Aylesbury software developer offers 'services for free' to beleaguered businesses during Coronavirus lockdown

Aylesbury dad and software developer Chris Brown offered his services to those most in need.

In the weeks after the government ordered the UK to close, Chris’ company Smokin Donut processed more than £50,000 worth of orders through its TILLO app, making it possible for employers to carry on paying wages and keep their businesses alive including Aylesbury street food company https://www.bokkie-foods.com/ click on Order Now! to see the app in action.

TILLO is a white-labelled selling platform easily customized to a client’s brand identity. It looks and acts like a website and yet behaves like an app, with perfect functionality on both staff and customers’ mobile devices. Its outstanding order, purchase and delivery scheduling system also puts professional automated back office systems within the reach of small businesses.

“I’d been developing the software over the last two years in between other work because I was convinced that small businesses deserved a much better deal than they were getting from the big selling platforms – they typically take up to 15% of every sale, a huge chunk of turnover for a small business,” says Chris.

“Then when lockdown came, the Smokin Donut team were still at the BETA testing stage, but I knew TILLO was certainly good enough to offer just the help that local shop and restaurant owners might need to stay afloat. I had designed it so that it could be set up and ready to sell to customers within 24 hours – that was a huge plus for the worried business owners who came to us.

“It’s been tremendously satisfying to help out – the TILLO system was perfect for the swift setting up of contactless ordering, collection and delivery for businesses that usually rely on over-counter and walk-in custom. It has even created the prospect of growth for some, post-lockdown, who now see that they might be able to develop an online ordering stream when normal business resumes.”

Chris Brown is Smokin Donut’s founder and Chief Technical Officer.

He set up Smokin Donut in 2014 to bring largescale solutions to small businesses.

“After designing and engineering code from the ground up for companies whose apps sold in millions, I wanted to start my own business to create something that gave independent traders a professional edge in line with the big brands,” says Chris.

TILLO will be launched across the UK soon, offering functions far beyond any off-the-peg online shopping software plugin. It can handle all the needs of a small business, no matter how complex or how many locations it operates from.

Smokin Donut’s philosophy is built around Chris’s belief, shared by retail thought leaders such as Mary Portas, that local market focus will play a key role in the future of a recovering UK economy when the COVID-19 crisis is over.

“I do firmly believe that the survival of retail will combine a nod to the past, a return to door-step bakery deliveries or local pub selling groceries with innovative technology such as TILLO that makes it easy for customers to order and for businesses to fulfill those orders efficiently,” says Chris.