Restaurent
Sat, Aug 5, 2023 . 9:33 AM
41:51
Owner: Jeremy Julian
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
booking, restaurant, venue, platform, event, space, private, people, nick, lead, amenities, consumer, talk, bookings, call, day, catering, buyout, year, technology
SPEAKERS
Nick (61%), Jeremy (38%), Intro (1%)
I
Intro
0:02
This is the restaurant technology guys podcast, helping you run your restaurant better
JJ
Jeremy Julian
0:14
Welcome back to the restaurant technology guys podcast. We thank you everyone out there for joining us. As I say, every each and every time, I know that you guys have got lots of choices of how you spend your time and energy, so we appreciate you guys spending time listening to us.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
0:28
We love bringing, bringing cool and new technology to the world. And introducing you guys to it today is no exception. Today we are joined by the founder of restaurant, Nick, Nick, why don’t you introduce yourself first? Who is Nick? What does Nick get to do for a living? For those that are watching on video, I was teasing him pre show about his YouTube studio. You know, look there in the in the background. And for those that aren’t on video, you guys can go check it out on YouTube. But Nick, why don’t you introduce yourself a little bit and then we can talk a little bit about what what you’re trying to solve for the world? Yeah, no. 100%? Obviously, my name is Nick. For anybody who is looking into like, how the hell do you say his last name? That’s why I wasn’t even gonna tackle it. Dude, I was like, Dude, I was gonna I was gonna ask you before and then I’m like, Nope, I’m just gonna let him Let him do it himself. Yeah, no. So Nick championing the last name is easier said than done. And obviously, I’m the founder a restaurant. As I like to say restaurant is basically the open table or Airbnb for private events. We really believe in a world where somebody should be able to book more than a table at their favorite restaurants, bars, breweries and beyond. And that’s really what we’re going out and trying to do. Love it. And as you and I talked, you know, when when we talked about getting on the show, I think it’s a huge problem that that is very underserved. Talk to me a little bit about your background, why is this something that? Why why restaurants, why large parties, why booking talk to me a little bit about where did you come from, and kind of a little bit about your background, Nick? Yeah. So I think the thing I love about this platform is it’s really an intersection of my own, you know, experience throughout the entrepreneurial world. I come originally from the nightclub space and started in nightclubs around 10 years ago, now actually hosting concerts and, you know, doing private events. And so I did that for about six, seven years before launching a music technology platform, which is where I got into them, the tech side of building marketplaces, and SaaS companies, and all that fun stuff. And then after I actually sold that last company, I had a lot of buddies in the restaurant space, I was always very fascinated by the restaurant space. And I knew that I didn’t want to go back into music. I’ve had, you know, 10 years ago, a lot of fun, the music industry, but I really wanted to go into something else. And I actually, for a while was actually debating opening my own restaurant concepts, looking at different coffee shops and cafes and stuff like that, where I’m from in Providence, Rhode Island, which is a area that is massively going under a lot of different change. And so, you know, I was doing that a while. And then, you know, I realized that I’m definitely better behind building technology platforms than physical brick and mortar places. And so in May of 2022, I actually had actually lost two grandparents in the course of a month. And so being the event person in the family, my family, obviously, was was looking to me for help on planning, the celebration of life and stuff like that. And just during that whole process, I realized how hard it was to book a private event. And what I realized was, a lot of times people end up going with whatever place calls them back, rather than the best place for their event. And really, it comes into I think this problem was even, you know, amplified post COVID, where a lot of these places don’t have the staffing to have someone answering the phones all the time. And so then they only have the staffing during the hours that they’re open. But during the hours, they’re open, they’re busy, you’re not talking to the right person, you might be talking to the hostess, leaves get missed, they put down on a piece of paper, and it just gets lost. And so really what I realized is both the restaurant and the consumer needed a better process for booking a private event, rather than just, you know, Googling, you know, restaurants near me calling each and every one of them wondering, do they even have a private event space? Because you know, you google and you don’t really know, does that place offer private events? Do they have a space do they have I’m gonna guess how do they do it? Do? What’s their capacity? Do they have parking spots, all that different stuff that goes into it, where restaurants can really just give that as a search quantity. And so somebody can come to our platform and say, I’m looking for this type of event on this date. At this time with you know, this is my budget. I’m looking for food, I’m not looking for food, I would prefer a bar minimum or food minimum. I need parking spaces. Is it off street parking is an on street, all that different stuff. If somebody is looking for someone can search on our website, and actually then find the perfect load
