Technology

Posted on January 16, 2019 by staff

Asian restaurant reservation platform launches in UK

Technology

A smart platform which diners can use to book restaurants at discounted prices in Asia has launched in a UK city.

Food technology company BigDish, which is listed on the London stock exchange and headquartered in Jersey, already operates in Jakarta in Indonesia, Manila in the Philippines and Hong Kong.

The UK version of the app has finished its beta testing phase and more than 50 restaurants in Bournemouth have now been migrated on to it from existing restaurant booking platform TablePouncer following its acquisition by BigDish in August.

BigDish, which will be launched in Bristol before the end of this month, features 50 per cent discounts on food from Sunday to Thursday, at least twice per day.

Diners can obtain the deals by making a reservation via the BigDish iOS and Android apps and website.

Restaurants can manage incoming reservations via the BigDish merchant app and website. The merchant platforms analyse anonymous user behavioural data, enabling restaurants to adjust the availability and level of discounts in real-time.

BigDish has also been through a beta period in Bath, with a limited number of restaurants which it will now seek to increase. CEO Joost Boer aims to make it the leading restaurant deal platform in the UK.

“We could not be more thrilled about taking this major step towards larger UK expansion,” he said. “Our roll-out in Bournemouth and imminent launch in Bristol is testament to the team’s tireless work over the last few months.

“The TablePouncer team has done a fantastic job over the last few years in developing Bournemouth’s leading restaurant deal platform. Their work has provided us with a strong platform from which to make BigDish the leading restaurant deal platform in the UK.

“The time spent doing further research in the extended beta testing period has allowed BigDish to gain invaluable data driven insights into the market and user insights which will help us to grow our business and develop our plans and technology to drive us forward in 2019.

“This year looks set to bring much progress for BigDish, with continued work in our first two UK territories, the larger UK roll-out and our technology plans for 2019. As such, we look forward to updating the market with further developments.”