Food delivery apps offer convenience for customers, but have some downsides for restaurant owners. Commissions can get up to 40% and you inevitably lose some of the connection to your customers. Based in Singapore, Tablevibe is on a mission to help restaurants reduce their reliance on third-party delivery apps and get more direct orders and returning customers. We talk with founder Mathieu Sneep about his brand and his experience in the F&B industry.
Why Tablevibe? What do you do and how does your brand name fit into it?
Restaurants and Cloud Kitchens increasingly rely on delivery apps. These apps demand a 20-40% revenue share and typically don’t share customer data. As a result, restaurants don’t know who their customers are and their margins are under pressure.
With Tablevibe, F&B businesses print QR codes on food packages and bill folders to request customer feedback and emails. Positive customers post their 5-star rating directly on Google. In return, customers get a discount on their next order, if placed directly with the restaurant.
This enables eateries to capture valuable customer data, boost their online reputation and grow repeat sales, while saving 20-40% in delivery app fees.
The idea for Tablevibe came after we visited a restaurant in Singapore that used paper feedback forms. We thought, if they use a paper feedback form, it actually creates a lot of hassle, like entering all the data into an Excel spreadsheet. How’s the restaurant owner going to get actionable feedback based on data in an Excel spreadsheet?
We began working on the first version of Tablevibe, with simple Google Forms for dine-in customers and Google Data Studio dashboards, and tested it with three restaurants a few months before COVID-19 emerged. We found that using Tablevibe instead of paper forms increased response rates by up to 26x and also had the benefit of creating more repeat customers, since they are given an incentive for filling out surveys.
What was the process of selecting a brand name like? When did you know this was the one?
We had a few ideas, but ultimately thought that Tablevibe combined the food theme (the table) with the idea of understanding experiences (the vibe). We thought it had a nice sound to it, too!
What was the reason to get the domain name Tablevibe.co for your brand?
We liked the start up feel and look of a .co. .This Top-Level Domain is becoming one of the favorite extensions for startups. We also learned that Google doesn’t differentiate between .co and .com in its search rankings, which is another big advantage.
How has owning Tablevibe.co affected your business? Do you own any other domain names?
.co is an internationally recognized top-level domain. It’s the acronym for “company”, so for most people these two letters stand for company and/or corporation. We currently don’t own other domains.
How has Tablevibe evolved as a brand since you launched?
We redesigned our entire website earlier this year. This is a screenshot of what our website used to look like:
This is what it looks like today: tablevibe.co. We designed this with accessibility and simplicity in mind.
Why should entrepreneurs value their brand?
You never get a second chance to make a first impression! 🙂
We believe that a clean, simple design coupled with concise, actionable copy grows desirability for our brand. In this digital age, both B2C and B2B buyers want to be able to easily find and understand the value that different companies provide. We aim to utilize a simple, neat design. Wordy content or complex design may deter prospects and customers from engaging with our brand.
Has the pandemic affected your company in any way? What has changed since?
When the pandemic hit, many restaurants suddenly had to pivot to deliveries. We kept the same idea behind their feedback forms, but started using QR codes affixed to takeout packaging. The QR codes (usually in the form of stickers) also offer an incentive if customers scan it and fill out a survey — but the discount or free item can’t be redeemed through third-party delivery apps, only through direct orders with the restaurant.
What do you do to make sure your marketing is effective?
Simplicity: Create simple, easily understandable copy. For example, if I reach out to a prospect via email, I tend to use something like “Delivery apps demand a 20-40% commission and don’t share customer data. I founded Tablevibe to fix this. We print QR codes on food packaging to capture all your customer feedback + emails and grow direct reorders.” rather than “Tablevibe is an AI-powered software suite that can help you engage with your delivery audience”… etc.
Staying focussed: We joined Y combinator earlier this year. One of the most conspicuous patterns they’ve seen among the thousand startups they’ve funded is that the most successful founders are always totally focused on their product and their users. To the point of being fanatical. The best founders don’t have time to get caught up in other things.
Here’s a list of things that they see easily distract founders. These are like the startup equivalent of wolves in sheeps’ clothing.
- Networking
- Recruiting boards of advisors
- Doing a “partnership,” thinking it will get you more users
- Spending time on PR before you have made something people want
- Arguing on social media
What would your advice be to entrepreneurs who are just starting out, in general, and when it comes to branding and naming?
Focus on building something people want. Keep branding and naming simple.
What is next for Tablevibe?
We believe direct-to-consumer is the future of the F&B industry. The global pandemic drove a seismic shift towards digital commerce in the F&B industry. While 70% of consumers say they would rather order directly from a restaurant, many restaurants lack the tools to drive direct-to-consumer relationships.
Direct-to-consumer is the future of the F&B industry and unlocking this strategy for restaurants is a multi-trillion dollar business opportunity. As a next step, we will create a direct ordering and loyalty solution to drive sustained growth for restaurants. It will significantly decrease cost-of-sales for our partners and empower them to own their customer relationships.
We hope the above information will help you in making informed decisions about your brand. If you want to say hi or have any questions about naming, branding, and domain names get in touch, we’re always happy to hear from you.
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