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
5:00
occasion for their, their private event based on that search criteria, showing that then just shows the restaurants venue, and then the venue can then increase their booking conversion rates. And that’s actually what we’ve seen where when someone books a event through our platform, or a sense of lead, 90% of that actually convert to a actual booking, because it’s a way more qualified lead, because you’re not now spending that time, you know, just qualifying, you know, do they even fit my venue, where it’s like, that person already knows that their party is going to be good for your venue. And now all you have to do is button up the final details and just book the event.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
5:41
Well, and I mean, while terribly unfortunate, you know, the loss of your grandparents and having to deal with us. I love when I get to the the privilege of talking to entrepreneurs that truly solve a problem that they dealt with, and then said, I gotta I gotta a way that I can solve this. And so I’d love to talk a little bit about how restaurants typically do it, because I think that making sure that we set a baseline that says, What is the consumer experience today? Pre restaurant? And then what is the restaurant experience pre? You talked about, kind of in that diatribe. And then and then I want you, I want to talk about painting a vision, after we get through that for what life is going to look like once everybody’s got a solution like yours. And so as a restaurant tour, if I have a event space, how do I go about talking about that inventory digitally, and in person today, as you’re talking with clients prior to them adopting your solution, let’s talk about that. I know of a brand that we work with that’s got lots of large private party space. It’s happened to be where I had my wedding reception. But they’ve got a full like banquet department to your point. But not everybody does. And so let’s say it’s not a critical part of in this for this brand, and happens to be 60% of their revenue, their restaurant and Event Center. But a 60% of the revenue is event. So they they resource it, but most don’t. So let’s talk about as a restaurant, what does life look like today, if I’ve got that for sales, marketing, and operations?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
7:10
And I think kind of a quick point that also mentioned is like so we work with a lot of breweries, as well, like our two main markets are restaurants, breweries. And what’s interesting is, is kind of the same thing. A lot of breweries and restaurants don’t have that, you know, that full banquet team that they can have available. And that’s really the prime users of our platform, where we have a crazy stat for breweries where 57% of births 57% of the revenue in our breweries in Massachusetts, come from their tap room. And so what’s very interesting about that is they’re small teams that don’t maybe can’t have a dedicated event more manager, or maybe they have one, not the whole team, where 57% of their revenue is coming from that room. And so being on a platform like restaurant is driving massive amounts of new revenue sources and opportunities. And so going back to the booking question, there’s two main ways that I see that the private event booking industry works to this day. Number one is they have a contact form on their website, they say forget for parties more than 10. Email us. And so the problem is somebody emails and then we live in a world where so go, go, go, go go. Nobody hears back. And at that point, the customer is really starting, every minute is starting to fade out. Because the customer has no information. There’s really not a lot of information on the website. It’s just if you if you want to do a group party or a private event, email us doesn’t get catered menus, doesn’t give capacities pricing, parking, any of that stuff that the clients looking for. And so that lead every minute you don’t respond is dying. The second piece is they just have a phone number to call. And now the reality is, and I tested this the other day, because every day we’re cold calling restaurants, I call the 100 restaurants for picked up. And so the problem is I call them a noon. So that’s that’s, you know, midday, kind of trying to stay away from the lunch rush, stuff like that. But who else is calling it new? People who have day jobs that have a lunch break? And when are they planning their private events, they’re planning after hours, they’re planning on their lunch breaks, or they’re planning before work? Now the problem is before 8am Most places aren’t open, or for eight or 9am. And I open lunch during the middle of the lunch rush they and picking up the phone after hours. 5pm They’re in the middle of their dinner rush. They’re also not picking up the phone. Yep. And the problem with that phone thing is you’re missing millions of dollars in leads, because you’re just don’t have someone that’s able to pick up the phone. Because when you’re not busy, the customer is busy. And when you’re busy, the customer isn’t busy and so the customer wants to reach you when you’re busy. And so the world with restaurant is a customer’s get the information off the bat, they know exactly what they’re looking for and that your venue fits in. So that’s number one. You don’t lose that lead. That’s a hot lead. Now,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
9:58
