Singapore restaurant booking site Chope raises USD 2.5M led by Singapore Press Holdings

Singapore restaurant booking site Chope has raised a USD 2.5M round led by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and two other investors, which are undisclosed. The news was first reported by TechCrunch and announced by SPH to the Singapore Exchange.

SPH, which invested SGD 1.81M (USD 1.45M), now owns 27.8 percent of the startup, which gives Chope a valuation of USD 5.2M. That’s about half of HungryGoWhere, which was acquired by SingTel for about USD 9.4M last year.

While the investment sum is substantial, Chope’s co-founders Clowie Tan and Arrif Ziaudeen appeared to have give up quite a significant chunk of equity — 48 percent to be exact.

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Restaurant reservation service Chope seats one-millionth diner in a year

Chope, a web and mobile restaurant reservation service, has announced in a press release that it has seated one million diners since its launch in June 2011. A quarter of its online reservations come in between 10pm and 10am.

In other recent moves, the startup has expanded into Hong Kong with the launch of Chope.com.hk, and partnered with Samsung to preload its app into all Galaxy SIII phones in Singapore. The Galaxy SIII, which is Samsung’s flagship phone, has become a hot-seller of late, generating 10 million units in sales worldwide. The app is also available on iOS. Read more

Chope works with Burpple to create mobile restaurant reservation app

Hot on the heels of Reserveit.sg, a rival online restaurant reservation website in Singapore called Chope.com.sg has launched their own iPhone app.

It allows users to browse a list of restaurants, find out details like location, opening hours, and cuisine, and then reserve a table. The app was designed and developed by Burpple, a mobile social food journal that launched a few weeks ago.

It’s interesting that Burpple and Chope describe themselves as “mobile strategic partners”, and I believe we can expect more manifestations of the partnership to unveil in time to come. Read more

Four up-and-coming trends in the restaurant business

As technology advances and business concepts evolve, an increasing number of F&B entrepreneurs and service solution providers are thinking out-of-the-box and making life easier for customers.

By innovating, F&B entrepreneurs enjoy reduced overheads, better customer service and additional revenue. Customers feel more satisfied too. In this article, we chart four recent trends in the F&B industry that have dramatically improved how businesses are run.

If you’re a restaurateur or cafe owner, do look at these trends and consider implementing them in your business. Read more

Restaurant reservation sites take off in Singapore

Sooner or later, someone was going to use the Internet to let diners make restaurants reservations instantly.

Such an idea isn’t new: US-based OpenTable has been doing it since 1998, and they’ve expanded their services into eight countries.

In Singapore, the concept is just beginning to take off. Within the past couple of years, at least four such websites have already sprung up.

Reservations.SG started operating in 2010, while Reserveit.sg (read our interview with them) and Chope launched around the same time, in June 2011. Read more

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. Read more