Why should we just settle for the discounts that the restaurants offer us? Why can’t we demand the discount we think we deserve for the business that we give the restaurants? With this question in mind, the idea of Pocketin was born.
In the world of fixed discounts in restaurants, the founders of Pocketin wanted to create a more dynamic ecosystem, where the diners would have a much better deal if they would be visiting on weekday mornings compared to weekends or if they are spending a higher amount. Being big time foodies themselves, Kshitij and Anirudh, two engineering graduates started working on Pocketin, an app where a user can select his favorite restaurants and request for a particular discount from each one of them.
The request then instantly shows up on the respective restaurant owner’s phones and depending on the present situation and the user’s budget, they can take a call on whether to accept the user’s offer or else offer them a counter offer. The user can then take the decision on which restaurant he wants to visit after he compares all his options and book the table simultaneously.
Taking into consideration how unorganized the restaurant industry is currently and the low levels of technology adoption by the restaurants, it was an uphill task. But the founders were determined to change the way the discounts were accessed by diners. After working for more than one and half years in the restaurant industry in Delhi, they could find a lot of loopholes which needed to be plugged. After talking to a lot of restaurants, they understood that many of them fail because of lack of footfall during the weekdays. Therefore, they needed a mechanism through which they could offer a higher discount during non-peak hours to attract more customers and also to customers who are willing to spend more. This way the customers will also be motivated to visit during those hours. Also, incentivizing people with better budgets will encourage customer loyalty.
While everybody else were busy recreating the same models again and again or copying ideas from the west, Pocketin wanted to solve some really deep rooted problems in their unique way.
Anirudh’s (co-founder of Pocketin) aim is simple “Indian diners are extremely sensitive. They need the best service along with the best price. We wanted to make the table booking process simple, fast and completely reliable. On top of that we ensure that they are getting the best discount possible according to their budget and time of visit”.
Market Size
The total restaurant industry today is worth more than 1 lakh crores. Out of which more than 60,000 crores is constituted of casual dining, fine dining, bars and lounges which is growing at more than 15% YoY. Pocketin is trying to address this segment where the average ticket size per person ranges anywhere from Rs. 600 to 3000.
Competitive Analysis
The major players in the table reservation business are Eazydiner and Dineout. With Zomato (after the acquisition of NexTable) joining the competition soon, space is going to become more exciting. But with differentiation factors like Live Bargaining with multiple restaurants and working on a personalized level with the dinner would help Pocketin create a brand for itself in the market. We believe in giving flat discounts on the net bill to the customer in cash because a lot of players in the market have been trying to offer cash back in terms of a virtual currency which can be redeemed on online stores and it does not work with the customers. Today’s customer is smart and gratifying him with virtual currency and dubious offers are not going to work. The flexibility that one has with real cash is something which cannot be compared.
Current Traction
We are currently operational in Delhi-NCR. We are moving very quickly. In a short span of about 40 days, we have got more than 4500+ downloads on the android play store and received more than 3800 queries. We have more than 65 established restaurants as our partners with whom we work very closely. We have a team of 14 people working with us which we expect to double by this year end.
We are happy to see that people are reacting very positively towards our concept. It’s the first time that they can get the best price for their next restaurant visit after comparing prices with over 65 restaurants through a live platform. By the year end, we would have 200 restaurants onboard.
On the monetization front, we charge a commission of 5-7.5% of every transaction that is happening through our platform. We made more than 10 Lacs in GMV in the last 40 days itself and things are looking positive with increasing number of repeat users. Indians generally eat out 4-5 times a month, which is going to double in the next three years going by the trend due to a rise indispensable income and we are ready to capitalize that.
Future Plans
In the coming months, you would see not only restaurants listed on our platform but gyms, spas and salons too. The pan-Indian market for Gyms and Salons is over 15000 crores which is highly untapped as of now. Through our unique model, one can be rest assured of getting the best possible price after comparing all the quotes received live from different service providers for any booking they make through us.