I’m gonna pause you for just a second cuz I want to get into the product. But the other thing that I think that you guys are are solving for is, is, when I put in that Contact Us form, we’re now in a place where the restaurant calls at the time that they want to call, not when you are available as the consumer. And so, at the end of the day, now, they’re calling you in the middle of your shift, they’re calling you in the middle of recording a podcast to book this deal, they’re calling you in the middle of a sales call, they’re calling you in the middle of a flight, that you’re getting to this memorial service and such. And so you know, I want to I want to just hearken in on that, that that ability to get the content that they need to them is super, super critical. And marrying those things up something else you talked about as is that that lead goes cold, or that by every minute that goes by, I’m now the person in charge, as you were for the memorials, you now are the person in charge, and you have to find a solution because you got 40 family members that you need to have a meal, and some wine figured out. And so even if it’s not where you want it to go, if you can’t get a hold of them, you got to keep doing the Dial by number, just keep calling until you get somewhere right, you know. So again, I just want I want to paint that picture. Because I think I think that’s, that’s critical. The other thing I want to ask about as it relates to the current state of affairs before we dig super deep, because I have a long way to go into what you guys are doing for parking. And I’m glad you’re excited to talk about it. But the other piece that I find is this misnomer this mis representation of do they have the space and the marketing aspect of that. Talk to me a little bit about how you are finding current brands go through your list of 100 that you got your four phone calls that you called right in the middle of lunch. I don’t know why you thought anybody was gonna answer the phone jittering thing in the middle of a lunch rush, but or your your private event. But how do they let people know that they’ve got a party space? Because you know, what? A party space for 20 is different than a party space for 40? Yo, does it exist today. And if I can only, you know, it happens Funny enough, I’ve got a really good friend of ours that that for the last five years was the private events person for in and out the in and out restaurant brand. And you know, they did they did the hotels. And they did. And depending upon what the event was, she needed to know, okay, we’ve got an event for 1000 people, I can only go to this kind of hotel versus an event for, you know, 50 people and I can go to this kind of hotel and you know, and budgets are are different. And so because I know we’re going to talk about it a lot here, Nick, in just a few minutes. But how do I even let the world know that I have these things out there today, prior to having a platform like what you guys have.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
12:44
And that’s the issue, there is really nothing out there. The only way that you’re able to really show what space you have is putting it on your website. And what I always say to people is you can have the best contact form in the world for explaining how your private event space works. But what if people don’t even know you exist in the first place? Yep. And that’s the exact issue right there is Google when it comes to private event. Advertising. Google is not your friend. Like it does really well with finding restaurants in the area. But there’s an example that I always uses if I Googled, you know, 60th anniversary venues in Newport, Rhode Island. And my Google search was 60th anniversary of Newport Jazz Festival, you know, 60th anniversary party, people dancing and a Facebook video and wedding venues. It doesn’t show me what I want, you know, I may have wanted to rent this bar and grub for 60 people in a private room. That’s not going me on Google. Yeah. And that’s the reality is the current search engines that are so well for ordering takeout. And finding food and making reservations are not designed for private events. And so
JJ
Jeremy Julian
13:58
it is certainly less frequent that people are doing these private events, but your margins are greater, your labor costs are different. So being able to do these buyouts or doing these things are huge for people. So I’m gonna let you I’m gonna let you riff a little bit on on the product, because I know you’re excited to talk about what you guys are building. But, and with that, I want to talk through the pieces of metadata that most people are looking for, that you guys are solving for, and you went through it super, super quick, but I want to, you know, so the first is budget, talk to me a little bit about budget and kind of how does budget typically work in this world? And then let’s talk about how restaurant is solving for that is is, you know, per person. You know, like, let’s talk through the, the cost structure because again, you that is a component that people are looking to when they’re doing these private type events.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
14:51
Yeah, no. 100%. And so looking at budgets specifically, what’s really interesting about our platform is we also know that every venue does budget completely different. And so with us, when you actually create your account with us, you’re able to decide, hey, here’s how I do billing. So we let you choose, is it by person? Is it a rental fee? Is it a bar minimum? Is it a food minimum? Or is it an hourly rental? Right? So phone call off the bat, you have those five options to choose from, then the second piece moving forward off of that is you can also mix and match those. So you can say, Okay, we have we do a bi person of 50 bucks per person for food and badman. And then we tack on a $500 rental fee. And then you can also mix and match. Hey, that’s my fees for a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we require no rental fee and a lower minimum and all that different stuff. Because it depends,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
