Seatris eyes smart tables for Thai restaurants

Seatris, web-based restaurant management software from Germany, is introducing its machine learning technology in Thailand as part of the company’s business expansion efforts in Asean market.

The company’s machine learning technology has been applied to what they call “smart table”, which includes online booking and an automatic waitlist system. The technology is touted to boost efficiency for restaurants.

Seatris has now opened its doors to fine and casual dining restaurants as well as hotels in Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam.

“Asia, especially Thailand, is an interesting market for casual and fine dining. People here are very open-minded when it comes to new technology and they apply it to support their businesses,” said cofounder and marketing chief Chris Franke.

Thailand is renowned for its myriad street food offerings, with the number of foodies seeking to sample Thai cuisine on the rise.

The company says restaurants, therefore, may be seeking ways to attract more international diners.

Seatris’s software enables restaurants to do just that, Mr Franke said, adding that it helps prevent last-minute cancellations by customers from hitting their bottom lines.

In the European market, no-shows, booking changes and unfilled seats are a perennial drag on profits.

“Restaurant managers and staff have to adjust the seats manually whenever bookings are changed and this is very time consuming in daily operations, taking up to 3-4 hours,” said Mr Franke.

Seatris is an intelligent allocations system, which calculates and matches seating requests and table availability.

The reseat algorithm tracks interested diners and automatically refills cancelled tables through smart match-making.

Seatris also reduces no-shows by helping the restaurants to claim a fee from guests for not turning up.

“We can reduce the no-show rates of our clients to less than 1%,” he said.

Mr Franke said that since early 2016, Seatris has collected bookings and user data through the help of its international beta clients from the fine dining industry.

In 2018, Seatris aims to make its services available globally.

The company plans to localise software into the Thai language by the fourth quarter.

Mr Franke said that the company charged its customers on a monthly rental basis. The prices depends on the module — between $90-$200 (3,0676,816 baht).

The company also plans to raise Series A funding at the end of the year.