DD Potential Pitcher #9: time2eat

Andrew Muirson is tired of waiting at resturants, that's why this Toronto entrepreneur wants to launch Time2EAT.ca. The question, dear readers, is...is time for Andrew to meet the Dragons?

Why do you want to be on the Den? There are many great ideas out there, but there are only a few people who actually follow through on them and bring them to life. I am one of these people.

I believe the Dragon’s Den is the perfect arena for all Canadian entrepreneurs to meet, battle it out and fight for their share of the pie. This will give the Canadian public a chance to see all of the people who sacrifice their time and money to create something that was not there before. It is the entrepreneur who keeps the lights on and puts food on the table. This is why I hold entrepreneurs in such high regard. To be able to mix with this company would be an honour indeed.

Additionally, I think this is a fantastic learning opportunity for any budding entrepreneur. I have already learned so much from this process and am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. To be part of the show would put icing on an already delicious cake.

Why would you be a good bet for the Dragons to invest in? I am an:

1. excellent listener

2. passionate about my product

3. hard working

4. persistent

5. visionary

6. possess a great sense of humour

7. creative

8. practical

9. confident

10. intelligent

In order to become a successful entrepreneur, you need to possess these traits. After all, one may be hard working but without a vision and creativity there will be no idea. On the flip side, the simple possession of creativity does not necessarily indicate a successful entrepreneur. Without hard work and persistence nothing will get done.

Why do you want to bring your product to market? time2eat.ca is a simple and effective means to conserve time and create money.

Case Scenario: How many times have you been waiting in line to get into a restaurant. Once you are in the restaurant you are waiting again on the server. Once the server comes and takes your order you are waiting on your food. Once your food comes and you have eaten you are now waiting on your server for the bill. After all, they don’t call it waiting tables for nothing.

time2eat.ca will take the waiting away.

The scenario alone makes the idea worthy of consideration but lets produce a few facts to see why time2eat.ca will become a profitable business.

• 21,900,000 Internet users in Canada 

• 3.4 billion $$ Total Food Services Sales 

• 1.5 million Full service restaurants

• 1.3 million Limited service restaurants

• 70% of Canadians "eat out at least once per week"

The numbers speak for themselves, there is a huge market waiting to be tapped. With the right development, management and funding time2eat.ca will become an extremely profitable business with relatively small overhead.

How do you describe your product? Restaurants bring in the majority of their revenue during Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. During these times it is imperative for the restaurant to maximize turnover rates while at the same time ensuring customer satisfaction. The challenge is that there are large numbers of people showing up during a short period of time, expecting speedy and accurate service. This rush affects the whole chain, putting stress on the servers and the kitchen, which ultimately results in slower service, unhappy customers and lost revenue opportunities.

Solution - time2eat.ca is an easy to use website allowing consumers to order their meals before going to the restaurant. This will eradicate the chronic problems consumers and restaurants currently face.

From a consumer standpoint, the time2eat.ca experience can be summarized as follows:

1 – Search

2 – Order

3 – Eat

From a business (restaurant) standpoint the benefits are numerous. Here are a few.

1 – Increase turnover rates during peak periods.

2 – Happy customers equals repeat business.

3 – Being part of a portal increases exposure.

How did you come up with the idea? Through a combination of experience in the hospitality industry (as a waiter) and computer programming.

Working in the hospitality industry allowed me to witness firsthand the bottlenecks to efficient production in a restaurant, which is that the majority of their business comes in spurts (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

After working for years as a web programmer and learning the full capabilities of the Internet, I realized that I could alleviate this bottleneck.

This is how time2eat.ca was born.

In closing what message would you like to send to the Dragons? The next time you’re hungry and waiting for your food, remember there is an alternative, time2eat.ca.

note: as always polls are non binding on the CBC and the Producers of Dragons' Den. But don't let that stop you...vote now!!!

Comments

[Andrew Murison]

Hello everyone. Just a quick note to explain my revenue model. I will be charging restaurants 2% per transaction (like a Visa charge to them). This will allow the service to be free for users.

Other additional revenue sources will come from advertising and reporting.

Feel free to ask any further questions.

Andrew Murison

[Sean Young]

This is gonna work if I'm in a hurry and I know both what I want and those joining me too (could be a challenge there). But, if you can allow me to save my favourite meals / items(I always forget what they're called!), and make the process quick and easy, you just might have my vote.

