At just 24, Jon King embodies everything it means to be an entrepreneur.
Beth Penney
Kicker
Young entrepreneur Jon King leads a team committed to bringing fast food restaurants the best inventory solutions on the market with his latest project, Fytics.
Fytics is an automated inventory management system for fast food restaurants. With the help of a Fytics handheld, restaurant owners can easily scan the store’s inventory in real time.
Restaurant owners will have the ability to see what inventory they have in store anytime from anywhere, using their smartphone or desktop computer.
On top of all this, Fytics reduces employee inventory tracking time by 90 per cent and allows for new employees to be trained on the system in less than five minutes.
The idea for Fytics began with King’s desire to start a project that would help to reduce food waste. King’s project management skills have allowed him to explore a variety of industries. He’s had a passion for helping people and the environment since he first dabbled in entrepreneurship in 2012 with the start of Project Bottlepreneur. Something he was part of as president of Enactus at Memorial University.
The idea came from a common dilemma amongst teenagers: not knowing where to stash empty beer bottles. Project Bottlepreneur solved this dilemma by removing dumpster diving for bottle collectors and incorporating a safe, efficient route by engaging households to participate. They also re branded the collectors as bottlepreneurs.
When King wasn’t in class or working with these bottlepreneurs, he was developing an interest in flying drones.
“I had a skill set that was a little bit ahead of where the market currently was,” said King. “So I figured, why not try to capitalise on that and start my first for-profit business – Drone NL.”
King and his team took a slightly counter-intuitive marketing approach with Drone NL. They produced weekly videos that showcased unique places around Newfoundland and Labrador, posting them on their Facebook page.
The videos took off, and clients began contacting King and his team for work.
“I was doing Drone NL out of a labour of love,” said King. “But I really wanted to do something new, something that would make a difference, that’s why I came up with Fytics.”
The Fytics team is growing quickly; marketing maverick Alex Robbins is currently working on the search engine optimisation of the project.
“While discussing inventory management with friends and family, we’ve heard many first-hand stories of having to estimate how much of a certain product is left in the restaurant,” said Robbins. “This results in having to throw out large quantities of expired food. Fytics solves this issue.”
Fytics is currently being used in three local restaurants, but they’re looking at another seven by the end of this month. At the end of the year they are looking to get 130 on board, which will hopefully include their first full franchise.
“I don’t look forward to the weekends anymore,” said King. “It’s about building something, helping someone and making every day an exciting day.”
