setting the scene

• you arrive at your favorite restaurant for the birthday dinner you booked months ago 🎉
• you follow the host to your table, located at the back of the restaurant, next to the bathroom and under an AC vent 🤬
• after requesting to move, the host brings you to the only other available spot
  • you’re now in the middle of the restaurant where the noise prevents you from hearing the person across from you 🤦‍♂️
    
• this week’s company assures that you have the perfect table for your special day

in a sentence

Tablz is a restaurant booking platform that allows diners to reserve specific tables through a 3D view of the restaurant

• reserve: restaurants can charge for high-demand tables
• 3D: virtually browse the floor plan through an immersive view of the dining room

bulleted version: similar to how concert tickets vary based on location in the venue, restaurants can now charge more for that spot with an open kitchen view 👩🏽‍🍳

the basics

• industry: foodtech, booking software
• headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario 🇨🇦
• year founded: 2020
• company size: < 15 employees 💼
• investors: Branded Hospitality Ventures, Steven Kamali, Steven Simoni, Russ Rosenband 
• amount raised: 150k
• stage: seed🌱

due diligence

what we like

• 🤝 creating revenue: as restaurants face decreased occupancy, rising supply costs, and low profit margins, any additional revenue goes a long way
  • Tablz provides their service for free and takes a cut of table selections
• 💥 pricing revolution: dynamic pricing has become the norm across industries (airplanes, concerts, ridesharing, hotels), and the restaurant industry is next
  • we are already seeing a shift, as 19% of diners want to choose their table
• 📲 integrating instead of replacing: Tablz works alongside existing reservation systems like OpenTable and Resy
  

potential risks

• 💲consumer disengagement? will diners be receptive if booking a restaurant starts feeling like buying a plane ticket?
• 🗺 3D mapping: Tablz currently outsources the digitization of dining rooms with Matterport; providing this service in-house will provide better margins
• 📉 the state of the market: in an economic downturn, individuals are more likely to save where they can; will this impact the company’s expansion plans?
  

sponsored by 

• one of the most difficult jobs for chefs and restaurant owners is managing orders from various suppliers 
  
• Choco provides a streamlined ordering platform allowing restaurant owners to save time, cut costs, and eliminate errors leading to food waste
• interested in joining the foodtech unicorn disrupting the global food industry? good news, they’re hiring

founder profiles

• Frazer Nagy (prev. CEO @ Transparent Kitchen, server @ various restaurants )
• Andrej Sakic (prev. communications @ Government of Canada)
• Jérôme St. Holaire (prev. cyber @ Government of Canada, CTO @ Transparent Kitchen)

comps

• OpenTable
• Resy
• Juicer

why Tablz: we’ve seen dynamic pricing touch nearly every industry; Tablz sits on a massive opportunity to disrupt the restaurant industry