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I'm not getting it.

Newcastle has "launched" with 4 restaurants 2 weeks ago and there are still just the 4. No more added in Newcastle or in the North-East territory. Is that it? If so, what the f*ck is the North-East TM doing? Or maybe isn't there one? Or has Sanj sacked him/her already as "not quite right for such an important position"?

Same with Leicester, where it was "launched" with 6 restaurants and no more have appeared. Is it that difficult to get restaurants to sign?

How slow can this company go?

Very confusing and not what most shareholders were expecting. We were told there would be 200 new restaurants added in September - 15 to 20 per TM per month. This was quite doable, considering the signup rates of the 1 or 2 TM's working at this in March, April and May. People were expecting a steady flow of 200+ new restaurants per month, every month. Instead, we have had 28 so far, most of the TM's seem to have either never started or have been sacked and there are only a handful presently in position, and Sanj is already making excuses for this poor performance by saying they are now going to concentrate on quality of restaurants rather than quantity (not that they have ever added them very quickly) and even talking about adding restaurants that are not even going to offer any discounted meals at all and instead will offer a fixed price trial.

To be honest it sounds as if the management hasn't a clue what they are doing - particularly Sanj - and that the restaurants are running the show not Big Dish and are giving the management here the complete runaround. No good will come of that.

Looks like a failed nationwide roll-out to me. It was all too much for Sanj to mastermind and carry through on his own. Just think about it: one person to interview, appoint, train and manager 12 TM's across the whole country. It was just not possible hence why it hasn't happened and hence why we have had only 28 new restaurants instead of the promised 200.

Looks like 3 territories are up any running to me - West Midlands, East Midlands and the North-East. Let's just work it out by which territories are adding new restaurants and not by any other ways.

RT

If I go to that link on my PC (not my smart phone) it loads and immediately says "Table Pouncer will move to Big Dish on 15th January 2019".

If I try and book anything it goes to Big Dish and then says "Oops. Something went wrong".

I'm pretty sure that the former TablePouncer London restaurants are no longer migratable as they haven't been on any website or app for more than 6 months now. They were let go and don't exist anymore.

Trump

I have just done a Google search for Table Pouncer and installed the app but it just goes straight to Big Dish. Same for the website. Neither show any of the original Table Pouncer restaurants, except the ones that were migrated from Bournemouth. It looks like the London ones were let go. I was the one poster on here who noticed the London restaurants and continually mentioned it would be a good idea to migrate them but nothing was ever done about it. They all went missing when the website was updated about 6 months ago as the new website was based on the old Table Pouncer website and they haven't been seen since.

1 more restaurant added in Birmingham, though it is actually in Lichfield which is miles from Birmingham though for some reason doesn't seem to warrant getting its own location. Looks to be one of the quality rather than quantity restaurants as it looks a bit posh with main courses as pricy as £26. So posh it only opens Wed to Sat and Sunday lunchtimes.

Nothing further added in Leicester or Newcastle - maybe not posh enough for the new policy.

Possible disaster in Swindon as one of the two there has gone now which gives a danger of BigDish losing a location altogether. Worrying times.

Trump

I don't know where you are seeing Table Pouncer. The TP app hasn't been around since IPO and the website was shut down when the website was updated many months ago and all hits go straight to the Big Dish website and any of the original TPouncer restaurants were delisted so they don't even exist and cannot even be migrated even if the management wanted to do so.

Let me know if this info is wrong and you can still see the TP restaurants anywhere and please send me a link.

I like that. Less quantity of restaurants to be added forthwith and more attention to be paid to the quality - starting with Manchester and London. Sounds ominous.

The only way to tell how many TM's are actively employed as of today is by restaurant acquisitions and as of today there are 3 - West Midlands (Birmingham), East Midlands (Leicester) and the North East (Newcastle).

Sanj says at 4.53 "We have a few TM's right now who are me away in terms of their level of activity, in terms of their results, their performance and long may that continue - and we're supporting that. But some of the other TM's in the sales role are requiring some support". I'm not sure which ones are blowing him away after nearly a month (or even two months). Maybe Birmingham? Are Leicester and Newcastle blowing him away or do they maybe need some support?

Sanj says at 5.30 that we are literally days away from launching Manchester and London and then goes on to say that it is not just about restaurant numbers but the quality of the restaurants as well and adds that he has adapted his strategy and that they won't be adding so many restaurants as in the past but will put more emphasis on the right type of restaurants and then waffles on about the videos. Sounds ominous for Manchester and London - maybe just a select few will make it onto the platform.

Finally it sounds as if discounts are on their way out too. From now on it's about videos, charging for the premium slots on the platform - I'm sure someone will pay lots extra to be number 1 slot out of 2 in Swindon or number 1 of 4 in Newcastle!!- and Big Dish Premium whereby restaurants will not offer any deals or discounts but instead give a dining experience with a set meal or a taster meal at a fixed price. The days of discounts are sounding numbered - but is there anything else going on here. Probably not.

They should lie the other way round and say that it is as few as possible as that would help to make excuses for the lack of restaurant signings.

monty5662

You have been lied to as usual by Aidan (or Sanj). They have 8 including 1 in Brighton and 1 in London who are reputedly starting today and another to start in London in a few weeks. That's 1 in Birmingham, Leicester, Newcastle, Manchester and London and the extra 3.