You many want to give me (loyal customers of yours) a way to encourage my favourite restaurant(s) to participate (vote, request, etc). This could fuel a sales channel with concrete leads for your staff to pursue.

Now, how many restaurants have formally endorsed this concept? You should be able to contract exclusive deals with many restaurants right away, even before the platform is ready.

[Jane Obrecht]

The potential for something like this is unlimited! I can't count how many times I've been out for lunch with a group of people from work and have sat waiting for an hour to be served and then scarfed my food down in 15 minutes. Not enjoyable whatsoever.
I also tend to never try and do "Dinner and a Movie" or "Dinner and a Play" because I can never guarantee that I'll be able to finish my dinner on time.
I can also see the value at Golf Courses. How cool would that be to be able to order your meal from your blackberry and have it ready 10 minutes after you finish your round.
I think we're definitely ready for something like this. Very Cool!!

[Jason]

This is an outstanding idea.

As a National Manager at one of Canada's largest marketing agencies, we have been anticipating not only this show, but the onslaught of great concepts to be brought forth to the public.

This is the first idea seen on this blog that truly matches the vision of venture cap: a simple idea that fulfills a need and generates a passive revenue stream (aka the fabled "license to print money"). This is how Visa, Amex and others have garnered their fotunes: through providing a transactional service which benefits both supplier and customer.

If you have ever tried to squeeze in a client lunch off of Bay street in a crunched time period, you'll know exactly what I mean. Rather than get stuck in a boardroom with lousy catering, we'll be able to set up a full meal for 10 people as per their personal tastes, and still be back in time for the 1pm pitch.

Let's see this one in the Den!

[Andrew Murison]

Thanks for the suggestions Sean. I have already put in place a favourites section for both restaurants and food. So for those people that like to order the same thing every time the order will be only a couple clicks away.

This service may also be used for takeoout and delivery.

Essentially, it's another avenue for customers to reach the restaurant.

The main focus is to give customers time to eat their food while at the same time giving restaurants the ability to maximize their revenue.

I have a few restaurants I'm currently working with. I am utilizing the Dragons Den to bring more on board.

Thanks

[Scott Cassano]

Great Idea. I would love to see something like this in NYC as it is an application that would save professionals many hours over a week/month and as they say... time is money. I would order via my blackberry!

[Kempton]

Setting aside all the basic and fundamental problems I see in this business concept and the way the business was pitched above, I have a few questions.

I would like to rephrase Sean's question this way:
How many busy restaurants (the one that will benefit most form this idea, and make the most money for time2eat.ca) have signed on with this concept and are willing to pay the 2% per transaction fee?

Lets quantify something. Any idea of how many transactions per month are required to sustain this business and make it profitable? And how many restaurants are required to generate that number of transactions?

On the business concept side, the customers can order their meals before going to the restaurant (this can be a major logistical problem in itself for the customers) but they will still have to wait for their food to be cooked, right? So it is going to be saving the ordering time only. Unless the restaurant starts cooking the food before the customers arrive which will run the risk of food getting cold (or needing to be reheated) when the customers arrive. And will the customers' credit card be charged first?

Will people be constantly confusing www.time2eat.ca with www.time2eat.com ? Incidentally, why isn't there even a simple web page put up for www.time2eat.ca ?

Contrary to popular sentiment expressed in these comments and in the poll, unless I see 20 or 30+ busy restaurants signing on and agreeing to pay the hefty 2% transaction fee, I will have to respectfully take a pass on this business.

[Joselyn Dulnuan]

I think this is an exceptional idea.

I can't even count the number of times I've gone on (an hour) lunch but came back after two hours because service was so slow. Part of the time you are waiting to be seated, then waiting for them to take your drink order, then waiting for them to take your meal order...it's unbelievable how an industry that boasts billions of dollars in revenue hasn't thought of this already.

Kudos to you and I look forward to using this product.

[Rich Clark]

I travel a great deal to Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Being tight on time I would totally use this in regularity if the hotels I stay at(IE Fairmont) had a link to this. I suspect many of my peers would as well.

[Jason Carruthers]

A creative idea, but...

