Eatigo

Eatigo is an online restaurant reservation platform, operated through its website and mobile apps, that offers time-based discounts of up to 50% off the total food bill at participating restaurants. The model applies yield-management pricing — analogous to airline and hotel dynamic pricing — to restaurant seats, which are treated as a perishable inventory: discounts deepen the further a booking sits from peak dining hours, encouraging diners to shift their meal times by roughly 45 minutes to an hour and helping venues lift capacity utilisation from a typical level of around 35%.

Diners browse and filter listings by cuisine, location, brand, theme or discount level, select a discounted time slot, and dine without prepayment, credit card details or coupons; the discount is applied to the bill at the restaurant. Listings span upscale hotel restaurants and buffets as well as popular chains, including hotpot, ramen, sushi, mookata and Spanish tapas venues. The company also runs promotional mechanics such as cash vouchers, promo codes and app-exclusive rewards, and partners with third parties on co-branded offers.

Eatigo positions its off-peak discount system as helping restaurants reduce food waste alongside filling empty seats. The apps are published on iOS and Android, with the iOS listing operated under the developer name Zoek Inc.

Founding story

Eatigo was founded in 2013 in Bangkok by four telecom industry veterans: group CEO Michael Cluzel, CFO Siddhanta Kothari, director Judy Tan and Pumin (Louis) Yuvacharuskul, a technologist and serial entrepreneur who served as CEO for Thailand. Cluzel, Kothari and Tan met in Cambodia while working at Millicom International Cellular. The founders adapted the demand-based pricing approach used by airlines since the mid-20th century to restaurant seating, reasoning that an unfilled table at a given hour is lost revenue in the same way as an empty airline seat.

Business model

Eatigo operates a two-sided marketplace between diners and restaurants. Restaurants list time-based discount slots — a minimum of about 10% even at peak times and up to 50% for at least one hour each day — and Eatigo channels demand into those off-peak windows to raise capacity utilisation. Bookings require no prepayment, credit card or coupon; diners simply reserve, show up and receive the discount applied to the food bill at checkout. Free cancellation is allowed up to shortly before the reservation, while users who repeatedly fail to show up without cancelling can be blocked.

Restaurants pay Eatigo a pre-agreed flat fee for each diner who actually shows up for a booking; the service is free for diners. One 2021 profile put annual revenue at $4.7 million.

Traction

By mid-2017 Eatigo reported more than 1.5 million app downloads, over 5 million diners seated at more than 2,000 restaurants, and over 100 employees across six countries. A 2021 profile cited over 1.5 million members and more than 4,000 venues, with annual revenue of $4.7 million. The current iOS listing cites over 4,500 partner restaurants and a 4.8 average rating from roughly 2,000 ratings.

Latest developments

The platform continues to operate, promoting up to 50% off reservations across Asian markets and highlighting new venue additions in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, including outlets at Renaissance Johor Bahru and Amari Johor Bahru. The iOS app cites more than 4,500 partner restaurants across Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines and carries a 4.8 rating from about 2,000 ratings.