Please Login to share this post.
Thank you for sharing this post!
Share This Post
To:
(Separate emails by commas)
Message:
(Message is optional)
Description:
Who are you?
Reservation Maestro Inc. (http://www.reservationmaestro.com) is a relatively new venture, originally incorporated in November 2005 within the province of Ontario, Canada. Our vision is to bring to market an automated web-to-phone based reservation business to support the restaurant industry. The service will provide restaurant reservation services online via integration with a number of website partners.
What is the opportunity?
For most restaurateurs, creating a website and keeping it current is not part of the marketing plan, they in turn rely on website portals to generate leads and keep the information current. These leads are rarely converted online which leaves the consumer left with more traditional forms of communication to make reservations, or not at all.
Our solution links a website partners skill in information promotion, to a restaurants ability to use traditional forms of communication (a phone), to accept reservations, all parties to the communication benefit as:
- the consumer makes a reservation (24x7) quickly, and is sent confirmation by email/SMS
- the restaurant receives a structured, and timely call detailing confirmed leads (with an additional benefit of marketing knowledge of their own client-base plus other promotional tools)
- the website partner gains by a providing a deeper user experience, and revenue via a commission structure.
How big is the market?
Online Restaurant reservations are not new (one competitor in North America generated over three million reservations in May 2008), these systems rely on email, or onsite computers which require training, maintenance, or staff to be away from the floor to handle incoming leads in a timely fashion. Typically these systems are employed by higher-end restaurants, where the high cost (equipment, monthly fees and per seat fees) can be absorbed by higher meal tickets. We believe the introduction of a reservation service delivered by phone is a disruptive technology to the existing market. Our easy to understand, low cost, zero training required solution allows a much broader range of restaurants to take advantage of online reservations (currently only 3-4% of the market has been addressed).
What stage are you at now?
We have been in development for almost two years (it took a long time to achieve telco-grade scalability, thanks goes to our lead developer with 30+ years experience), funded entirely by part-time work and a BBB (beg-borrow-barter) mantra, we have no debt and minimal operating expenses. We’re pleased to say that the development part of the project is ready for prime-time, we even have a Facebook Application to showcase it's effectiveness.
What do you need?
- A private investor who can either fund themselves, or collectively put together $200k to complete a Pilot and Proof-of-Commercial-Concept Phase (achieves cash-flow positive status).
- A proven entrepreneur with experience in building rapidly scaling companies to act as mentor (technology field would be preferred)
- Someone who will be there with us to guide us through a further round of investment (debt, equity, or combination), to achieve rapid scale of client acquisition
When do you need it by?
Ideally today, but we understand how things take time. Our target is to start the pilot program (2 month duration) in September 2008.
What are you going to do with 200k?
Our pilot will take 2 months, and cost roughly $30k. This includes myself and a support rep to assist in building out the support processes, I'll be handling 'real-world' technical issues.
The remainder will be used to start an office, hire sales resources and implement a marketing process. The goal is to be cash-flow positive before seeking additional funding. We estimate that we require 70 restaurants onboard to achieve this objective.
Images: (Click on thumbnails to enlarge)