15:51
it depends. And a lot of times I see a lot of people, oh, we’re going to waive the AV fee, we’re gonna waive the rental fee if you’re at the certain level. But if you’re not at the certain level, you don’t and so. And then on the consumer side, I guess, Nick, talk to me a little bit about what are you guys seeing in the data? For people? Is it the lowest cost is that the mid cost is the high like, talk to me a little bit about how people are interacting with the platform, as you guys are getting out to market? Is it? You know, are you guys seeing any trends that you that you can talk through just because I’d love to, because part of what I’m trying to do is I don’t think that people have spent enough time even considering this, I think there’s places that could to have a buyout on a Tuesday night and make twice as much money on a Tuesday night as a buyout as if they would have opened for a regular dining establishment by by considering things like this. And so talk to me a little bit about what you guys are seeing in the data if you can.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
16:46
Well, so the biggest thing that I think we’re seeing in the data is that look, there’s there’s more money here than people realize. I think that’s number one. Number two is, I think my favorite type of private event rental is a bar minimum, specifically because it opens up the door for more people that come in, and it distributes the cost rather than the event coordinator having to put up that upfront costs. That is a very popular option that we work with a lot of like nonprofits and corporate events on because they don’t really like to say Oh, I don’t really know, but But if they’re like, hey, you know what, I know that 150 People are going to come to this. I don’t really have a budget behind this. But I can guarantee you that we can hit a $1,500 bar minimum, they are much more comfortable with that. Yeah. So that’s really the biggest thing, especially nonprofits, that hosts a lot of these galahs and meetups and stuff like that. We have some venues on our platform that absolutely demolish it for using bar minimums, because what they basically do is they have multiple spaces, so they don’t have to offer a full buyout. And they say, hey, we’ll dedicate this one space to your group, you’ll still have the main bar, but we have a bargain on set for 1500 bucks. And they usually set it on an off night, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. And it does absolutely wonders for that business. Because they know hey, we know that we’re gonna have 150 people here tonight, in addition to the people we might already have, but we are guaranteed 150 people.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
18:21
Yeah, no. And that’s, that’s a admin. It’s funny that you say that, because that’s, that’s not something I even considered. And I live in this space. And so I think of either a full buyout or a food minimum or a per plate cost when I’m doing these things. What’s another, I guess, as budget is probably number one or number two, what’s what would you say is the second most critical thing that as people are considering these event spaces? Is it the physical size, the amount of amount of space you have, you know, based on based on the configuration, and I guess educate educate our audience as to what are consumers looking for, and stuff that you need to be considering? If you’re not already doing this? Or if you are doing it? What’s going to include or exclude you from these conversations?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
19:02
So I think the biggest thing is consumers want to look at the space. Why think so many consumers prefer to use something like restaurant, because they want to see what is this space? What is the capabilities of this space? And that’s what your website contact form doesn’t give you. That’s really what people want is they want to say, I want to see this space, like without having to drive. Yeah, like how many people just endlessly scroll through Zillow. Like it’s the same kind of dopamine of like, I want to see what the space looks like how the seats are arranged all that different stuff. If I had to go off of there some of our most popular I would say amenities would be offsite parking, so they are on site parking, so they have off street on site parking is what people look for. Number two, I would say is definitely catering options. Does your venue provide catering options? What’s interesting about restaurant is if you’re a venue that doesn’t provide catering options, we can actually help you find catering partners through our platform. So that was something
JJ
Jeremy Julian
20:11
else that blew me away, when you and I were talking talking about this is the fact that they’ve got an event space, but it’s not. It’s a bar, or it’s a pop up bar, but they don’t even have a restaurant, but they’re using this to have a pop up restaurant for these types of things. And you guys will help them find that, I guess talk to me a little bit about that. Just because that was that blew me away. And I think it’s awesome, but not something I would have ever considered.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
20:33
Yeah, no. 100%. So the way our platform works is if you don’t mark catering on our platform, we have caterers that also pay to be on our platform, caterers, food, truck, stuff like that. And so when someone books an event through us, if you don’t have catering, it then says, Would you like to add catering to this event, and then shows the list of our catering vendors that they can choose from?
