RE: Some people are eating out more...6 Aug 2019 16:23
Like comedy, the secret of launching a lifestyle product like this is ... timing. The early work has been done in the South of England over the Summer when eating out is probably more likely because the weather is better and because, in the case of Brighton, there are holidaymakers to fill tables, at this point in the year restaurant owners, may not want to discount their menus. Launching in September across the UK will give a 10-12 week window before the Christmas rush starts and restaurants are busy again, these ebbs and flows of traffic need to be accounted for in the adoption numbers. Once into January, there will be less demand in restaurants, their owners will be keen to drive business through their doors and there will be a clear runway of opportunity through to May/June or thereabouts. Clearly bringing major cities like Birmingham and Manchester will spread the seasonal nature somewhat and help to smooth the income curve.
Make no mistake, there is demand for this type of product but whilst some restaurants will want full-year exposure, others will not and there needs to be a means to use the website and app to reflect those positions, to add and subtract from the offers more or less at will. I can foresee a need for a telesales operation to "remind" some restuaurants that have dropped out that they can rejoin for a few months and then drop out if it suits them to do so.
Critically the rollout of restaurants needs to be coordinated with the advertising of the app, restaurants without take up from users will quickly lose faith and users without restaurants will too.
These are very early days and there is much to do but I do think there is demand from restaurants and diners. The main question for me is how big it can become assuming there are plans to be nimble and allow some flexibility.
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