Could a Fresno martial artist-turned tech developer revolutionize the gig economy?

That’s certainly what gigRonin CEO Tosh Cook seems determined to do. Started late last year, gigRonin not only provides companies with temp staff solutions, but also helps temps by providing benefits like 401Ks.

Cook, who has 22 years of training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, also has 15 years of experience in human resources technology. Seeing a gap in the service industry, he developed the gigRonin software with co-founders Jeremiah Baird and Tom Tupper.

When a business runs outs of employees for a major gig or event, and shifts are available, they need only to push a button, and the data flows into gigRonin’s system. From there, the business is able to broadcast out to gigRonin’s pool of workers the shifts available. These gig workers then get a notification about the shift. If they’re available at the allotted time, they can apply, with their previous work experience and reviews available. Also like Uber, workers and users are able to rate their experiences.

“That’s a whole new level of transparency for the ability to connect a worker with a worksite,” Cook said.

Their first client, Pardini’s Catering and Banquets, hosted the software test for gigRonin. According to owner Jeff Pardini, it’s been highly successful, and has helped them greatly.

“The technology is revolutionary,” Pardini said. “By offering a dynamic user-friendly platform, gigRonin will provide businesses with a vast network of qualified gig workers to complement existing staff.

Currently, the program is being tested in Fresno’s service industry — focusing on catering and hospitality — but Tosh believes that it could also find its way into everything from health care to manufacturing, clerk duties and accounts payable.

“We built this to be industry-agnostic, so we think that the dilemma that we’re trying to solve is to optimize load-balanced labor — to have a labor pool that is able to balance for peak periods of demands,” Cook said. “I mean practically everybody that has to deal with scheduling employees is dealing with trying to optimize that schedule.”

According to Cook, Fresno is being used as the proving ground for gigRonin, but there are plans to expand as they gain traction.