The story of Yoni Shen and the Fabios platform he created is not a standard story about another high-tech entrepreneur sitting in an air-conditioned office dreaming of the next exit, but a story that grew from the field, from the smell of cooking and the pressure of events. Yoni, an industrial and management engineer by training, began his journey in the food world from the bottom, from the kitchen floor, if you will, as he describes the beginning of his career at the "Ta'am VaTzeva" catering company.
"By training, I am an industrial and management engineer, and during my degree, I started working at Ta'am VaTzeva as an operations manager in one of the company's event halls. In this initial role, I dealt with everything related to cleaning, stage construction, and all the behind-the-scenes logistics," he recounts about the days when he learned the profession hands-on.
Over time, his engineering skills led him to the company's headquarters, where he served as an Financial Analyst , dealing with budget analyses and reports. However, the real turning point came during the Covid-19 period, when the organizational structure changed, and he was required to take responsibility for the company's production planning. "Production planning in the events sector is an incredibly complex challenge, as it involves an entire system that needs to synchronize various events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs, and brit milahs, enormous quantities of raw materials, thawing and cooking times that begin days before the event itself, and much more," he says. "To my surprise, I discovered that in such a sensitive and complex field, which involves huge costs, the technological tools available to the team were terribly outdated, and my attempt then, as an employee, to find a new solution in the market encountered difficulties."
What systems did you work with back then?
"For example, we worked with a very outdated system that at some point stopped exporting to Excel. It was very difficult and cumbersome and didn't provide us with the solution we needed. Later, when we explored the possibility of implementing existing systems in the market, we were astonished to find price quotes ranging from 700,000 shekels to 1 million shekels for implementation alone."
So, the high price was the Achilles' heel of these systems?
"Partly, but the problem wasn't just the cost. The main problem was that as an engineer who examined these systems, I knew there was no way the team members, such as the chefs or logistics personnel, would work with them. They simply weren't practical; they were too cumbersome, every action required too many clicks, and they were too generic and not adapted to the unique needs of the food industry."
Smart Inventory Management That Changes in Real-Time
This insight, that the traditional food market craved change and technological solutions specifically tailored for it, eventually gave birth to Fabios – a system built by someone who knows the kitchen from the inside, for those who work in it daily. "The name Fabios is actually an acronym for Food and Beverage IO System, and the uniqueness of our solution lies in the fact that it doesn't add work for the team, but rather integrates into their natural movements, similar to functional training. So, instead of a paper and a yellow marker where team members mark needs and tasks, I made sure they had simple touch screens where they just needed to tap 'confirm, confirm, confirm,' and print a label that already describes the process, with all information reflected upwards to managers, effortlessly," Yoni explains the philosophy behind the interface.
The system's great advantage is that it enables smart inventory management that changes in real-time according to the production process. For example, if a chef reports producing 90 dishes instead of 100, the system automatically deducts the relevant raw materials and updates the final inventory, allowing for smart picking and barcode scanning at the level of a large factory, but with a simplicity suitable for a kitchen.
As of today, the Fabios platform offers a variety of solutions tailored to different categories in the food industry, from production plants and catering to restaurants and bakeries. "Although the basic process of food production is similar, each category has different emphases," Yoni explains. "In a food factory, production is for inventory based on weekly or monthly planning, whereas in catering, production is precise according to a specific order and event. For restaurants, the system manages a menu that runs throughout the week and creates forecasts and production plans in advance, which saves waste of raw materials and valuable time."
Similarly, for bakeries, the system creates precise baking, maximum profitability, accurate production quantity forecasts based on historical sales data, automatic tracking of product freshness and inventory, and optimization of production processes to save time and resources. For event halls, Fabios offers a single platform that synchronizes all departments of the hall, a flexible system that easily adapts menus and quantities, allocates resources, and so on.
Full Control on the Production Floor
One of the most significant components of the system is traceability, which has become critical in light of stringent safety regulations (HACCP). "The system provides a solution for a factory's ability to know at every stage which raw materials it used and from which batch these materials came," Yoni elaborates. "This means that if a customer complains about a product, we can go back in time and identify exactly who the supplier of the eggs or mayonnaise, for example, used on that production day, which is critically important for performing recalls and maintaining food safety."
