Ritual

About Ritual

Ritual Technologies Inc. operates a social ordering application that facilitates mobile order and pay for takeout from local restaurants and coffee shops, primarily targeting office workers. Founded in 2014 by Ray Reddy, Larry Stinson, and Robert Kim, the Toronto-based company designed a platform to streamline the food ordering process, allowing users to order ahead and skip the line. The founders, with backgrounds in mobile technology and local commerce from companies like Google, aimed to digitize the real-world behavior of colleagues ordering and picking up food for each other.

The platform's core service centers on its mobile app, where users can browse menus, place orders, and pay before arriving at the establishment. A key feature is "Piggyback," which allows colleagues to add their orders to an existing one, creating a social, peer-to-peer delivery network within a workplace and saving users time. This model is designed to increase order volume for restaurant partners while providing a convenient, no-fee service for customers. Ritual's business model generates revenue by charging partner restaurants a commission fee of 10-15% on sales generated through the app. The company also offers "Ritual for Companies," a corporate program where employers can provide their teams with meal credits as a work perk, helping to encourage office attendance and team culture.

The company experienced significant growth, raising a total of $143 million CAD by 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted its business, which was heavily reliant on office workers. This led to a major layoff of over half its staff in 2020 and the scaling back of operations in Europe. In response, the company developed Ritual ONE, a commission-free online ordering system that restaurants can integrate into their own websites, providing a white-label solution for takeout and delivery. As of early 2025, co-founders Ray Reddy and Larry Stinson, along with other key team members, transitioned to roles at Shopify, leaving the company to operate without its original founding team.