 I would like to welcome on stage our first speaker of the day. He is a startup and tech enthusiast with special interest in understanding customer behavior across the web and mobile. He is the co-founder of Dineout, which is India's largest dining-out platform, seating over more than a million diners a month across 8,000 restaurants in India. He is the winner of the Education UK Aluminium Awards 2016 in which he received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Additionally, Dineout won the Tech Rocketship Award and the India Emerging 20 Award, both by Government of UK and India in 2018, and he would be talking about the digital transformation of restaurants preparing for the next billion customers. So please put your hands together and welcome the co-founder and CEO of Dineout, Mr. Ankit Mehrotra. Hi everyone. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here. As introduced, I'm Ankit Mehrotra, co-founder and CEO of Dineout. And today I'm here to talk to you all about the Indian restaurant industry and how the industry is getting up for the next billion consumers and how the cell phone is actually revolutionizing the way people actually dine out. So just before we get there, just a quick glance at the Indian restaurant industry currently. The total market size according to the latest NRI report of 2019 states that the industry is worth approximately $60 billion. That's give or take 5x the size of the Indian Bollywood industry. The number of restaurants in the organized sector is approximately $500,000. And what that translates to is that the organized sector itself is approximately $25 billion. And in terms of numbers, what that means is that annually approximately 4 billion diners are dining out at these $500,000 restaurants. Think about that. That's a huge number. These are the number of people who are already dining out at the $500,000 restaurants in India. However, the biggest challenge that the industry faces is that the restaurants do not recognize who are the diners, what's their spending power. So when you think about the last time you probably went to a restaurant, you know, how often is it that restaurants actually recognize you as a consumer or how many times have you been back there or how many times have you visited that restaurant. They don't know anything about you. What's the dining out pattern of the consumers and how do they engage and retain their customers. So the biggest problem the industry faces today is the fact that this restaurant spends the same amount of money to acquire a new customer versus acquiring an existing customers because they do not or they cannot differentiate between a repeat and a first time customer. So just to give you an idea, these are some of the challenges that consumers today face inside the restaurant. So typically when we go to a bar or a night or a club or something like that, you know, there's a chaos on the floor. There's always people at the bar trying to get their drinks, trying to order. There's a huge rush and typically it takes, you know, 10 to 15 minutes to get served, especially on busy weekends or during busy times. And again, the bartenders or the waiters who are served punch the orders continuously. They actually do not know who's placing what order or whether it's the first time they've placed what their preferences are because there's no way to recognize the customer. The second and again, a problem which a lot of you would have probably encountered is, you know, when you are seated at a table or when you walk into a busy restaurant, typically you have to wait for the menu to arrive or once you've had your meal you have to ask for the check and sometimes it just takes a lot of time. So the bad customer experience and poor table turnaround times lead to loss of revenue per consumer for the restaurants. And while we talk about the restaurant industry and how the industry has evolved over the last few years, the adoption of technology inside the restaurant has definitely sort of increased over the last, you know, five-odd years. However, the one thing that has not changed inside the restaurant since the time restaurants have started operations and not just in India but globally is that people still continue to order using paper-based menus. And the challenge or the disadvantage of paper-based menus from a restaurant's perspective is that they cannot vary, so static pricing like, you know, it's a fixed menu, you printed the price and every time you have to revise the price, you have to reprint the menu again, which is expensive and costs a lot of money and is not easy to do. Secondly, there are no opportunities to cross-sell or upsell particular dishes, high-margin items, what the restaurant's specialties are. It all depends upon the waiter or the wait staff and their knowledge. So, you know, that's what happens. And then finally, you know, restaurants typically run out of dishes or ingredients and it's very difficult to sort of remove those certain things from the menu in real time. A typical restaurant menu today, if you would have all just think about the last thing again, you went to a restaurant, saw has, you know, multiple dishes on average restaurant menu, a lot of dishes. Whenever someone walks in, the first question they always tend to ask the server is, what is good or what do you recommend or what should I have or what's the specialty? And that's all knowledge driven by the wait staff or the person who has knowledge of that. A typical menu today has more than 400 items on the menu. However, the 80-20 rule is nowhere more prevalent than inside the restaurant industry. So what we mean by that is we've seen that 20% of the dishes tend to get ordered 80% of the time, but yet the restaurant has to stock up for the remaining dishes on the menu. It's not possible to recommend high-selling items using technology or real time. Again, it depends on the knowledge of the person who's serving. And finally, across any restaurant menu, typically there are certain dishes which are low-margin items and there are certain dishes which are high-margin items, but the challenge remains that it's impossible for restaurants to actually push the high-margin items across to