While Fabios' solution provided a necessary and essential answer for the food market, the path to success was not easy, and not for the usual reasons. "Fabios was born just before one of the most challenging periods in the country's history," Yoni says. "We officially launched the platform in March 2023, and began gaining momentum with initial contracts signed in July of that year. The plan was to make a big breakthrough immediately after the High Holy Days, but then October 7 arrived and changed everything."
Yoni, who serves in the reserves in the Alexandroni Brigade, found himself mobilized for long and endless periods, while a large part of the team went on unpaid leave and customers were hesitant to spend money. "This was a very difficult time for the business," he recalls. "The first year is tough for any business anyway, and in our case, along with the birth pangs, came one of the country's hardest hours. Additionally, we received no assistance from the state, as the company had just been born, and we had no previous profits to compare our low turnovers to and request financial compensation."
Some people would have given up at this point. How did you maintain optimism?
"Despite all the difficulties, and there truly was a whole host of delays, I strongly believed in the product and continued to manage sales and development from the field as much as I could. The customers also contributed to this, telling me they had always looked for a solution like ours, and it had finally arrived. That strengthened me."
Indeed, the customers who choose Fabios are living proof of the model's success. Among the prominent names are Dim Sum Factory, Greco restaurant chain, the Avantage factory of the Boutique Central chain, and many more. "The owner of Boutique Central was so impressed with our system as a customer that he decided to become an investor in the company," Yoni proudly states.
What do you see as the reason for the system's popularity among your customers?
"Business owners who work with us love the system because it gives them full control over the production floor, which did not exist before in the traditional food industry. It's exciting to see employees from all backgrounds standing in front of touch screens and reporting on production, printing labels with expiration dates, and scanning barcodes. We brought technology to a world that once only worked with paper, and today the manager can know exactly who produced what, when, and how much, all from the palm of their hand. All of this, of course, translates into money, and data shows that proper use of the system can save an organization between 8% to 10% of food and labor costs, with just preventing human errors in recipes saving about 5-6%. Our system was born from the field, from the heart of food businesses, and it allows business owners to focus on what truly matters to them – business development and growth."
Recommendations Based on Data Analysis
In the spirit of these times, it is, of course, impossible not to address the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which is now also entering Fabios. In fact, the real revolution Yoni is planning lies in this area, with a shift from operational data to strategic insights. "We are now shifting the system's capabilities," he says. "The goal is not just to provide data on what happened, but to give recommendations to the manager based on data analysis."
What does that mean?
"The system will be able, for example, to identify that demand last week was high due to a sports event like the Champions League final, and recommend to the manager not to order the same quantities for next week to prevent surpluses."
Where do you see Fabios in 10 years?
"Fabios' vision is to become a global company with thousands of customers. These days, we have started operations in England, where food regulation is very strict and requires the system's traceability solutions. I believe our English story will be a broader story that will expose our solution across Europe and even in the American market."
How would you summarize the message Fabios brings to the global food market?
"Fabios is much more than just another management software; it's a solution born from the field by people who understand the language of chefs and team members. From the small kitchen to the large factory, from the neighborhood bakery to the national restaurant chain, every business in the food industry faces its own unique challenges, and Fabios offers a series of advanced technological solutions, precisely tailored to the specific needs of each sector, allowing the business owner to focus on what truly matters: business growth."
"One of the biggest compliments I've received to date was from the manager of an international food chain who told me, 'It's clear that whoever built this system came from the field, and it's not just a few software engineers who only wanted to make an exit by finding a solution for a market that was thirsty for it. In your case, you can feel that someone who built the system did it hands-on in the kitchen and understood the real need.' This is truly what sets us apart in the market, and I wholeheartedly believe that Fabios is on its way to changing the way the food world operates, step by step, from kitchen to kitchen."
For more info: Fabios.co.il
Partnered with Fabios
