Online table reservation is India’s recent craze and web culinary portals are constantly capitalising on this trend by offering a gamut of specialised services and launching mobile based applications to enable their partner restaurants to stay ahead of the race By Rituparna Chatterjee
Standing in a queue outside a restaurant to enjoy its gourmet experience has now become a thing of the past. Well-known restaurants across the country are signing up for online table reservation systems to give unique dining experiences to their clients and improve their business revenueWith users increasingly becoming tech-savvy and preferring to book ahead of time at their favourite restaurants, the online table reservation system is definitely here to stay and evolve. Speaking on this latest trend, Ankit Mehrotra, co – founder of Delhi-based online table reservation startup – dineout states, “For many diners, part of the appeal of dining out is experiencing a variety of restaurants. Therefore, diners value sources that help them discover new restaurants and provide information about these restaurants. Historically, diners learned about restaurants through word of mouth and local print media, such as dining guides, newspapers and magazines. While diners continue to value personal recommendations, the Internet, including desktop and increasingly mobile sites as well as applications, now puts a wealth of restaurant information at their fingertips.”
The online table reservation platform has brought in a centralised system of rating into place that not only enables end-consumers to choose from a variety of curated gourmet experiences from the comfort of their homes but also allows restaurants signed up on this platform to add value to their menus offered, increase their brand visibility and in turn improve their business revenue. “The Indian dining scene has always been chaotic with no popular restaurant rating system and no large credible player that diners can depend upon for recommendations on dining options. Online table reservation platforms have helped bring in a centralised system of rating and comparing dining options along with easy options to make a reservation and get support with special requests. I expect that online table reservations will become a consumer habit just as booking airline tickets, hotels and movie tickets online has become,” opines Kunal Jain, founder of Mumbai-based online table reservation startup – GourmetItUp.
Gamut of services
Technology can be used at the front-end to improve customer relationship management, enable online reservation and increase efficiency in table/ capacity management. Hence online table reservation startups are capitalising on this increased awareness and demand for technology by restaurants and are gearing themselves to meet the needs of the hospitality industry. For instance, dineout is offering a myriad of services to its partner restaurants to enable them to stay ahead of the race. It is creating micro-sites for restaurants and giving them administration rights for real time management, offering a platform to promote new offers and events, providing online presence on search engines, social media sites and e-mailer campaigns, and giving customer analytics solution where the marketing ROI can be measured. “We have reached to a critical mass of restaurants and diners, which helps the entire restaurant network by driving more footfalls to our partner restaurants. In India, we have achieved the highest share of the online diner reservation pie,” proudly announces Mehrotra, adding that, in the next few quarters, they have plans to offer their partner restaurants free mobile sites and subscription based mobile applications which will be more cost effective for them. “We plan to build a scalable platform to offer free mobile sites and subscription fee based mobile applications to restaurants. We will include these as benefits of signing up with dineout. A lot of our restaurants have already requested this. Mobile is a growing platform and is the future. We would like to capitalise on this market opportunity and attract both new and existing customers on their mobile devices through strong technology platforms and innovative marketing techniques on mobile,” opines Mehrotra. Dineout’s mobile applications can be downloaded from IOS or Google platforms and the company will soon launch applications for Windows, Blackberry and Symbian as well.
GourmetItUp is also offering myriad of facilities to their partner restaurants ranging from joint marketing campaigns to curated dining experiences. “Apart from the business we provide to our partner restaurants, we also help create buzz around their brands and promote word of mouth. We also take on a reputation management role by connecting irate customers withthe restaurant management for quick resolution. What makes GourmetItUp stand apart is our focus on providing guidance and curation rather than just vanilla table reservations. We use a combination of research, tastings and knowledge gained through curating over 200 dining experiences to provide the best recommendations on which restaurants to go to and on what to order. We are also providing restaurants with an easy application to confirm reservations, check reviews and allocate table inventory,” highlights Jain. The company will be launching their mobile applications soon.
Restaurants are also reaping the benefits of the online table reservation system by signing up with multiple platforms. “Presently we have a tie up with GourmetItUp and dineout. GourmetItUp has a tie up with the best restaurants in the city and provides fine dining experiences to its members. A presence on these portals helps in increasing revenue and also assists an establishment in marketing its brand to first time consumers who are looking out for new experiences,” says Vishi Oberoi, F&B manager, Ramada Powai Hotel and Convention Centre adding, “I would also like to mention Zomato. The Zomato application on mobiles is very popular and provides all pertinent information about restaurants in the city.” The hotel has been receiving almost 50 per cent of their F&B customers from Zomato.
Scaling up
Dineout presently has 1500 restaurants on board across six cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Its target is to book tables for restaurants in over 30 cities by 2018. “From back in 2012 where we were seating about 50,000 diners annually, as of today we are seating nearly 400,000 diners annually. This is a serious shift. We have seen a 30 per cent of revenue growth this year and our aim will be to outperform this in 2015,” points out Mehrotra.
Meanwhile, GourmetItUp has its presence in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, having around 100 restaurant brands at over 160 restaurant locations. The company plans on expanding both domestically in markets like Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Goa, and in certain target markets internationally. “We are 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,” mentions Jain. 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. It 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,” adds Jain. The company is planning to scale up its customer reach through digital marketing, offline campaigns and event participation. “We are participating in farmer’s markets, food and wine festivals, and are planning to organise a large event along with our partner restaurants and independent chefs,” he reveals.