Two Louisiana entrepreneurs who started an app that uses artificial intelligence to help with hiring hospitality workers won a northshore business pitch competition.
For their win at the 2025 NSpire Startup Slam, Joshua Anderson and Rich Simmerman, co-founder and CEO of Cantaloupe AI, took home a package of cash and services valued at more than $115,000.
Cantaloupe AI offers instant voice interviews, allowing applicants for hospitality industry jobs to speak for themselves, while simplifying the hiring process.
“We use algorithms to determine how likely a candidate is to be a good fit for the job, how likely he is to quit in the first 90 days,” said Simmerman, a process he said gives managers information to consider before ever meeting a new job applicant.
Simmerman said he got the idea of predicting job fit while he was enrolled in a master’s program at Tulane University.
Cantaloupe was first designed to resemble a dating app, allowing employees and employers to swipe left or right on each other. But the partners have now focused on helping hospitality organizations sift through an overwhelming number of applications.
Several New Orleans restaurant groups, including LeBlanc + Smith, the Balcony Ballroom and Dickie Brennan & Co. are using Cantaloupe.
Plans are to use the prize money to help improve the service. Cantaloupe is set to launch Cleo, a conversational AI interviewer, so the award will have a major impact, Simmerman said.
In April, Cantaloupe won the $50,000 grand prize at the Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup, a business plan competition hosted by the University of Louisiana at Monroe. The company has also raised an undisclosed amount of venture capital.
The two other finalists in the competition were Forefront360, which offers data-driven solutions to ensure accurate claims, fair settlements and quick repairs, and QMS2GO, an AI-powered assistant that provides analysis, organizes companywide knowledge and simplifies document creation.