JJ
Jeremy Julian
20:53
That’s that that was such I mean, and again, I know, I get pretty excitable on a lot of these calls, that I get educated about, like, half of the time, I think I do these shows for myself, because I just get I get so much joy from learning about what you guys are doing. So talk to me about about what, what’s the next piece that people have? So parking, big, big amenity food, big amenity size, big amenity cost, big amenity. What are some of the other things that are that? I guess people don’t consider? You know, showing them the space? Also big piece? But what are some of the other things that people are doing it wrong for lack of a better term prior to engaging with somebody? What are just some of those things that they may not think about that you can help educate? Hope to educate some of our listeners?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
21:41
Yeah. And so I mean, one of the big ones it’s on the top of my mind right now is is Av and TV options. Because we have a big push right now with the fact that you have NFL fantasy drafts coming up. People hosting fantasy, fantasy parties. And so people are looking for that they’re looking for, you know, speakers, TVs, AV stuff like that. And then some of the other things we have under here for, you know, amenities is, is it handicap accessible? And are there accessible bathrooms? It does? Is it kid friendly? Or is it dog friendly? That’s always a great thing to know is, you know, we’re hosting a family reunion, and we want to know, is this a kid friendly venue? Or is it not? And then even you know, does it have a prep kitchen? If it’s if they don’t provide catering? Is there a prep kitchen there for outsourced catering to us, stuff like that is really those those ancillary amenities that people
JJ
Jeremy Julian
22:38
are looking for? It’s, I mean, all of those things are things that not being in the space, but being in the space are just so cool for me to sit and listen to. So I’m going to pivot now to what is it what so now, I’m a I’m a restaurant, I want to learn more about what it is that you guys are doing. Let’s talk through both the consumer experience and then the restaurant experience as they onboard to your platform. So let’s start from the restaurants perspective, because the majority of our listeners are either people that are in the restaurant tech space, or are restaurant owners. So I want to, I want to, I want to get this platform and be part of it as a restaurant owner, and I’ve got an event space. I’m thinking as as I was listening to this conversation, I’ve got a customer, very, very, very, very busy barbecue restaurant here. And he would tell me about his event space. And I’m like, Dude, I would have never known because it was up on the upstairs floor, I would have never known and, and you know, I’m considering doing my next quarterly planning, they’re here in Dallas, because I’m like, Dude, how cool would it be to be hanging out at this barbecue restaurant, that’s our customer with me and such to do our next quarterly planning session. And so I’m strongly considering that, but I would have had never I’ve been in the place 100 times. And I had no idea that he’s got this upstairs. And he’s like, Yeah, we got the full AV. And I’m like, how, how is it that I had no idea that this was here, and he’s got five properties around the Dallas area. But he’s got two of them that have full catering, you know, like not catering, but full event spaces that you can do up to 50 people in them. And I was like, Dude, I had no idea. So. So now, I’m this now customer and I want to engage with your platform. Talk to me about what that engagement looks like, and how do you even start? Where does it go?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
24:17
Well, so the reality is, is we know that 90% of our actually, I would say 100% of our customers are crazy busy, and most of the times are losing their minds. So first off, we always try to reach out to our customers in the most conscious way possible during the offseason. So like for example, right now, we’re in New England based company. I’m down here in Texas. But you know, in Texas right now, it’s hot. It’s nothing. So this is technically the offseason where you know, right now it’s a little bit slower. It’s a little bit easier to talk to these owners and talk to their team because they’re not getting inundated with bookings every day. We’re on the East Coast. It is prime event season. And I’m not talking to owners on East Coast right now, they don’t have time to pick up the phone. Yeah. And so that’s number one is we want to engage with you when you’re ready to engage. And we don’t want to distract from a normal business. Now the second piece of that is I always like to say getting set up with restaurant takes about 45 minutes, max. Why? Because we actually do everything on our end, we weren’t a software built in 1998, we don’t look like we were built in 1998, we’re easy to use. And we actually set up the platform for you. There’s no need to install anything in your store, any stuff like that, and your restaurant. And so with us, the process basically is like, look, set up a quick call with us, let’s talk about the platform and how it can help you. If you’re ready to move forward. After that, all we do is we set up a quick onboarding call, we finalize payment, we finalize the creation of the account, all that different stuff, and we make sure that your team is actually ready to use the platform, everyone has access, stuff like that, and then you’re good to go. And then after that, all you do is get emails for your current email process of, hey, you have a new booking request, login to view it. And really, that’s it, we want to make this as easy as possible. And really just something that is built into your current processes, not something that needs to be a headache, or a big decision to make. And that’s really the unique thing about us is, you know, that comes from our understanding of being in the restaurant and hospitality space is we already know how busy you guys are, we don’t really want to take any more of that time. Because every minute you’re on one knee, you’re not solving another fire that’s literally going on in the other room. And so yeah, so for the restaurant, it’s a very, very easy process.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
