Seat Side Service brings food to your side at sports events

Seat Side Service is a start-up born out of frustration. Barak Leibovitz's frustration. The 20-something was at a baseball game trying to buy a hotdog when the idea hit him. Repeatedly. First he had to wait 30 minutes for the vendor to come by. Then he didn't have enough cash on him to buy the hotdogs. Then he couldn't pay for it with anything other than cash. The process left the aspiring entrepreneur dumbfounded. "It just didn't make sense at the time," Leibovitz says. Seat Side Service is Leibovitz answer. The 1-year-old start-up creates software that allows athletic spectators to order what they want from their smartphone, pay for it online and then have the vendors deliver the food for tips from a centralized kitchen. The system simplifies the process so vendors no longer have to carry all of their food around and can instead focus on providing quality service. "Your tips should reflect your hustle," Leibovitz says. The Southfield-based business, which got its start in Ann Arbor's TechArb, currently has a staff of four employees and six interns. It is working on running a pilot program with the Toledo Mud Hens this summer and wants to take it to even more stadiums and arenas next year. "I am engaging minor league stadiums because they don't have problems with bandwidth (cellular service)," Leibovitz says. Source: Barak Leibovitz, founder & CEO of Seat Side Service Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.