To add two new locations
Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
GourmetItUp, a Mumbai-based online restaurant reservation platform, has plans to add new locations like Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Goa to its portfolio by end of 2015. Presently, the company offers 75 restaurant brands across 120 locations in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune and through this expansion the company is eying at taking the number of restaurant offerings to 500. The company recently raised US$ 300,000 angel funding from several investors to expand its team and geographical presence and scale up its marketing activities. “We will be growing the team three times the current size, geographic expansion will also be part of the plan and the overall reach through marketing is going to grow from five to 10 fold by January. User base will grow to 10 times its current size,” stated Kunal Jain, founder, GourmetItUp.
The company would be adding Bengaluru by January 2015, offering the top 15 restaurant brands in the city initially and then scaling up the number to 100. “We are also looking at entering international markets like Dubai and Singapore, which is under planning stage. We would be looking at entering at least one international city by 2015,” mentioned Jain, adding that, plans are also underway to launch their mobile application to enable their restaurant partners to improve customer experience.
The company is also looking at raising its second round of angel funding in 2015. “Though it is too early to tell, we are looking at raising another US$ 300,000 at least but we plan to take it up to US$ one million in the future, but whether it is in the next round or not, we shall see. Our international expansion would be part of the next round of funding,” added Jain.
As for their marketing plans, the company is planning to scale up their customer reach through digital marketing, offline campaigns and event participation. “We are participating in farmer’s markets, food and wine festivals, and we are also planing to organise a large event along with our partner restaurants and independent chefs, which is at planning stage,” he revealed.