The next startup in our interview series, Reservaurant, deals with the reservation system for restaurants. It facilitates not only the booking but also the administrative side for the business. We are happy to show you the exciting interview with the Reservaurant team here:
What customer problem does your start-up solve?
The project addresses 2 segments: restaurant owners and customers (of restaurants).
Firstly, Reservaurant (Reservation x Restaurant) was developed to cover the needs of restaurant owners to facilitate the management of their tasks, especially reservations, through a dedicated platform. Special attention has been paid to simplify their daily obligations and reduce their booking costs (between 5 and 10 times less than other platforms: The Fork, etc.).
Restaurant owners save a lot of time when they don’t have to worry about phones, SMS and social networks. Reservaurant simplifies their administrative work!
As for the customers, thanks to the app linked to the platform, they are certified to see in real time the filling and therefore the availability of the restaurants.
What is the solution to this problem and how did you find / develop this solution?
The basic idea was born in 2019. The basis of the thinking revolved around the development of an algorithm to combine tables. In parallel, I analysed the market and its players and tried to understand restaurant professionals and their needs. I participated in services, analysed how to improve the daily life of restaurant owners and worked out a penetration strategy with low and decreasing costs, which would enable to motivate restaurant owners to use mainly the Reservaurant as a working tool.
I designed the plans for a platform that allows professionals to get familiar with a new digital tool and for a simple and intuitive application whose credo is: “Book in 3 seconds! “.
The restaurant platform, which can be accessed from any connected system (PC, tablet or mobile phone), offers the possibility of managing the reservations of an establishment in a simple, intuitive and automatic way. It allows the optimisation of tables and combinations thanks to the algorithm.
- The platform is a management tool, it allows the analysis of reservations and fill rates, thanks to the dashboard.
- The system is flexible, it allows optimising the fill rate thanks to the algorithm, but also placing customers where you want.
- The reservations that come from the mobile application are immediately integrated into the “restaurant owner” platform.
- Without a rating system, the customer application relies solely on geolocation and the customer’s settings to display the restaurant selection.
- Working on a single cohesive system saves a lot of time! No need to answer emails, SMS and other requests made through social networks.
- Improved visibility, promotion through one network and Discovery Pass. From spring 2021
- A management of its customers, especially its regular customers (called “VIP”).
- No use of customer data by the system.
- The data is stored on Swiss servers.
The mobile customer app will make life easier for customers. It allows you to book with one click! A list indicates the availability of facilities in a defined area, according to the selected criteria and preferences.
- Proposal for an alternative to your request
- Without confirmation by email or SMS, all reservations are accumulated in the history
- Find an establishment in 2 steps with geolocation
- Easily find a restaurant that has a children’s area
- With keywords, you don’t waste time trying to find a place where you can eat “perch fillets” where you can eat “perch fillets”, “a pancake” or a “fondue”
- Choose in which part of the restaurant you want to eat: Dining room, bistro or terrace
- Benefit from very attractive prices in a number of restaurants
- Save your favourite restaurants
What stage of development are you at and what are the next steps for Reservaurant?
The restaurant platform has been operational since September 2020 and around 50 members are already on it! The enthusiasm is great: the unique management, the absence of ratings and the low and degressive costs are the elements that appeal to many.
The mobile customer application has been operational since December and will be released as soon as the restaurants are open again.
The next step is the final search for funding to plan a large-scale communication campaign.
The future lies in the integration of a mobile ordering system for food and drinks and a direct payment solution.
*As EHL’s hospitality business incubator, the Village de l’Innovation supports promising startups and business projects that focus on or are relevant to the food and hospitality industry. The startup profiled here is supported by EHL’s Village de l’Innovation.