Two Credit Suisse bankers came together in 2011 and noticed they were having a difficult time securing, flexible reservations at top NYC restaurants with their hectic schedules. This led them to look further into the restaurant industry’s guest experience operations at a holistic level. Today, SevenRooms is a complete guest experience management platform that allows restaurant, hotels, and entertainment venues to manage their forward-facing operations from a single CRM that’s built and designed from the ground up for the hospitality industry. The platform handles reservations, waitlist and table management, ordering, and marketing. As the hospitality industry has been severely impacted by COVID-19, SevenRooms quickly introduced contactless solutions and is offering a number of their platform features for free through the end of the year to help the industry recover. Clients include Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, MGM Resorts International, Wolfgang Puck, and Topgolf.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Joel Montaniel to learn more about the importance of technology as the industry recovers from the effects of the pandemic, the company’s expansion plans, and latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $71.7M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise? SevenRooms raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Providence Strategic Growth.
Tell us about the product or service that SevenRooms offers.
SevenRooms is a fully-integrated, data-driven guest experience platform for the hospitality industry, offering a full suite of products that unlock a 360-degree view of every guest across both on- and off-premise. Our CRM-driven platform includes reservation, waitlist and table management, online ordering, contactless order & pay, reputation management and marketing automation products.
What inspired the start of SevenRooms?
SevenRooms was initially born out of a consumer problem my cofounder and I experienced while working in banking at Credit Suisse. With very little time on our hands outside of work, we found it difficult to book reservations at top restaurants in NYC. We either had to book a month in advance or visit enough times to build a relationship with someone who had the power to fit us in at the last minute. We never knew when we were going to have a night off to book in advance, nor could we go frequently enough to become regulars.
However, as we learned more about the industry, our idea quickly evolved into solving a larger problem for the operators themselves: access to guest data. When we founded SevenRooms, it was more common for a maitre’d to keep guest notes stored in their heads, a database that walked out the door with them if they decided to leave the restaurant. So we set out to build tools that empowered operators to increase revenue and profitability, leveraging data to build direct relationships, deliver exceptional experiences, and increase repeat visits & orders.
Today, we have hospitality clients in more than 250 cities globally, partnering with many of the world’s largest hospitality brands to help them drive best in class guest experiences.
How is SevenRooms different?
From day one, we have been 100% focused on building tools for operators that help them do more with less. Our industry-leading guest experience platform was built exclusively with the operator in mind, helping them to own their guest data and relationships across both on- and off-premise. Most notably, we never compete to own those guest relationships, unlike many third party reservation and delivery marketplaces within our space. Instead, we help operators create high-personalized touchpoints throughout the guest journey that foster long-term loyalty. This focus on ‘direct is best’ enables our operators to drive repeat visits and orders through a targeted approach to automated marketing.
We are the only platform that gives operators a 360-degree view of their guests across all channels, whether they’re ordering online for delivery or booking a reservation for on-premise dining. Our company is uniquely positioned in the market to address hospitality businesses both big and small — across restaurant, nightlife, hotel F&B, and entertainment.
What market does SevenRooms target and how big is it?
SevenRooms works with a wide range of hospitality businesses in more than 250 cities worldwide. Together with our clients, we have already powered more than 500 million bookings globally.
Our client portfolio ranges from independent restaurants to global enterprises, including Bloomin’ Brands, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, MGM Resorts International, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, D&D London, Altamarea Group, LDV Hospitality, Zuma, Topgolf and many more.
What’s your business model?
SevenRooms operates on a SaaS model — charging a flat monthly subscription fee per outlet for the use of our platform. The full suite of products includes reservation, waitlist and table management, online ordering, contactless order & pay, reputation management, and marketing automation. SevenRooms enables operators to increase profitability by leveraging data to build direct relationships, deliver exceptional experiences, and increase repeat visits & orders.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
While we were not immune to the challenges brought on by COVID, we found an opportunity to help our customers by offering new solutions that help them drive more revenue to their businesses. When closures were mandated in cities around the world, we launched a direct online ordering solution for delivery & pickup to help restaurants boost revenue and drive guest loyalty. Recently, as venues began to reopen, we launched Contactless Order & Pay. This product aims to assuage guest fears when it comes to dining out through a ‘bring your own device’ to on-premise ordering & payments.
As part of our commitment to the industry, we are also offering our reservation, waitlist, and table management, reputation management, and marketing automation products free through December 31, 2020, for all non-enterprise, non-hotel clients in the US and Canada.
What was the funding process like?
From the beginning of the funding process, working with Providence Strategic Growth (PSG) has been a great fit. PSG has deep experience partnering with management teams to scale vertical SaaS-based platforms to create global category leaders. With this latest fundraise, they are committing to partnering with us to empower hospitality operators worldwide to build direct relationships with guests that drive revenue and increase repeat visits & orders. We’re excited to grow with their investment and to welcome PSG Managing Director Adam Marcus onto our Board of Directors.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
While today’s pandemic has brought on new challenges, it only added fuel to SevenRooms’ fire to help restaurants, hotels, and bars get back to business – empowering them to continue doing what they do best while delivering amazing experiences to guests.
Despite the challenges brought by COVID to our industry, PSG believed in and supported SevenRooms’ vision for the future of data-driven hospitality from the very first meeting.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
There were many factors that led PSG to invest in SevenRooms. These included the size of our total addressable market, our unique and differentiated position in the market, our proven track record in helping operators build deeper, more profitable direct relationships with their guests, and the strength of our management team.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Over the next six months, we will be highly focused on continuing our global expansion, launching new products and features that support our mission of helping restaurants increase repeat visits and orders while being a true partner to our clients as the industry adapts to a new normal.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
The most important advice I can give to companies is to focus on your existing customers and make sure you’re supporting them and keeping them happy. Your existing clients are powerful brand ambassadors for you, especially when they believe in your vision, product, and company — which often leads to referrals.
In these unprecedented times, as your customer needs change, it’s important to understand that your value proposition may change with them. Maintaining flexibility in the face of uncertainty is the key to succeeding in an ever-changing landscape. Your most innovative ideas might come out of times of crisis.
In these unprecedented times, as your customer needs change, it’s important to understand that your value proposition may change with them. Maintaining flexibility in the face of uncertainty is the key to succeeding in an ever-changing landscape. Your most innovative ideas might come out of times of crisis.
For SevenRooms, this has meant dedicating our time to building features that allow our hospitality partners to operate safely, including the introduction of contactless order & pay and online ordering for delivery & pickup. We are excited to continue innovation as we help revitalize New York’s hospitality sector.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
COVID-19 changed the hospitality world overnight. It also fundamentally changed consumer behavior and expectations. So for the immediate near term, we are very focused on helping restaurants adapt to these new dynamics in a way that enables them to generate revenue and deliver great experiences to guests in these unprecedented times.
What are your favorite outdoor dining restaurants in NYC?
Our favorite al-fresco dining options in New York are SevenRooms partners! Some of our clients currently offering outdoor dining include Cote, Grand Banks, Baby Brasa, Osteria Morini, Freehold Brooklyn, and Casa Mono. We’re excited to see more open during Phase 2 of reopening in NYC!
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