Seated
9 known investors
Seated is a customer acquisition platform for restaurants that fills empty seats and drives foot traffic without requiring new technology or staff training, generating revenue through introducing diners to restaurants for dining, takeout, and private events.
Also known as Seated App · Seated for Restaurants
Investors · 9
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Seated operates a diner rewards and marketing platform that drives new customers to partner restaurants for dine-in, takeout and delivery, and private events. Restaurants are listed on the Seated network and receive incremental reservations, walk-ins and direct online orders without adopting new software, retraining staff or paying upfront or fixed costs; the service plugs into a restaurant's existing reservations system or online ordering platform. Diners find participating restaurants in the Seated app, pay full price at the venue, and receive a reward after the meal by uploading their receipt, so restaurants do not have to discount menu prices.
Restaurant operators can customize the reward down to the meal service and day of week, allowing them to concentrate incentives on slower shifts and off-peak periods, same-day gaps in the reservation book, and walk-in traffic. Beyond dine-in, the platform supports private events and works with event coordinators to bring in corporate events and large parties. Rewards have been sourced from consumer brand partners including Amazon, Sephora and Starbucks. The company states it is used by thousands of restaurants across the United States, ranging from neighborhood establishments to Michelin-starred venues.
Founding story
Brice Gumpel is a co-founder and chief executive of the company, which launched in 2017. Company materials describe the service as designed by restaurant operators for restaurant operators.
Business model
Seated sits between a network of consumer diners and restaurant partners, introducing guests to restaurants for dine-in, pickup and delivery, and private events. Restaurants join with no upfront or fixed costs and no operational changes; consumer demand is stimulated through post-meal rewards funded by the platform rather than through menu discounts offered by the restaurant.
The company markets itself to restaurants on the basis of no upfront or fixed costs, positioning its charges around the incremental customers and revenue it introduces across dine-in, takeout and private events.
Traction
The company says thousands of U.S. restaurants use the platform, and its 2022 blog cited more than one million diners using the Seated app to find local restaurants. Restaurant partners quoted publicly include Altamarea Group, Torch & Crown Brewing Company and Bareburger.
Latest developments
The company continues to market its restaurant occupancy service, promoting off-peak and same-day incentives, walk-in traffic generation and private-event bookings to restaurant operators.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Seated positions itself as a marketing and demand-generation tool rather than an electronic reservation book, working alongside booking platforms such as OpenTable, Resy and Yelp Reservations; its pickup and delivery features place it adjacent to DoorDash and Grubhub. Following the VenueBook acquisition it described itself as the only app combining dine-in, pickup/delivery and private events in one platform.
The platform requires no new technology, staff training or operational change from restaurants and integrates with incumbent reservation and online-ordering systems. Its rewards structure pays guests after the meal upon receipt upload rather than discounting food, and rewards are customizable by day of week and meal service so operators can target slower times; the company reports that rewarded guests typically spend above the average customer.
Technology
A consumer mobile app through which diners discover partner restaurants, book or order, and upload receipts to claim rewards, paired with a rewards engine that lets operators tailor incentives by service and day, and integrations with restaurants' existing reservation and online ordering platforms.
Go-to-market
Direct sales to restaurants through demo requests and web lead-capture forms, supported by content marketing on the company blog covering restaurant occupancy and customer acquisition, plus consumer-side distribution through the Seated app's diner network and, for events, a network of event planners acquired with VenueBook.
Restaurant operators of all types — full-service restaurants, cafes, bars and breweries, from neighborhood venues to Michelin-starred establishments — plus, on the demand side, consumer diners and corporate and private event planners.
Geography
United States. The service began in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago and expanded to Denver, San Francisco and the Bay Area, and the Washington, D.C. region; the company describes restaurant partners across the country.
History
Seated launched in 2017 as a platform rewarding users with perks such as gift cards for dining at partner restaurants in a handful of major cities. During the COVID-19 pandemic it expanded its rewards program to pickup and delivery and added private events, acquiring private-events reservation app VenueBook in August 2020 and expanding into additional metropolitan markets, supported by $30 million in new funding reported that year.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 7
by search overlap
Companies competing with Seated for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsSeated acquired VenueBook, a reservations app for private events, together with its network of event planners, adding private-event bookings as a third restaurant revenue channel alongside dine-in and pickup/delivery.
Seated expanded beyond New York, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago to Denver, San Francisco and the Bay Area, and the Washington, D.C. region.
In response to pandemic dining restrictions, Seated layered pickup and delivery ordering and event bookings into its rewards platform, positioning itself as a single platform covering dine-in, takeout/delivery and private events.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Seatedseatedapp.io · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Seated do?
- Seated is a restaurant customer-acquisition and rewards platform that fills empty tables, takeout orders and private events.
- Who are Seated's investors?
- Seated's investors include Flucas Ventures, GMG Ventures, Insight Partners, Long Venture Partners, Mercuri.vc, Rho Ventures, Shrug Capital, Greycroft and 1 more.