1) If I owned a restaurant and someone asked me to sign up for this, promising more business, I'd be very skeptical.

2) This proposal would be more likely to succeed with some "vertical integration." If there were an actual restaurant called Time2Eat, to go along with the website, it would make more sense to me.

3) Red flag: "This service may also be used for take out and delivery." In today's competitive restaurant market, where there are many successful chains specializing in either eat-in, take out OR delivery, it is virtually suicide to try to compete in all three at the same time.

[Optimus]

There's obviously customer pain here: Look at how many people on this forum the idea instantly resonates with. Slow lunch service drives customers nuts and can't be pleasant for restos, either.

But restaurants already have lots of tools that they *could* use to better forecast demand and take care of resourcing, don't they? I'm wondering if the type of restaurant that would sign up for this service is the type of restaurant that already has serving times nailed down. I'm also wondering whether, given the relative invisibility of many great restos on the web, whether you might be marketing a web service to a clientele that will be resistent to a service that requires daily menu updates, etc.

What I do like about this service is its platform potential: Once you've got restos signed on for this service, you have their menus online. This could easily become a platform for online delivery/takeout ordering, for online reservations, for analyzing past orders to come up with better demand forecasting...

I think what this one may come down to is execution. I want to see a team that really understands the restaurant industry backwards and forward, and has connections into a few of the really big lunchtime chain joints -- the Kegs and Kelseys and Montanas of the world.

I certainly wouldn't be close to putting my money in.. YET... but with the right team in place and some validation of the concept, I think this could be neat. I certainly want to hear more.

Armchair Dragonin',

Luke
PS: PLEASE don't use that "there are 50 billion restaurants" arithmatic if you make it on the show. Give some quick bottom-up analysis to show how many deals you need signed to reach B/E. Show how you will get to those customers.

[Andrew Murison]

I would like to thank everyone for their input. As noted in my pitch, this has been an educational experience indeed.

The one thing I have learned from some of the comments is I may have not pitched the idea correctly.

time2eat.ca will allow customers another avenue to order from a restaurant, whether it's staying in, takeout or delivery. Envision another entry for their customers. You have the front door, the telephone and now time2eat.ca. It's essentially another way for customers to reach you.

With respect to time2eat.ca vs time2eat.com. That is a good point Kempton. I made a conscious decision to keep the .ca b/c i felt the name represented my idea. I fully recognize the potential for .com confusion but I figured that with the correct marketing, selling and links on good websites people would not get confused. Who knows, I may be able to buy the .com in a few years!

The model is designed primarily for the people that have a place to be after they are eating, whether it's a movie a meeting or even a golf game. Thus, if you were to eat beforehand you would not push the time back because your meeting, golf game or movie starts at a static time. This will allow you to fully enjoy your meal, maximize the enjoyment of the meal before you go somewhere. It will take away that "rushed" feeling we sometimes get.

The concept is essentially a contract between the customer and the restaurant. If the customer will be late for some reason, the program has the abiltiy to inform the restaurant of this. If the person has sent in the request in the allotted time the meal may be postponed until the come in.

Yes, time2eat.ca will save time in the ordering process but will also save time in the kitchen and the billing. Think about this. The kitchen will know beforehand what's coming in (if ordered from time2eat) and the bill will already be taken care of. How many times have you looked for your waiter after eating your meal.

With resepect to your query about the number of transactions per month. Yes, there will have to be many transactions per month but if you review the stats I posted you will see the enormous potential this business has.

The 2% has not been balked at by the restaurants I have visited. In fact, you can contact "Le Petit Dejeuner" in Toronto about the 2% pricing and model of the business.

There is an online reservation system currently on the market but this requires the restaurant user to pay a hefty price for their software. time2eat.ca only requires the restaurant to pay when the restaurant is making money. It's a win win situation.

With respect to Mr. Carruthers comments. There is never any guaruantee that ideas will make money, only a strong possiblity based on a sound marketing, development and management techniques. What I can promise is that time2eat.ca will adopt sound techinques in building it's business.

The vertical integration sounds like an idea but only limits the idea to one restaurant. This is a portal where people can look up a restaurant (in any city), order and eat from it.

Think of people who are here on conventions with only a small period of time to eat between speeches. Instead of opting for fast food or being late, they can order directly from the site and not be late for their next appointment. All from their Hotel room.

