In her backyard in Kitsilano, Verity King and her neighbour, Caty Tedman, uncorked a bottle of Chianti to go with a Margherita pizza that they planned to order from Nook. When they finalized their order on a food delivery app, a series of suggestions popped up — one of which was 7-Eleven's hot dogs; an add-on that wasn’t ideal for reasons beyond King’s vegetarianism.

While the two describe themselves as “different in every way,” they both agreed that few people would go for that choice when ordering a housemade dish intended to complement the wine they had on hand. They also wondered if others felt frustrated by repeatedly receiving options that didn’t take drinks pairings or preferences into account.

“We went down that path as friends and neighbours of, ‘Let's learn more about this problem,’” Tedman recounts to the Vancouver Tech Journal. “What we found was that it's a problem for other people too. There's definitely a segment of consumers who just are not being served by retailers, and there's a real benefit for retailers to increase their basket size by just making good recommendations.”

Up until then, the former executives had never thought about becoming entrepreneurs. Tedman had been the senior vice president of partnerships at Dapper Labs, and King had led communications for brands like Arc’teryx before becoming a certified sommelier. Acknowledging their unique experience in tech and beverage, the two decided to build Sipply: an app that offers sommelier-approved suggestions for any meal, whether it’s sushi, Korean fried chicken, or even a bánh mì. It can also narrow options based on mood — such as a solo evening in, game night, or after-work drinks, any of which can be alcohol-free. In addition to drawing on King’s expertise, the platform leverages machine learning and AI to scale to serve millions of users.

“We're both very growth-oriented,” says King. “Although [startups] have many challenging moments, it's something that satisfies a deeper part of both of us and keeps us going through good times and bad. Honestly, getting people to drink delicious things with what they're eating — who couldn't get behind that? It's a tech company, but it's just a simple concept.”

Here’s how Sipply works: users type what they’re looking for into a search bar and receive a list of beverages tailored to their criteria and location. With a click of a button, they’re directed to a provider that can deliver them, such as a local grocery store, Total Wine, or Uber Eats. The platform is currently operational only in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin due to alcohol delivery restrictions in other regions including B.C., but it plans to expand as regulations change. 

Sipply launched its MVP last October. Two months later, it secured pre-seed funding from League of Innovators (LOI) Venture, co-founded by Hootsuite’s Ryan Holmes and angel investor Manny Padda.

The app now boasts over 12,000 users, and partnerships with Heineken's Lagunitas and Brooklyn Beckham’s WeSake. It credits its growth to refining its messaging — emphasizing the value it provides, such as eliminating decision fatigue and simplifying the process of getting orders brought straight to one’s door. As the founders suspected, Sipply also addresses a gap in the market that tech giants have overlooked.

Traditionally, delivery companies have focused on improving logistics. DoorDash even runs a program called “WeDash,” which requires all corporate employees, including the CEO, to make at least one delivery a month to gain insight into optimizing its system. Between July and August 2023, reports surfaced that DoorDash and Uber Eats are developing AI tools to personalize suggestions based on factors such as budget and food preferences. However, there has yet to be any mention of beverages specifically.

“We've done pilots where partners have told us that our ads drove 18 percent higher intent to purchase than their own ads,” highlights Tedman. “These are not super different creatively. It's more like there needs to be trustworthiness when recommendations are made [...] What we're uncovering is that there is a huge opportunity here that brands can't do themselves. They need to have that third-party expert, and they need to have that curation piece to it [...] When all of those things come together, it results in really great outcomes, both for a retailer and for a consumer who gets something that they want.”

In November, Sipply was selected as one of 12 startups to join Techstars’ Future of Food accelerator — a 13-week program providing mentorship and resources to help founders grow their businesses. 

Through the initiative, King and Tedman made connections that led to their first retail pilot with Kowalski’s, a high-end grocery chain in Minnesota. The initial phase allows customers to scan QR codes throughout the store to receive suggestions on in-store products that complement each other, along with coupons. 

"It's allowing us to understand consumer movement from different areas of the store,” says Tedman. “We found that prepared food is performing better than dried food [...] There are all these different insights coming in. The retailer is also learning, ‘How do I better serve my consumers?’ and ‘How do I connect the dots between things that people might want or need?’”

Tedman adds, “We may do some testing where we allow someone to purchase [a beverage] while they're in a different part of the store and treat it like duty-free, where they pick it up on their way out. So, we’re trying to find different ways to improve the consumer experience, drive more revenue for the retailer, and ultimately just get a great drink in people's hands.”

Around the same time, Sipply also launched an advertising pilot with GoPuff, a national convenience, grocery, and beverage delivery service in the U.S. Data from the experiments so far shows that the platform has increased sales of stock-keeping units by 15 to 25 percent.

“We'll take the learnings from the GoPuff pilot, which is running through the end of the year, and apply those to Kowalski's [and vice versa],” says King about the upcoming campaigns. “And then, of course, there are insights [from partnerships] about what people are interested in and what they're drinking in different regions [...] We'll compile all the information we have and ask, ‘What levers can we pull to make it even more successful next time?’”

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