the consumers because it's very difficult for someone or the wait staff to know what those dishes are and to remember all of them. So these are the challenges that the restaurant industry had been facing for a long time. And a few years back, I would say around 2015-16, across the globe and even to a certain extent in India, we had this whole digital menu sort of a revolution where a lot of restaurants started experimenting with digital menus. So typically these were actually tablets, either iOS or Android placed at a restaurant. They had to buy it from a vendor and we call that the digital menu 1.0. The challenge, however, was that the adoption was really slow inside the restaurants and the reason for that was purely because a huge upfront investment was required by the restaurants to purchase tablets or a restaurant to purchase 15, 20, 30 or tablets and there was a huge capex required. Again, an average restaurant 40-seater had to sort of either purchase 40 tablets, one tablet per table or it was very limited to purchase those tablets. So again, cost charging was an issue and so was breakage. So tablets would break frequently at restaurants. They would run out of battery quite often because again, tablets, they had to be charged overnight. One forgot to charge, then what? And because it was a digital menu, it actually made sense that it had to be integrated with the entire end-to-end. So when a person could see the menu, they wanted to be able to order as well but it was not possible because there were different post companies out there inside the restaurants and it was not possible for a typical average digital menu company who was providing to go out and integrate with all these companies across. And finally, what happened was that instead of actually being sort of powering, ordering and etc., it just became again an expensive piece of tech which people would just use to look at the menu and that's it. Nothing more could be done out of that. However, it's important to understand the thought behind this and what went into this. We all believe and understand and we know that food is a very visual sort of experience but what the challenge the industry was facing was that on a paper-based menu, different dishes at different restaurants could sound the same and it was not possible for people or consumers to actually imagine what a dish would look like and as a result of that, people always sort of ordered within a limitation. So if I know XYZ or if I know this sounds good, I will order that or if I've had this somewhere else, that's what I will order. So people were far less open to experimentation because they did not know what dishes could look like. Again, a huge challenge from the industry perspective. Now let's look at what's been happening across the globe over the last 12 months from a restaurant industry perspective. So there's a dynamic pricing why restaurants are using airline tactics. So what this means by that is we speak to a lot of restauranters in India and the challenge is that they all agree that a restaurant is typically packed on a Friday evening or a Saturday evening or a Sunday brunch but it's generally empty during a Monday lunch or a Tuesday lunch. However, if you think about it, the average or the price of the dish remains the same throughout. So the way restaurants typically operate or incentivize people is they give a discount on weekdays to sort of get more people in, but that's not the way it should be. Restauranters want to be able to and it's their right to be able to charge, let's say, you know, higher amount for a beer on a Friday evening as opposed to a Tuesday afternoon and every industry, hospitality industry does that. Airlines jack up their prices, basis demand, hotels, rooms, increased basis demands. So why can restaurants not price their dishes according to demand and supply and people across the globe are asking those questions and are doing something about it. So the same, restaurants with dynamic costings and dynamic menu pricing. How are restaurants cashing in with the best pricing strategy? Again, if a high margin item exists, can restaurants push that out a lot more to consumers, probably offer a higher discount on a dish? So today, again, think about the dining out experience. You know, if we all go to a particular restaurant, we would all, and if the restaurant is having an offer, we would all be entitled for that offer, 10, 15%, whatever it is. It doesn't depend upon the type of consumer we are. It doesn't depend upon what we order. Some people could actually order really high margin items and push the gross margin to the restaurant, but that doesn't actually matter. Everyone gets the same discount. High-end London restaurant launches Uber-style pricing model, search pricing. So people started introducing or have introduced search pricing across restaurants due to for busy periods versus lean periods. The idea is across the globe, people are, you know, doing this. Uber is experimenting with pre-ordering. So what this typically means is that think about the typical restaurant experience on a weekend at a mall. You go to a restaurant and you probably have to wait 20, 30 minutes to get a table. Once you get inside and are seated, then they come present the menu to you, and then you look at the menu and you order. And by the time the first dish comes, it's probably been already 45 minutes to an hour since the time you landed at the restaurant to the first bite of food that you eat. And that's a challenge for the restaurant industry as well because during busy periods, a restaurant wants to turn over tables or seat more number of people on that same table as many times as they can to increase profitability, but they're not able to do that. So Uber, for example, is experimenting with pre-order that they already have your credit card details. They know that you're going to a restaurant. Can you actually pre-order before you arrive at the restaurant so that when you arrive, your food comes to you in five minutes as opposed to half an hour? And that means you just have a meal quick and you leave the restaurant much quicker than normal scenario so that they're able to seat more customers at the same