Eating out? Here’s how to cut your bill by up to 50%

MOBILE apps already mean we can order our favourite restaurant meals right to our door.

Now we’ll be able to cut the bill when we do go out to eat – as long as we choose a quiet time of day.

Entrepreneurs have developed an app which offers a discount of up to 50 per cent for restaurant bookings when the kitchen isn’t busy.

Diners will have to download BigDish on to their mobile phones – in a 21stcentury version of a discount card. The thinking behind it is that empty tables make no money, so even a reduced bill is ultimately better for the restaurant.

The app will not make meals more expensive at popular times. However, it is possible that restaurants could ramp up their regular prices in the expecta- tion that more customers will choose discounted slots.

It follows the success of apps such as Deliveroo, which allows diners to order takeaway deliveries from top restaurants.

In Hong Kong – one of three cities where the app operates, along with Manila and Jakarta – there are 72 restaurants where diners can have reductions. At a restaurant in a busy shopping area, a £20-£30 bill is slashed in half when a table is booked for 1.30pm.

The founder of BigDish, Aidan Bishop, 48, who is based in the Philippines, said: ‘The food-tech sector is a hot space to be in, and our yield management platform is a niche that is gaining traction.’

BigDish raised £2.2million when it hit the public markets yesterday to help fund its launch in the UK.

21st century version of a discount card