Reserveit.sg: A one-stop online portal for restaurant reservations

While searching for a restaurant to fulfill your gastronomical craving these days is much easier with food blogs and directories like HungryGoWhere, making a reservation can still be a hair tearing experience.

Spotting an Italian restaurant online and reserving a table for two this weekend sounds pedestrian enough, but in fact comes with unforeseen hassles.

Sometimes, finding the right phone number can be difficult, especially if the website is not updated or badly designed. And if you do manage to call them, you may be kept waiting if the restaurant is either closed or the waitresses are busy. Even if you do get through, the time slot you want may not be available.

We movie-goers sure take a lot for granted.

Reserveit.sg, however, aims to close the loop by letting foodies make online reservations instantly at any time of the day. Launched in June 2011 with 15 restaurants, the website now has over 90 listed F&B establishments.

When users visit the website, they can search for the type of restaurant they want and key in variables like name, cuisine, location, price, or mood. These characteristics can be mixed and matched.

So, how does it help? Let’s say my girlfriend’s birthday is today and I’ve only just remembered it. Desperate and panicky, I visit the website and key in these criteria: ‘Italian cuisine’, available tonight, and located in City Hall. I’m not picky about the rest.

The mood criteria is interesting and in my opinion, potentially useful. In this scenario, I would want a place that’s more ‘romantic dinner’ than ‘out with the guys’.

That said and done, whether Reserveit.sg can serve up relevant results is key. Turning up at what is supposed to be a romantic restaurant only to find monster kids wrecking havoc is a sure way to turn users off.

Reserveit.sg also has a proprietary, online-based table management system that allows restaurant owners to manage reservations from their PC or Mac laptops, iPads, iPhones or other smartphones. The system is secure, with encryption by Verisign.

According to Jesper Gustafsson, the business development director, their system has been well-received by restaurant owners and they are confident it will be widely accepted in new markets. Their goal is to be the biggest supplier of online reservations in the region.

He admits, however, that the company is not profitable at the moment as revenue generation “has been relatively slow so far and we try to keep our prices as low as possible for restaurants.” They hope to develop other revenue streams like ad banners and so on.

The company is founded by Singaporean Malathi Prelaganathan, who has a background in interactive design and years of experience in the F&B industry. She has managed to secure investments, although details cannot be revealed.

“(The funds) should be enough for the Singapore market. New funds might be necessary for other new markets,” said Jesper, who has worked in the F&B industry in Europe, US, and Asia.

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