Your Red Flag. All I'm offering is the customer to select different types of food ordering based on the restaurants setting. If a restaurant offers takeout and stay in, these selections will be there. This is added as flexibility for the restaurant and the customer.

One final note. time2eat.ca was created so people could fully enjoy their time eating. I firmly beleive that there is enough stress in our days that we shouldn't be stressed while eating. We should be able to sit down, relax and eat.

Thank you Kempton and Jason for allowing me to clear up any misconceptions about the product.

Feel free to leave further comments.

Regards,

Andrew Murison

[Kathryn]

I love the idea! It's the new and improved version of a reservation.

I always seem to wait until the last minute to head to a restaurant and I'm starving when I get there. Then, they place the delicious fresh bread in front of me and I end up being too full to eat my dinner. I know I should practice a little restraint, but really how many people can honestly say they don't do the same thing.

As for Luke's comments about restaurants already having "tools" to use - it seems pretty obvious from current wait times that they are not using them. time2eat.ca steps up to the plate and takes a portion of the responsibility away from the restaurants.

Good luck Andrew! I look forward to being a loyal customer.

Kathryn

[Chris]

Andrew

Time2eat is a long overdue service for those of us with busy schedules. This is right up there with the invention of the drive thru.

I would use this service on a regular basis. As a business executive, I would be able to order and eat healthy lunches without wasting time waiting for it to be made. On my way home on the GO train, I would be able to see what's available on the menu, order and pay on-line, and pick-up my take out order the minute I arrive in my hometown.

Make no mistake, I like to be served and taken care of when I eat out.What I don't like is waiting for 45 minutes for my first drink and appetizers. Time2eat would eliminate this.

A few suggestions for you Andrew; once this is up and running have a restaurant locater so if I am at a certain location in Toronto, I can conduct a search to see what's available within a couple of blocks. You may also want to have a rating system so customers can rate the service they received from the restaurant, and how time2eat worked out for them. This is a great idea, and if you are looking for an investor, feel free to contact me. This is going to be huge!!

[Patti]

I think that this idea will be a real bonus for those that have children. My last dinner experience lasted over 2 hours from the time we ordered to the time the check arrived. By the time we left, our three kids were tired and restless and the enjoyment of eating a family dinner out was lost. I love the idea of preordering, which certainly helps with kid's indecision about ordering. We all know that they don't like to wait!

Also, I can see this concept working in other smaller cities such as Kingston where the tourism creates even more demand for eating and seating at peak times.

You've got my support Andrew! We'll be watching for this.

Patti

[Jeannie Melardi]

As someone who has worked downtown and, like everyone, has a limited number of hours in the day, I think this is a terrific idea. A number of times I have tried to leave my desk for a "tasty but quick bite to eat" and have ended up back at the greasy, local fast food joint because everwhere else, the line-ups were too long and the service too slow. If this idea came to fruition, it would mean that I could eat where I wanted to eat and not worry about time: a rare commodity!! I definately would vote for this idea.

[Jose]

I would love to use this service when networking - allows me to be a star and pick up the tab ahead of time...especially in downtown urban locations where getting in and out in time for your next meeting is a challenge.

Andrew, one thought for you (here is the banker in me coming out) - you may want to take this to another level and offer dynamic pricing based on demand! If your restaurant is busier during certain days / times then I'm sure some would pay a premium to not only get a seat but secure the most popular time / menu item.

Alternatively, your online customers could be provided an incentive to come in during off peak days / times, thereby creating a customer hook + a more consistent revenue flow for the restaurant at the same time.

Best of luck and I'll look for you on the show.

Jose

[Maria]

"time2eat.ca will take the waiting away."

My biggest concern for you is chargebacks. It seems extremely risky to take payment on behalf of restaurants where you have no control over their service delivery. A dissatisfied customer can easily chargeback on basis that your website failed to deliver as promised that "time2eat.ca will take the waiting away."

Chargeback fee can be about $20-25 on top of the whole amount of the charge being refunded (it seems that your website could be easily on the hook for a lot of free meals if the customer feels they waited too long). If your % of chargebacks is too high, your merchant payment processing account is frozen and this will sink your site.

Are you sure you want to stick with this slogan?