26:42
So one thing that I just want to, I guess ask about because I know this will come up as I log into the platform and I accept or is the inventory just available and people can because I can see people going, Oh, but I was I was you know, my catering team was gonna be on vacation that week, or they’ve got an off site that I had put in the platform yet, or it’s something that was booked before. So it is an opt in meaning I don’t have to accept it, the available spaces. They’re all the amenities that we talked about person, you know. Okay, so now let’s flip it around. And I’m now Nick and I’ve got a book. I mean, I’m now Jeremy, I’ve just in Nashville for my family. And we had 54 people at our family reunion, I promise you, there was a lot of work that went into the meals that we had with this with our family of 54. And it was, quite frankly, a pain in the ass. And my aunt and uncle and my dad, who were the ones that planned it are like never again, not doing this, I’m hiring somebody next time, I’m just writing a check, because there’s so much work, but now I want to go I want to be that that consumer to go, you know, help the family out to go book this this dinner for 50 of us. What’s the engagement look like? For me as a consumer in a city like providence that may have you know, 20 venues 30 venues that are available for me?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
27:58
Yeah, so there’s a lot, there’s a two really unique engagements from the consumer side of our platform. Number one is our marketplace. And so that’s where somebody comes in, that’s your go to restaurant.com. Somebody comes in and they say, Hey, I’m looking for this type of venue within this location on this date, and then shows you what available you can filter by amenities, all that different stuff. So that’s, that’s number one. Number two is we also have a basically an AI system and AI recommendation system that we built, where somebody can say, Hey, I am looking for all this different stuff to host an event, find me the venues, and then our system matches your request to different venues, and then sends out a blast to all the venues that fit that criteria, and says, Hey, you know, here we got your seven venues that we recommend, we already contacted them for you. And then those venues will reach back out if they’re ready to move forward. And so there’s really two unique pieces. And the venue’s really love that side as well. Because now they’re getting you know, they’re just growing their leads based even if that person doesn’t book them directly. They are growing that list of leads that they’re able to reengage with, but able, you know to see that. Yeah, there’s a lot of bookings coming through our platform.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
29:13
Yeah. So I’ve got two other pieces, Nick, that I want to ask about, how does it get funded? How do you guys get paid? Are you guys getting paid through the consumer? Are you guys getting paid through the restaurant the brewery that booking these things from both? You know, how are you guys making making your money? And how much does this cost? Is this hundreds of 1000s of dollars? Because, quite frankly, it is one of the challenges that people have with Open Table. You know, it’s grateful that you guys want to be the Open Table for for, you know, for private bookings. And the biggest complaint you get about Open Table is it’s too expensive. And so, you know, but I I know the answer to this question before I ask but I’d rather have you share it with our audience to make sure that they understand.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
29:52
Well, so the biggest thing I always say is look, you know, right now we’re getting paid by the fact that we are a venture back you know, technology do startups. So the thing that I always like to say is, you know, we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Because you know, we are we have raised and will continue to raise significant money to fund this platform from investors who believe in the vision of what we’re building in completely, you know, changing and future rising the private event industry. Now, on top of that, the revenue from this platform, because obviously, every good business has to make money. Yeah, the way that we’ve actually built our revenue model right now, is we charge a flat monthly rate of 50 bucks a month, per venue, per location to be on our platform. So it’s very affordable. There’s no long term contracts, it’s month by month, venues can opt out at any point in time, being from the hospitality industry. We know how annoying the pricing are, we know how long these contracts are. And we don’t want to do that, we really want to say, Hey, you want to stay with us, because you genuinely want to stay with us. And not because we forced you into this long term contract that you can’t get out of. And that’s the that’s the unique thing about our platform is we’re very venue friendly. And we want to be business friendly.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
31:09
