User:Venkataramana Rolla/sandbox

Introduction

Dineout is a table reservation service company founded in 2012 by Ankit Mehrotra, Vivek Kapoor, Nikhil Bakshi and Sahil Jain based in New Delhi, India. Since its acquisition by Times Internet Ltd in 2014 (then TimesCity), Dineout claims to have grown over 200%. According to the company, it provides online reservations for about 2,500 restaurants around the country and serve over 1 million diners a month (as of 23 September 2016) across 8 cities. Reservations can be made online through its website, the Android and iOS Application, or their concierge desk. [1] Dineout also launched a product division called Dineout Plus primarily targeting the Premium Dining Section. It entitles annual subscribers to a 25% discount at over 300 five-star restaurants. [1] History

The company was founded by by Ankit Mehrotra, Vivek Kapoor, Nikhil Bakshi and Sahil Jain in 2012. In April 2014, Dineout was acquired by Times Internet Limited, a subsidiary of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited. The deal value was not disclosed, but according to some sources, it was valued at $10 million.[3]

In September 2015, the company acquired inResto, a plug-and-play restaurant management suite for restaurants based in Bengaluru, India, for an undisclosed value.

At the time of acquisition, inResto’s services were operational at over 50 restaurants in Bengaluru, India, including Toit, Absolute Barbecue, and Social, and also in other countries like Singapore and the Middle East. [2] According to the company, inResto then became Dineout's business-to-business arm to help restaurants manage table reservations, wait-lists, feedback management, home delivery, take-away, mobile payments and loyalty programs. [3][4]

Information Services inResto: This is an open platform that can aggregate delivery orders from multiple providers in one interface. Similarly, inResto can aggregate feedback and reviews from various sources. The service also helps restaurants manage their loyalty programs with features like guest timelines and engage with customers using targeted marketing campaigns. [2]

Dineout App: Available across multiple platforms (Android, iOS and Web), the Dineout app is meant to bring together all the services they offer. Through it, one can discover restaurants, go through their menus and details, make reservations, make restaurant bill payments through smartPay and redeem Earnings. Users can also buy event tickets, upload bills for cashbacks, and read and write reviews for the restuarants they visit. [5] smartPay: Dineout also launched a feature called smartPay, which allows users to pay their restaurant bills seamlessly through the app. This provides another avenue to give extra benefits over and above the given discount. [1] Conceirge Desk: A dedicated concierge desk is also available to manage reservations for customers by booking tables on their behalf. Dineout Gift Cards: Dineout Gift Cards are also available on Amazon.in, Woohoo.com and GiftXOXO.com in a variety of denominations. These can be added in the form of Dineout Earnings by entering the code and PIN on the card into the app. These can then be redeemed at smartPay enabled restaurants. Dineout Plus: This is an annual membership-based luxury dining product of Dineout, offering customers a discount of 25% at restaurants in 5-star hotels. [6] Corporate Social Responsibility Activities In November 2016, Dineout launched the #FeedASmile initiative to help hungry children in New Delhi, the capital city of India. Celebrity Chef Kunal Kapur endorsed the activity, which had a philosophy of “No one should have to wait for food”. The initiative was an alliance with India Food Banking Network (IFBN) where Dineout would donate Rs.30 for every table reserved through Dineout for the duration of the campaign. Notably, the initiative was undertaken around the festival of Diwali. [7][8][9] References: