43
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
M A R C H
2 0 24
they're eating that night. King wrote some
300 rules for the app so that users can type
in a search term like "bacon cheeseburger"
and Sipply will pop out suggestions like
Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc or Chateau Ste.
Michelle Indian Wells Merlot.
"We found out through user testing
that there's some stuff that's right from a
sommelier perspective, but people don't
want it," says Tedman. "People don't order
riesling unless they know exactly what the
bottle is—you can end up with something
that tastes like syrup or something that's
bone dry... But really it comes down to this
framework of AI helping to scale decisions
that an expert trained it on."
Currently, the platform is only fully live
in a subset of zip codes in L.A. and New
York—while the U.S. has alcohol delivery
services such as Gopuff, there isn't yet a
comparable service in B.C.—but Tedman
hopes to expand Sipply to liquor stores
and, eventually, the delivery behemoths.
"Every time we talk to someone, whether
it's a consumer or investor, people say,
'Why doesn't this exist?'"
The market opportunity is super-sized.
UberEats reported revenues of US$10.9
billion in 2022; DoorDash was at US$6.58
billion; Instacart, US$2.55 billion. "These
companies make billions of deliveries a
year combined and make really terrible
recommendations," says Tedman. "Even
if we're able to plug into one of those, it
"
People don't
order riesling
unless they know
exactly what the
bottle is—you
can end up with
something that
tastes like syrup
or something
that's bone dry...
But really it comes
down to this
framework of AI
helping to scale
decisions that an
expert trained
it on."
CLASS IN A GLASS
Verity King (left) and
Caty Tedman founded
Sipply to make order-
ing in more enjoyable