Yeah. Which I guess brings me to one of the biggest complaints about OpenTable is is client churn where I go on to OpenTable, to go get a table for my wife and I for our anniversary. And I know I’m going to my favorite restaurant, and then I’ll have a table exactly at the same time that I want it, they may have at 15 minutes either side. But now I now they convert people to a different brand, same same argument that people get from third party delivery. Talk to me a little bit about how as a restaurant, if I wanted to do this, you know, I could get not into the full platform, but just kind of make it make it this private management deal for my own, you know, for my own private bookings for the things that you might be doing.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
31:47
Yeah, 100%. So a lot of our venues actually put their restaurant booking link on their website, rather than contact forms and stuff like that. And the reason being is your dedicated restaurant link does not have any other venues on it. And so that’s kind of the cool thing about it is you can integrate our platform directly into your website, and use it as a better way to convert leads. And on that specific page, we are not advertising any of your Yep. And that’s really one of the big pieces there. As well as we want to make sure that if if someone’s coming to book you, they’re coming to book you and we’re not going to shove them other venues now you’re down the face.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
32:25
Again, I just I’m bringing it up. I knew the answer to the question before I asked it. But but I I’m assuming that those are questions you’re gonna get asked from people, you know, how do I not get, you know, how do I not get screwed? And, you know, I got this party of 100 people that that I just lost to my competitor, because you drove them somewhere else. So what else did we miss? What did we miss? As far as I mean, I am so excited that you guys are democratizing this, this space, you have no idea. You can hear it in my voice, like I get excited about these kinds of things. Because I do genuinely believe that technology has the ability to make the world a better place. And I want to bring solutions like yours to bear to let people know that it’s out there. But what did we miss as far as part of our conversation and things that that people need to be considering? As it relates to private party booking and how you guys are going to market and solving these things?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
33:15
I mean, I always say is, like, you know, businesses are so focused on integrating DoorDash and integrating GrubHub and adding on OpenTable and rising and all these software’s that they know so well, you know, the biggest thing I can say is give a chance to, you know, looking into the private event space industry and saying, How can I maximize my revenue for days that I’m not already, you know, sold out? Because the reality is, is we like to think Alright, delivery this way that way, but you have a space, and at the end of the month rent is due every single month. And if I could help a restaurant could help you basically get five more bookings a month. What would that do for your business? What would that do for covering rent every month, covering taxes at the end of the year, giving a little bit more profit being able to give bonuses to the staff to increase retention. What could five more events do and and that’s kind of the thing that I want a lot of our owners to think about is what could you do with five more private events a month, which could be an extra 3040 $50,000 in revenue. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I’m really pushing for business owners to think about is, you know it we’re not in COVID anymore. We’re not in lockdowns, yes, delivery is great, but people want to get out. And the reality is is our is your business set up for success in the private event space. Because trust me, I talk to business owners every day about their private event space. And there are some businesses that I’ve talked to you that they are booked every single day they’re doing multiple events a day. And they are raking in the dollars, where there are other venues that just it’s not built into their strategy, yet they have amazing spaces. And the other thing is you don’t need to have a dedicated space. Yeah, you could just have a great space that you know what, you’re closed on Mondays. So why not let people book it on Mondays, or Tuesdays and Wednesdays are slow. So why not allow for a buyout on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And you know, even like you mentioned, on the wedding side, we have a lot of wedding venues that are onboarding with us, because they’re like, Hey, we’re jam packed for the next two years, every weekend on weddings. But we’d love a booking on a Tuesday. And Wednesday, we’re no one’s booking a wedding. Tuesday, I was really having weddings on a Tuesday. But people are having corporate events and off sites and family reunions, and all that different stuff that they would love your space, but they don’t know about it, it’s not going to help. And so that’s kind of the biggest thing that I like to leave on the table is say, you know, Jett, the same way you invest in these other strategies, make that really small monthly investment to invest in a strategy that’s going to help you bring more private events.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
36:06
