From a Kalamazoo kitchen to a company
It started at University Roadhouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan. David Harrison was a student at Western Michigan University working as a server when he noticed the same problem every shift. Inventory was a mess. Counts were done on clipboards, spreadsheets were outdated before they were finished, and nobody trusted the numbers.
Instead of shrugging it off, David went to his friends with an idea: what if we built something better? What started as a fun summer project between classmates quickly turned into something real. They talked to restaurant owners, line cooks, and managers across Kalamazoo to understand what actually needed to change.
Pitching Shelf to advisors and investors at WMU
Receiving the Brian Thomas Award at WMU Starting Gate
That feedback loop turned a side project into a business. They connected with business advisors, refined their pitch, and started competing. The momentum paid off. Shelf won two pitch competitions, most notably taking home the Brian Thomas Award from WMU's Starting Gate business accelerator.
Today, Shelf is built on the same principle that sparked it: inventory should be simple enough that anyone in the kitchen can use it, powerful enough that owners can actually trust it.
