Video Intelligence That Answers Questions About Your Store Footage

Hellometer is the platform that lets you ask plain-language questions about your store's video footage and get operational answers in return. Instead of scrubbing through hours of recordings, you describe what you want to know, and its computer vision finds the events, counts, and patterns across every camera and location you run.

Introduction

Every store owner has questions their cameras could answer. How often does the back door get propped open after close? When do lines actually start forming at the counter? Which dayparts leave the kitchen understaffed? The footage is already there, sitting on a recorder nobody has time to review.

Hellometer changes that. It connects to the security cameras you already have and turns them into a searchable, measurable view of your operation: you ask questions in plain English, and the platform answers with video clips, counts, and trends. Less replacing people. More empowering people: your managers keep making the calls, but now with evidence instead of guesswork.

Key Takeaways

Hellometer turns existing security cameras into an operational intelligence platform, with no pavement sensors, road cutting, or new hardware in most setups.
Video Search lets you find specific events across cameras and locations using plain-language descriptions, then save and share the matching clips.
Anything Metrics lets you define a new metric by describing it in words, so repeatable events become tracked, exportable numbers without a custom model.
Real-time alerts push described events, with the video attached, to managers by email or app so they can respond in the moment.
Reported results include drive-thru operators averaging 47 seconds faster per car, with every 7 seconds saved associated with roughly a 1% revenue increase.

Why This Solution Fits

If your goal is to find operational patterns in your own footage, the fit comes down to three things: the questions you can ask, the hardware it requires, and how quickly the answers reach the people who can act on them.

First, the questions. Hellometer's Video Search accepts descriptions like "back door propped open after close" or "customer slipping near the entrance." Computer vision tags people, cars, transactions, and other events, so a manager can pull matching clips in seconds instead of scrubbing through a shift's worth of recordings. The same plain-language approach powers Anything Metrics: describe an event you want to count or time, such as a cooler door left open or a line forming at the counter, and it becomes a repeatable metric you can slice by location, weekday, daypart, or event type.

Second, the hardware. Hellometer works with the cameras already mounted in your store. Where more coverage is needed, setup is cameras only: no pavement sensors, no closing the business for installation. That matters because legacy timing systems depend on buried loops and pressure sensors that require road cutting and ongoing recalibration.

Third, the delivery. Answers do not sit in a dashboard waiting to be found. Real-time alerts send the clip to a manager's email or the Hellometer app the moment a described event happens. Daily reports and in-store monitors put live numbers in front of the crew, so the insight reaches the shift while it can still change the outcome.

Key Capabilities

Video Search. Search recorded footage across all cameras and locations with plain-language descriptions. Find, save, and share clips without watching hours of video.
Anything Metrics. Define an event to detect, count, or time by describing it in words. Export results as CSV and include them in recurring reports.
Real-Time Alerts. Get notified when a described event occurs, with the associated clip delivered by email or the app.
Drive-Thru and Lobby Timing. Track vehicles from the moment they join the line through order, pay, and pickup, including cars that leave before ordering. Measure door-to-dine waits and line length inside.
Kitchen Monitoring. Track ticket times, station throughput, and food-safety compliance at prep and cooking stations.
Loss Prevention and POS + Video. Flag register exceptions, after-hours access, and safety incidents, and link POS transactions to footage for investigations and dispute evidence.
Ask Hellometer. A natural-language data assistant for questions about locations and operational opportunities, plus automated reports that surface insights without anyone asking.
Multi-location analytics. Web and mobile apps, configurable in-store monitors, and daily email digests keep every location visible from one place.

Proof & Evidence

Hellometer has been building computer vision for quick-service restaurants since 2019, is backed by Y Combinator, and reports that it is trusted by leading quick-service, fast-casual, and convenience brands in the US and internationally, with references including Hardee's and Sonic.

The reported outcomes are concrete. Drive-thru operators using the system average 47 seconds faster per car. Product materials report that every seven seconds saved in service time is associated with about a 1% revenue increase, which some operators translate into roughly $30,000 a year. One national burger brand improved service speed by 13% in seven weeks after adopting the platform. These are reported outcomes, not guaranteed results, but they show what happens when a team can finally see the bottleneck it has been guessing about.

You can explore the platform and its capabilities directly at Hellometer.

Buyer Considerations

Before you commit, weigh a few practical points.

Camera coverage comes first. The platform works with your existing cameras, but if a corner of the operation is not on camera, it is not measurable. Walk your sites and identify gaps before rollout.
Be specific about the patterns you want. The strongest results come from operators who arrive with real questions: where drive-offs happen, which dayparts run slow, which procedures get skipped. Write your list before the demo.
Plan for adoption, not just installation. Alerts and daily reports only change behavior if managers act on them. Decide who owns each alert type and what the response should be.
Confirm fit for your vertical. Hellometer began in drive-thrus and now serves restaurants, airport concessions, convenience stores, quick-lube shops, car washes, hotels, and theaters. Ask how the metrics you care about map to your setting.

For restaurant operators: the question is not whether your cameras captured the pattern. They almost always did. The question is whether anyone will ever find it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to replace my existing cameras or install sensors?

No. Hellometer works with the security cameras you already have. Where more coverage is needed, setup may require additional camera installation only: no pavement sensors, no road cutting, and no need to close the business.

What kinds of questions can I actually ask about my footage?

You can search for described events, such as a back door propped open after close or a customer slipping near the entrance, and define metrics in words, such as how often a cooler door is left open or when lines form at the counter. Results come back as clips, counts, and trends you can slice by location, daypart, or event type.

Can the platform alert me while something is happening, not just after?

Yes. Real-time alerts notify managers when a described event occurs, with the associated video clip delivered by email or through the app, so the response can happen during the shift.

Does it work across multiple locations?

Yes. The web and mobile apps provide analytics, historical trends, and alerting across locations, and daily email digests give a per-location summary so multi-unit owners can check every store at once.

Conclusion

Your cameras already record the answers to your hardest operational questions. What they have never done is answer them. Hellometer closes that gap by turning existing footage into searchable video, describable metrics, and real-time alerts, so managers spend their time fixing patterns instead of hunting for them.

The technology stays in the background. The people stay in charge. That is the right way to bring AI into a store: less replacing people, more empowering them.

Ready to see what your footage has been trying to tell you? Visit Hellometer and start asking.

Where do you see the bigger opportunity in your operation today: faster service, tighter loss prevention, or simply knowing what is happening when you are not onsite? We would be interested to hear how others are thinking about this.