Well, the one other thing that you talked about in the previous part of the conversation that I think people underestimate us is how many Contact Us forms and or phone calls and voicemails are getting left? Yeah, that don’t get answered. The fact that it’s going to be now on a system even if you don’t get it now we have the contact information for these people. We know who they are, we know what’s going on through a technology solution like this, rather than you know, and I was just just interviewing earlier this week, one of the people from one of the one of the AI, phone companies and and it’s amazing how many phone orders go on answered the somewhere close to 60%. And some brands go on answered. Think about that. And think about how many of these private parties on a Tuesday night, if we would have given a better guest experience to that person looking to book that private party, what life would have looked like and how your revenue would have been different by using the space that you already have by serving the customers that you just didn’t even know were there because you didn’t ever get back to him? Because the girl that was at the host sounds like I gotta do my side work. I gotta check bathrooms. Oh, and I got a call that and they just they forget because it’s on a little post it note and it never goes goes anywhere.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
37:14
Yeah. Well, like even we’re we’re head focused on it right now is, you know, being out in Austin with our Austin venues, South by Southwest is six months away from getting getting to that planning process. There were that’s a great example. What if you missed a lead from South by Southwest last year, you wouldn’t know who to call back to potentially get them booked this year. Were with our platform when all these you know big companies are booking their events through our platform. Even if you miss them, guess what, now next year in July, you can reach out to them before they even get that booking ready. Say hey, we know you missed We missed you last year, we’d love to, you know, chat again and bring your venue to your you bring your event to our venue this year. And that’s what I think is so cool about that is yeah, you’re not losing those leads that are getting lost on sticky notes, or dial backs. And even I read something about that it’s 80% of leads that call in that don’t get a phone call, they call your competitor next. That is that is the reality. And so you know, if you miss 80% of that, it’s definitely a damage and when someone comes in on a phone, if they don’t leave a message, you got no way of calling them back your voicemails all gotta keep cleaning out the voicemail. It’s just not designed to be a lead funnel. Yep,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
38:28
no, I love what you guys are trying to solve. And it’ll be fun. When I get the privilege of using the using the service to book book one of those private parties in the future, that kind of people get in touch with you, how did they learn more about what it is that you guys are doing? You know, give me some call to action that to get them to engage with your team, because you’re making 100 outbound calls a day trying to get get a hold of people, but I promise you, there’s gonna be some people that are gonna hear this and go, Yes, please. Where do I sign up?
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
38:59
Yeah, no. 100%. So, you know, obviously, our key markets right now that we were in is Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Texas, that those are our key markets. Right now. We’re small,
JJ
Jeremy Julian
39:08
all of those states combined. And then you’ve got Texas, which is like a little country.
NC
Nick Cianfaglione
39:15
And so the thing I always say is, first off, if you’re an owner, and you’re not in one of those regions, reach out to us because we also have a program that we call the new market program, where we offer way cheaper discounts, all that different stuff to kind of help you get set up and represent a new region. Because sooner or later we’re going to be across the whole country. So if you want to get locked in and kind of like grandfathered in some early rates, we do have these really cool programs. So if you’re not in one of those key regions, don’t feel discouraged shoot me an email, shoot me a call and so how to contact the best way is my email is nick@restaurant.com. So you know, grab the name, see how the spelling is from the title of the podcast, and then just add it in restaurant.com I’m in an ad Nick in front of it. It’s relatively easy, shoot me an email, we can jump on a call whenever. And you know, when you email me my phone numbers in my email signature, we’re really accessible we want to be. That’s what I always tell owners. That’s the fun thing about working with a startup is we’re accessible. Obviously, if you take my name from any of the titles in the podcast, you can search me on LinkedIn, you can shoot me a message there. It’s really easy to find us.
JJ
Jeremy Julian
40:28
I love it. I love it. Well, like I said, I love the fact that you guys are democratizing this world that, you know, and my favorite types of my favorite types of shows are the ones where somebody had an itch that needed to be scratched, and they said, Screw this, I’m going to create a product that’s going to solve this problem that I had. Because there’s nothing out there and, and even you and I talked about it, you’re like, there is nothing else out there like this. Like there’s lots of little point solutions for a specific venue, but not Not, not from at a global scale. So I’m here cheering you guys on and I’m sure that that our audience is gonna be excited to learn more about it. Guys, we know like I said, At the onset, you guys have got lots of choices. So we appreciate you guys spending just a few minutes with us each and every week as we bring to you guys, new technology providers. If you haven’t already done so please subscribe to the newsletter. subscribe to the podcast, whether that be on YouTube, or that’s on your favorite podcast player. If you’re an audio only guy or audio only person, I should say I shouldn’t make it to make it specific there. Nick, thank you so much for your time and to our audience. Make it a great day. Thank you.
I
Intro
41:34
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