table. Interestingly, WeChat in China has completely revolutionized the restaurant ordering experience over there. Today, when you go to China using WeChat, you can actually just... There are multiple QR codes everywhere. You can scan that and you can open the menu and then you can place the order. It's all running on the WeChat ecosystem. So across the globe, people have started to realize the importance of people's time. The other thing of doing pre-ordering, et cetera, is as a consumer, you get a safe time because you're stuck in traffic, you're at the restaurant, you have to wait, and people generally don't like to wait anymore these days. So across the globe, the industry is experimenting with a lot of different things to sort of improve profitability, improve margin, and it's also true because the restaurant industry over the last few years is under a lot of pressure. Real estate costs are rising, food costs are increasing, labor costs are rising, but prices are not rising in line. Competition is there. We have more and more restaurants shutting shop. So it's important for restaurants to sort of keep up with the time and experiment with a lot of these new ways to get people to order. And hence, we come to the digital menu 2.0 or the latest wave of in-restaurant ordering and how we believe that the ordering experience is going to change. And we want to introduce our... So we at Dynard also are at the forefront of all of these technological changes and we have a product called Dynan. So if you just look on your tables, there is a 10-card on your tables with a QR code. Can I just request all of you to just open the QR code through your phone just so you need to scan it like your normal camera from your normal phone camera if not just give a missed call to get a link. There's a 10-card on everyone's table. Just try to just sort of do that very quickly. This is the future that we're talking about now. This is what is going to be revolutionizing the restaurant experience. And essentially what we are trying to do is give the power or enable consumers to use their phones, which already everyone has today, to experience in-restaurant dining at a different level. So this is what we are trying to do. So when you scan the code, you will come to this page, which we especially specifically designed, thinking of it as a restaurant sort of a scenario, and you get the digital menu. So again, now you can order from food or drinks. You have images of every single dish out there which restaurant has, and you have some great videos as well that will sort of start signature dishes. Chefs can probably use it to sort of push their signature dishes. Restaurants can use it to push their signature dishes. And all of this is happening through technology which is available out there and powered by our phones. So this is the most important thing that we need to realize. If you start ordering, or if the restaurants can get you to start ordering through their phones, they know who you are as a consumer. Over a period of time, they know what your preferences are. They know what your eating habits are. They know what sort of consumer you are. And as a result of that, they can provide different offers for different people. They can sort of reward their loyal customers in a very different way. And all of this is actually just improving the entire experience inside the restaurants. Everyone has the phones in their hand today. Why not use it? That's the whole question that we put to the industry. So what exactly will the digital menu 2.0 enable consumers and restaurants to do? So there can be short signature videos that can be shown for every dish. Typically, people can pair restaurants through back-end and using actual intelligence on what goes with, what drink or what dish goes with what dish can actually start pairing and offering intelligent combos in real-time. And the idea is that basis my dining out or my ordering pattern, I should be shown something else and someone else should be shown something else. So we bring the actual recommendation of what's good or what's great at the restaurant and what you should have individualized to every consumer. And there can be multiple offers that can be run which are completely customizable basis diners. So again, why should every single consumer get the same offer? Why can someone not be treated differently than the others? And because it's now completely digital, restaurants can choose to sort of vary the pricing of dishes on different days of the week, different times of the day, during busy times they can charge a slight premium, etc. And because it's all actually there on the menu, consumers are paying for what they see. So in a consumer's mind as well, there's nothing that I'm being charged more or anything. That's the price at that particular point in time. And think of it, right? We're already doing that for airlines and hotels and cabs everywhere. So why not inside the restaurants? So customer typically browsers through the digital menu. The menu recommends what's good and what goes well with selected foods. Customer places order and it goes to the back end and it goes directly to the pause. So what are the benefits to the diner of using this technology like this? So they can start ordering as soon as they get seated or even before they get seated because now as soon as you walk into the restaurant, you can have a QR code which you scan and you see the menu. So you don't have to sit at the table and wait for the waiter to get the menu to you. People can now start seeing ingredient warnings, preparation times, calories, et cetera, which the restaurants can choose to sort of provide. And again, to answer that age-old question of what is good at your restaurant, people can recognize the popular dishes at the restaurants. There are like buttons there. There's a probability function there where X dishes ordered by 20% of the customers or 80% of the customers. And we're also doing sort of complete AR where consumers can actually see 3D images of certain dishes. Consumers can see the menu in multiple languages. So typically the challenge always remains and this is more so we're working with a lot of restaurants outside India as