After Rooam's initial launch of its nightlife payment app in its home base of Washington, D.C., the company has agreed to acquire a similar payment app provider to pave the way for its launch in Chicago.
Rooam, which provides a mobile payment app for keeping a tab and paying bar or restaurant bills, signed its term papers with Chicago-based Tally in January. The companies did not disclose financial details, but the move fits Rooam's strategy as Tally essentially performed the same functions in tracking tabs, completing transactions and setting default tips.
Chicago restaurant operations 8 Hospitality Group and Third Coast Hospitality Group will deploy Rooam on its sites, having previously been clients of Tally.
“On behalf of the Rooam team, we welcome Tally’s customers and partners as we expand our operations to launch in Chicago this winter,” Junaid Shams, CEO at Rooam, said in a Tuesday press release. “We share a common goal to make the nightlife payment experience better for all guests and to provide excellent customer service for all current and future users.”
Rooam made its debut in October of 2016. In July 2017, Rooam completed a $2.1 million funding round to propel the company’s expansion, support winter operations in Chicago and integrate with cloud-based point of sale systems.
Rooam’s technology allows users to pay for food and drinks with a one-click feature from their smartphones, eliminating the need to alert a bartender for payment. Once users open the app, choose their location and open their tab, they can pay the bartender or server at any time. When users are ready to leave, they review their bill and pay through the one-click feature.
“We’re very excited about Rooam launching their robust platform in Chicago this winter and can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store for mobile payments in hospitality,” Kevin Bolger, CEO at Tally, said in the release.
The Rooam app includes Apple Pay integration and requires Touch ID or a passcode to authorize all transactions. Rooam routes its
