We do a revenue guarantee; restaurants see a ROI, say EazyDiner top officials

While most food tech companies are focused on helping you order and get food delivered home, EazyDiner, which started in Delhi in January 2015 (star founders include Vir Sanghvi), does the opposite. It sends consumers to restaurants, helping these establishments utilise excess capacity. Business Today spoke to Managing Director Sue Reitz and Senior VP Rohit Dasgupta.

Q. How would you describe EazyDiner in short?

A. We are a curated restaurant reservation platform where you can also get enhancement to the meal (discounts, free beer or wine, desserts etc). We are a mix of (companies such as) Yelp, Zagat, OpenTable plus loyalty. Depending on the number of people that visits the restaurant, you get loyalty points.

Q. And the differentiator would be …

A. The loyalty programme. We are curated - each restaurant has a 100 word review. We have on-boarded critics and then there are insider tips. We make it easy to book and we are much more than just discovery.

Q. Tell us about your revenue model.

A. One is commissions from restaurants for each guest sent. It is a fixed fee, not a percentage of the bill. Second, we charge for preferred listing (advertising). The home page listing is for about Rs 50,000. The minimum base is for Rs 15,000. We are three times more expensive that the closest competitor - they start at Rs 3,000 per advertisement. The differentiator here is that we do a revenue grantee. Whatever you invest in me, I will ensure that you get it back by the number of people I send to the restaurant. It is a written contract. So restaurants see a return on investment. Also, the listings are less cluttered; the message that the restaurant sends out is clearer.

Q. How has EazyDiner done on numbers thus far?  

A. We have consistently increased our figures on a month-on-month basis. We closed October with 15,000 bookings. We are adding five restaurants a day and we have 27,000 restaurants on the platform thus far. About 1,000 in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai (the three cities the start-up operates in thus far) are bookable. Some restaurants don't take reservations yet. We have 45,000 users on the platform - all acquired organically.

Q. The company recently raised Series A of $3 million. How will you utilise the funds?

A. For technology and expansion. We are enhancing the app every month. We will expand to Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata by the first quarter of 2016.