well. And this is a challenge that we see where you have Arabic support or French support. So the same menu can now be displayed in different languages. And restaurants can use it or the consumers can sort of see what's special at the restaurant, chef's menu, et cetera. And it's all happening on your phones anyways, right? So there's no additional cost involved for anyone to do this. And obviously there are multiple benefits for the restaurants. So it leads to increase in revenue by being able to turn around tables faster by cross-selling and upselling using AI and reducing costs and improving efficiency as well. So labor costs can be reduced. Think about what we mean by that is typically when you go to a restaurant, you call the waiter for the menu, then you call him to place the order, then you call him if you want to add something else to the order, then you call him for the check. Now all of these things can actually happen real-time on your phones. So the back and forth gets reduced. Again, there's a lot of AI and analytics and data that is being sort of done on this, which can be used by restaurants to further design their menus, improve their menus, push high margin items. So the use cases are completely endless. So our vision of how restaurants will operate in 2021 is very simple. You walk into a bar and instead of going directly to the counter and waiting to place your order, you scan a code, the menu comes on your phone, you place your order and all you have to do is go collect it at the bar counter. You're not trying to push in through the crowd, trying to get the bartender's attention and then placing your order. And that just means that from a revenue perspective as well, restaurants earn a lot more money because think about it, right? The last time I went out with a few of my friends, I was in the mood to have a good time and I wanted to order probably three or four or five rounds of drinks, but because of the time it takes to sort of order and get my drinks, we probably end the night so earlier because instead of the four rounds, we end up having two or three rounds. So with this, without any intervention, you can order a lot more and a lot faster and it'll come to you a lot faster. And what this also means is that if you're, for example, in a mall and there's a waiting outside, you can actually get in the queue and you can look at the menu and you can place your order so that once you get seated, the food comes to you in five minutes or 10 minutes as opposed to you going through the entire process. So it just means that you as a consumer, save time, the restaurants, reduce the table turnaround time and seat more people. But these are not the only use cases that it's limited to and this is again an Indian perspective and a global perspective, stadiums or concerts or events. So I don't know if any of you ever be like to a packed concert or a football match or anything outside India or even in India. The challenge is that let's talk about a football match, right? There's a 45 minute first half and there's a 15 minute break and everyone tries to order during that time or even at concerts, you're all trying to order at the same time but using this technology, you can actually, the venues and all can plan a lot of their ordering. Customers can enter seat numbers. You can see the menu before and it just means that the venues are also able to sort of plan better in terms of what their expectation in terms of dishes sold, et cetera is and it just reduces queues overall everywhere and builds in a lot of efficiency. And then the final piece which is really important from a marketer's point of view is the fact that this provides a great way for brands to engage with consumers. So for example, if you're ordering something you can contextually have the ad of Pepsi there so brands can push their own sort of messages or ads. Why don't you order, have this? You can have pairings from alcohol companies, from FMCG companies and in fact we all know discounts, everyone loves discounts but the fact is now can restaurants shift that onus of discounts from their head to maybe someone else? So if you want a 10% discount why don't you watch this ad from an XYZ company and they are the ones sponsoring that ad instead of the restaurants and there are multiple ways this can be done. Again, these are some of the live things because of your ordering pattern you know when your meal is about to end can a cab company say that why don't you order a cab now? So there are different ways to engage with brands or different ways that brands can now engage with their consumers contextually inside the restaurants and finally just to end with how do we know or why are we doing this is because today we're the largest dining art and restaurant tech platform in India. On the diner tech side we provide reservations we provide subscription products we provide a payment product to the restaurant industry on the restaurant side we power this we have in Resto which is the CRM and we have Talkus which is the POS and because we have all of this we're able to build this end-to-end use case for the restaurant industry and help them improve their overall way of working and their efficiency and as a platform we're today seating approximately $120 million people annually we have partnered approximately 20,000 restaurants our market value we're providing close to $800 million worth of value to the restaurant that we're working in and we're present in eight countries and essentially whatever we spoke is or whatever we've been able to do is because of our interaction with the restaurants with the restauranters and how we're able to sort of help change the industry for the good and prepare the industry for the next billion, two billion four billion diners that are going to be walking through their doors and we believe that if restaurants adopt this technology we believe that the way we dine out is going to be changed forever it's happening across the globe it's happening it started to happen in India and we believe the next two years we're going to see great adoption going forward so thank you everyone for sort of going through this and happy to take any questions offline thanks thanks