Inresto is the only 360 degree restaurant management platform, by dineout (a TIL product). While exploring different locations across the globe, the co-founders were hit by the idea to introduce a restaurant reservation platform in India just like some of the software applications popular in the UK and US markets. Hence, they established their very first business venture— Dineout— with an extraordinary vision to revolutionise the restaurant industry. From educating the restaurant owners about their relevance to enhanced customer experience, to transparency in offerings, all the Co-founders strained every nerve to make their endeavour a thumping success. The triumphs of Dineout and its B2B product which is a comprehensive restaurant management system— inresto, propelled us to feature it in our new edition enlisting top ERP and CRM solutions providers in India. So, dive into this elegant read that will serve as motivation to many entrepreneurs across the business landscape. For this, our team sat down for a virtual meet with one of the Co-founders- Vivek Kapoor— who conversed on different aspects of the business portfolio.
Company overview
Having attained a reputation of India’s one of the largest dining out and restaurant tech solutions platforms, Dineout is on an exclusive mission of making restaurants profitable at the core of their proposition. It is active on B2C and B2B front, with inresto processing more than 40M diners and $800M worth of transactions in favour of its 50,000 partner restaurants across 20 major cities in India. ‘Unequalled savings with seamless as well as contactless dining experience is how diners describe their interaction with Dineout.’
The service portfolio of Dineout involves restaurant discovery, table reservations, pre-order meals, amazing offers, and cashback earnings by utilizing the app – Dineout Pay. In addition, inresto offers a cost-effective, 360-degree plug & play product suite, and a one-stop solution for managing a restaurant from anywhere. With their premium dining membership – Dineout Passport, food connoisseurs and finest restaurants have been assured with a conjoint platform that provides many attractive offers at 200+ top restaurants, minimum of 25% off at 2000+ restaurants across 20 cities in India, including chain outlets and 500+ five-star hotel restaurants. “Our mission has always been to empower our restaurant partners with the most efficient technology that can solve their day to day problems and eventually result in their business’ profitability,” reveals Vivek Kapoor.
Inspiration behind inception
The founders identified a gap in the targeted market in terms of restaurant tech as they expanded their table reservations services. They found the manual mode of operations quite disappointing. Though the restaurants were catering to hundreds of diners every day, there was no emphasis on the customers and their spending behaviour. To make a difference to this scenario, simply relying on inresto tech solutions, they effortlessly revamped thousands of restaurants in India as well as abroad with end-to-end technology solutions like online reservation & management, digital menu, digital valet, digital payment, digital feedback, campaign & loyalty management, POS & SCM systems, and more. Today, all the co-founders take immense delight in claiming their company to be, “The only company in India that has diversified into the B2B and B2C segments equally.”
A glance over the USPs
What has made inresto stand apart from any other similar product is its tech-oriented attempts to accompany the diner’s journey at a partner restaurant, making it an unforgettable experience . Be it searching a restaurant, or making a reservation, or handing over the car to the valet, checking in, getting a table, placing an order, providing feedback, paying the bill and exiting via valet again, inresto technology brings seamlessness at every step. Moreover, Dineout handles the diners as well as restaurants hand- to-hand as it well-comprehends the market pulse and customer needs. They allow restaurants to run ROI-driven marketing campaigns that are exclusive to them only so far. Innovation and creation are their foremost mantra and inresto has thrived on it, alongside providing integrated marketing solutions under one roof only.
Furthermore, their alliance with Times Group grants them easy accessibility to a number of significant and noteworthy digital platforms. Being part of the Times Internet Limited family, inresto strictly adheres to well-established security standards, guidelines and regulations. “No doubt, our software ensures enhanced data security for all our clients, as we are ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certified. In addition to that, our products are also SOC Type-1 Certified,” unveils Vivek.
Team inresto’s actionable insights to accelerated growth are their key differentiating factor. Here, restaurateurs can get valuable insights that can accelerate growth and scalability in terms of business values. Explaining by providing an instance, Vivek continues, “For example, with the inresto Feedback Module, customers can submit their feedback and suggestions for improvement, thereby; helping restaurants to understand customer pain points and act on instant grievance redressal. Our client’s Absolute Barbecues recorded 5.4 Lakh birthday & 15 Lakh anniversary data with inresto’s feedback module that was later used to retarget the customers with personalised communication.” Likewise, there have been several clients who recorded a remarkable growth in their diner retention rate and a variety of aspects.
The co-founders assert that a food and beverage industry ERP system should be absolutely functional in — Reduction in pilferage and wastage, Filter out customer data, Regulatory Compliance and Single-source system. And inresto is enriched with all these traits to add substance to the food-tech space.
Leadership style
Vivek affirms that self-awareness is a vital trait for being an influential leader. There is no rocket science to acknowledge that a dedicated and talented team can become a ‘secret-sauce’ to success. On that note, Dineout has fervently nurtured team-oriented management, wherein workforce needs and their growth are the top priorities. The able administration of Dineout recognizes that employee’s professional ambitions and development are imperative to the holistic growth of the organisation, and ensuring it in the best possible manner. He firmly believes that knowing multiple ways to nurture their talents and deriving the best out of them will be prerogative because a thoughtful leader has to be well-versed in identifying team member’s strengths while nudging them in the right direction.
Moreover, he adds that a phenomenal leader can’t afford to be egoistic about his limitations. And being at the forefront, one must learn to identify someone who can do a job adeptly and let the apt one be seated in the driver’s seat. The exceptional leader believes thoughtful actions not only contribute to the bigger picture but also confidence building within teams. “And most importantly, as an entrepreneur, you are the leader of the pack, and you are looked up to by your team members. So, it is crucial to measure each step you take and ensure that everything you do sets the right example,” cites the luminary.
A culture of growth
Dineout has an avid ideology where it emphasizes that employees are its biggest assets and keeping them safe and healthy is its top priority. Even during the covid-19 induced crisis, they accompanied their employees in maintaining a perfect work-life balance. They know that a stable work environment doubles the productivity of the employees, and flexibility plays an instrumental role in their growth.
Also, Vivek highlighted the significance of good mental health by saying, “A free mind is a powerhouse of ideas. Taking out time for mental wellness and de-stressing has become the need of the hour. Dineout has been regularly organising virtual group sessions of Yoga, mindfulness, and meditation sessions. Our employees are refrained from scheduling any calls or meetings during the lunch break.” Indeed, all of these initiatives are exemplary as well as commendable.
Glimpses of Achievements
Within 5 years of its business journey, Dineout, as well as inresto, have been showered with a plethora of laurels across the product as well as marketing & communication domains. Some of the noteworthy mentions testifying their triumph tale are-
- Dineout received Spott Awards 2020 by Economics Times under the nomination category- Best Influencer Marketing Campaign – GIRF 2020
- Yet again Dineout bagged Digixx 2020 Award by Adgully for Best Campaign in Foodtech.
- In 2021, Software Suggest awarded inresto the product with ‘Best results’ and ‘User most likely to recommend’.
- In 2021, inresto received the Unlocked Award by Inkspell under the nomination category- Best Content Strategy.
- inresto was awarded The Gold at Digiplus Awards 2021 by ETbrandequity under the nomination category— The Best Use of Email.
Apart from these, they have a lengthy list of awards and recognition in their favour which cannot be curtailed in this article, ergo, we have enlisted some significant mentions only.
