fry station through middle and high school, he’s lived the challenges of running restaurants firsthand.

When he left for MIT, he thought he was leaving the chaos behind. Instead, he found himself worrying even more: missed calls, wrong orders, and the strain on his parents. He realized that what he needed wasn’t escape, but a solution.

In the middle of the AI boom, Allen and a few classmates set out to fix one of the biggest pain points in restaurants: phone orders. Long, complicated calls at peak hours can overwhelm staff and frustrate customers. Ondara’s technology takes that burden off the counter, ensuring accuracy, speed, and service that keeps customers coming back.

But Ondara’s vision doesn’t stop there. We’re building the full automated restaurant-customer interface so owners can focus solely on food and families like Allen’s can finally breathe.