Digitalizing the food industry in the Gulf has proved to be lucrative – just look at the Kuwaiti Talabat's $ 170 million exit this year – and one Saudi-based company, YoTable, is hoping to capitalize on this growing trend.
Rashed Islam, along with his cousin Reda Islam and their Egyptian friend Mahmoud El Said, decided to found Yo Table to spearhead online restaurant booking in Saudi Arabia after seeing what they thought was a market gap.
"Online bookings are becoming the norm these days in KSA, we book our flights, hotels and car rentals online, it’s only a matter of time before booking your restaurant online also becomes the norm locally," Islam told Stepfeed by email.
"The problem many people can face when trying to book a restaurant includes an inability to get through on the phone," Islam said.
"It’s all very time consuming and can be frustrating at times, you have to get through to the restaurant and then provide all the required booking details and contact information."
Available in both English and Arabic, YoTable aims to revolutionize the reservation process.
"You can store all your details in your account so when you make a booking your details are passed straight to the restaurant instantly and once accepted, the user gets an instant SMS confirmation on their mobile phone and via email," Islam said.
The site accommodates special requests for birthdays or other occasions, as well as allowing for easy cancellation or changes. Restaurants also manage their listing of available seats so YoTable users can easily see whether there is available space at the restaurant before sending their request.
However, the entrepreneur admits that the biggest hurdle for the website was actually the issue of seating.
"Every restaurant in KSA is divided into a family section and a bachelors section," Islam said. "If one section – let’s say the family section – is full, the restaurant cannot be considered to have 50% availability for all diners, it would be full for family bookings, but would still accept bachelor bookings. We had to ensure the system took this into account."
The site has received over 1,000 signups since its launch a few weeks ago. With the release of the YoTable mobile app expected this summer, users are only anticipated to increase exponentially.
The additional benefit of listing short-term deals and restaurant specials on the website makes YoTable a valuable resource for not only reserving, but finding the perfect restaurant for every occasion. Users of the site are able to leave reviews about their experience as well, aiding future users in selecting restaurants. Islam also told us that YoTable plans to begin using a point system, "which will let diners redeem points earned for bookings made on [the site]."
Currently the website can be used throughout Jeddah with planned expansion to other cities throughout Saudi Arabia in the next few months. YoTable also hopes to expand to other regional countries in the near future.