Personally I wish the directors would take their remuneration in salary. At least you know where they are like that. And the initial placing would have lasted even less time before they came back for more.

Mr Trump

While the directors didn't take a salary they have already taken shares in lieu. See RNS dated 2cnd July - except below:

"The Company also has issued 11,044,697 shares as part of its Salary Sacrifice Scheme and the conversion of debt into shares. All members of the Board of Directors and some management have opted to receive no remuneration in cash since the IPO in August 2018. This is due to having confidence in the future of the Company and to ensure the interests of the Board and management are completely aligned with shareholders."

It sounds to me as if the nationwide roll-out has all gone wrong. They'll probably put it on hold soon and maybe go back to just one or two territories. Or even back to none as this summer.

In all fairness you can't blame Sanj as it was all too much for him to do to coordinate all of the territories by himself. He never even got started. Yes he probably did select 12 suitable TM's but couldn't coordinate getting them all up and running and trained and out on the road. There was not enough support from the more senior directors who don't seem to give a damn. Plus it looks as if the restaurants are a lot harder to sign in the Midlands and North.

What Sanj seems to forget is that the signing of restaurants is very transparent and that makes most of his podcast just a lot of waffle and nonsense. I wonder which of his TM's is/are the ones who have really got the job and are getting on with it so well - er, maybe the Birmingham TM, and maybe the Leicester and Newcastle TM's, though they haven't quite mastered it as well as the Birmingham TM as yet.

Wake up Sanj. We can all see what is going on here.

Dream on. The Brighton TM started on 5th August - or did he/she. All 3 London TM's were employed in September but only one is left and Sanj just seems to have lied that one is conveniently starting today. Sounds like bullsh*t to me.

This is going a lot, lot worse than I thought possible. Unfortunately the management look to be quite happy to be living off placing funds and don't seem to have any intention of turning this around into a revenue producing company in a hurry.

Really, really poor management all round. Boer hasn't got a f*cking clue and is the worst Product Manager I've ever seen. Bishop is a loud-mouthed g*t who hasn't got a clue either. Both of these jokers awarded themselves 39 million and 45 million shares respectfully at the IPO, presumably for their share of Big Dish Asia (worthless and needs closing down altogether to stop the outflow of £400K a year) and for bringing this concept to the UK.

When Big Dish changed the Asian arm from a Tastecard style operation to yield management not only did they copy Eatigo but also set up in the same areas as Eatigo and attempted or thought they would steal restaurants from Eatigo by offering a lower fee to the restaurants. That is just dirty (and it didn't work either). Maybe they have the same plan for competing with Discoeat.

Now they have both disappeared off the face of the planet and left Sanj as the fall guy. If/when this fails he will be blamed and sacked and we'll get a whole load of talk about he ran this badly and didn't know what he was doing and then of how they are going to pull this around. In the meantime I'm quite surprised that Sanj hasn't just quit as nothing he tries to do works and he is getting quite lost in the web of lies and deceit that makes up his podcasts. If Sanj quits or is sacked or whatever no doubt they will take 2 or 3 months to replace him and all the restaurants will further drop off.

And to cap it all the Social Media manager is now going to save the whole show with 1 minute videos of the restaurants - though I'm not quite sure who actually watches them apart from disgruntled shareholders.

I truly believe that the whole nationwide rollout escapade was created purely and solely to get a placing done and that they probably won't do much now until another placing is due and then we shall get a lot more talk about where this is going next.

Dreadful podcast. For Sanj to say that there were 12 TM's at one stage but they aren't all still employed is rubbish. 'Mr Big I Am' sacking them all because they couldn't do the job - he should perhaps just look at himself because he is the one who cannot do the job. The decision to stop the T1 and T2 managers signing up restaurants at the beginning of June and to send them around to do account management and to lose more than 1 in 3 of them was the worst management decision I have even seen - especially considering how hard it is to sign them in the first place.

I could go on but I can't be bothered.

monty5662 - it doesn't matter as it is all a pack of lies anyway. There are probably 2 or 3 onboard and they don't seem to be able to do the job and sign any restaurants. 2 more joining today - no doubt another pack of lies.

Very, very poor interview.

Sanj hasn't got a clue and the interviewer caught him out numerous times asking questions about why no new restaurants have been signed in the south/south-west, what the f*ck is going on with Brighton, what's happened to the 12 TM's, etc, etc, etc. Pity he didn't tackle him about the 200 restaurants that were meant to be signed in September.

Most of what came from Sanj's mouth was just a pack of lies, inaccuracies and feeble excuses. To be quite honest he sounds as if he is making it up on the spot. He said there are 8 TM's now but I find that very doubtful or else there would be some restaurants added now and again. Of those 8, one in Brighton and one in London are joining today - heard that one before!!! - and another in London will join in a few weeks. So there is only one in London at the moment and probably not one in Manchester as yet.

It sounds like it the nationwide rollout has all gone horribly wrong so far - or maybe I am just in a rush and expecting too much. Leicester and Newcastle have been launched - is this going to be a repeat of Swindon, Exeter and Taunton where a launch is a launch and no further restaurants are added?

Bristol have lost another 3 today - they are now down to 13 out of a start of 40 restaurants. That is a disaster too because even when they do sign them up they are just keen to delist and leave the platform.

The London awards are on 7th October, which is still more than 2 weeks away and in the meantime all we have had is 27 new restaurants added when we were promised 200.