[Reg Cheramy]

Interesting concept.

Since you're taking responsibility for the tab and charging it on your account, you're open to a number of liability issues as discussed above.

What about the wait staff? How is tipping handled?

What if the customer orders an extra beer? Does that go on your tab or a seperate tab?

Reg

[Maria]

I just remembered something... credit card processing companies do not allow you to take payment for products that you do not have in your possession, that you do not directly deliver. Paypal also has this rule. They don't process payments for dropshippers. I would believe that this would also apply to services that you do not directly deliver, in your case, the restaurant meals.

Have you checked this out?

[Andrew Murison]

Thanks again for the additional comments.

I will not be taking payments on behalf of restaurants. The system will send all the pertinent information (the order, the time, the credit card info) securely to the restaurant.

Each restaurant will have their own secure login page where they can view the incoming orders. I will not process anything, rather I will be the highway to get the information to them.

With respect to Reg's post, the customer will have the option to close the bill when they order or keep it open. That way they can order another beer if they wish. They can always just create a new tab.

Tipping can be done after the meal. After all, I tip based on the service and the food.

The slogans are still a WIP. Thanks for the tips.

Jose, those are fantastic tips and ones I will definitely look at in my business model.

Thanks

[Andrew Murison]

One more clarification:

It will be the restaurant who enters all the info into their system. Once everything passes (the credit card, the food they ordered etc...) the restaurant will hit the accept button. If for some reason the order cannot be processed the order will be declined based on any number of reasons (which the restaurant will enter) and send back to the user.

As mentioned earlier, this system can be compared to a walk in or a telephone. It's merely another avenue for your customers to reach you.

Thanks

[Rizwan]

This is the worse possible idea. Is any of you going to really use this idea to take your clients for lunch/diner? Should I call my client at 9:00am to ask him what he/she wants for lunch appetizer, main course and dessert?

The purpose of eating at a restaurant is to experience something different or I would just go to a food court.

I like to seat down, get my first drink and take my time looking at the menu.

Is there the need to rush your client?

This idea would only waste TV viewers. On a second thought, it might be good to show it for a good laugh

[Andrew Murison]

Thanks for your opinion Rizwan.

First of all, no one said you'd have to order at 9am for lunch. It doesn't take 3 hours to cook up a lunch. Lets take an example. When you order your food over the phone for lunch, do you order it at 9am? If you reserve a table do you have to reserve it at 9am? time2eat.ca will allow people to pre-order their food at any time. It will be up to the restaurant whether they can process it.

Yes, the purpose of going to a restaurant is to experience something different. My question to you is how does that equate with my business model? The only thing I am doing is allowing customers another way to order their food. Restaurants provide different types of food that you may not eat elsewhere. In fact, I beleive time2eat.ca will allow people that normally go to food courts (b/c of time constraints) to go restaurants.

If you like to sit down and take your time looking at the menu then time2eat.ca is not for you. time2eat.ca is not for those times that you have hours to eat. Please re-read the model and you'll see what I'm trying to convey.

In terms of rushing your client. Lets think about this. If you're out for a client lunch (and your client has an appointment after you), I think this is a great way to ensure your client is fully taken care of.

What a great way for you to entertain your client, to have their food ready for them at a specified time! They will feel like royalty. Additionally, you and your client will not be focused on where the waiter is, or where the food is, or where the waiter is to pay the bill. You'll be focused on the meeting.

I think that this solution will not rush the client, instead it will relax them.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For some it may be a waste, for others it will be a solution to a long standing problem.

Thanks for your thoughts Rizwan. Have a great day.

Andrew Murison

[Brian Duffield]

I like the idea simply for the convenience of providing my payment information up front – pre-ordering is an option or a bonus in my view. I cannot count the number of times I’ve desperately tried to catch the eye of the waiter for the check while he was serving other people (or flirting with the hostess). Then the wait while the credit card info is input, and then the wait while it takes its time to come back to you, all the while the server is busy with other tables. This is a major annoyance if you need to be quickly on your way.

Nice job, Andrew. I look forward to seeing you present your idea to the dragons.

P.S. A simple, initial web page might be a good idea, too. I’m assuming you own the time2eat.ca domain, so get something up there! I typed the address immediately as I think others did as well, and was surprised not to see anything.