Change in the restaurant business is often a slow, grueling process. Throughout the years, the process of making reservations has, for the most part, remained the same. But Rezzit21, a new startup based in Boston, is looking to make waves in an industry stuck in its old habits.
The platform, which is slated to launch in May at the National Restaurant Association trade show in Chicago, aims to change the way restaurants are run by consolidating multiple types of management software into a single, all-inclusive system.
According to the website, which is still in beta testing, Rezzit21 will offer “Intuitive Table Management, in-depth analytics and reporting, integrated social media tracking” all as part of a comprehensive package. Restaurant goers will also be able to use the platform to make online reservations.
Co-founders Dan Roland and Cole Dillon began developing their vision for the site about two years ago. Both Roland and Dillon are familiar with the challenges inherent to the restaurant industry, having had 17 and eight years of restaurant experience, respectively.
“You really need four or five pieces of software to run a restaurant,” Roland said of the inspiration behind Rezzit21. “So we wanted to create one platform that would do everything restaurants need to work smoothly.”
Early on, Roland and Dillon had a clear idea of what they wanted their platform to be, and the name itself reveals a lot about their vision. “Rezzit” is a play on the word “reservation,” while the number 21 refers to the 21st century, conveying modernity and the height of cutting-edge technology.
“Companies are moving onto a more streamlined, cloud-based system,” Dillon said. “It’s more secure, more modern, and so that’s what we were kind of going for.”
In addition to its website and software, Rezzit21 will soon be offering iOS and Android apps for users, allowing diners to personalize their experience to a degree they’ve never been able to before.
Rezzit21’s biggest competitor as it makes its way into the industry is OpenTable. Arguably the most recognizable and widely used online reservation service, OpenTable has long held a “stranglehold” over the restaurant industry, according to Roland and Dillon, despite the fact that the software has evolved very little in the nearly 18 years since its founding.
OpenTable and similar reservation services charge restaurants a fee per person for each reservation made through their sites. The result is that restaurants lose revenue, and they compensate by listing fewer of their tables, they said.
Conversely, with Rezzit21, restaurant owners will be able to pay a standard monthly subscription fee, avoiding the pesky per-person fees that cut into their profits.
“We’re big on not taking the restaurant’s revenue away, because it’s such a competitive market and the profit margins are not that great to begin with,” Roland said. “And if you don’t charge a restaurant for listing their tables, they’re more apt to put more of their tables up, which is better for the customers.”
Restaurateurs aren’t the only ones set to benefit from using Rezzit21. Users making reservations through the site will be offered an array of options to customize their dining experience down to some of the finest details. They’ll be shown a floor plan of the restaurant and allowed to handpick their table, which, as Roland puts it, means they can choose “the best seat in the house.” Other features include the option to pre-order menu items and create a personalized profile that includes information about each diner’s dietary restrictions and preferences.
Knowing their diners’ needs ahead of time will help restaurants stay on top of service and give their customers a more enjoyable experience, even during the dinner rush.
“Rezzit21 is the first phase of a larger platform we’re looking into building,” Roland said. “After our official launch, we’re going to be working on adding a lot more features.”
Although Roland said the details of the extended project are being kept under wraps for now, he mentioned that they plan to eventually introduce premium accounts for users with exclusive features.
Makaela Reinke, a senior in the School of Hospitality Administration whose interests lie in restaurant management, said she believes such a comprehensive platform is an innovative and useful idea for the industry. However, she is worried that putting too much power into the hands of diners might undermine the experience of dining out.
“Fine dining is fine dining because you’re trusting that the people in the restaurant know that culinary art better than you do,” Reinke said. “That’s what makes it such a unique and desirable experience. Giving guests complete control might limit them from trying new things.”
So far, however, Roland and Dillon have mostly heard positive responses to their platform. Roland said a few undisclosed restaurants are in the process of beta-testing Rezzit21, with promising results.
Whether or not Rezzit21 will revolutionize the dining industry remains to be seen, but Roland and Dillon seem confident that they’ve found the answer to streamlining the endless process of managing a restaurant.
“Right now, we’re starting small, just in the Boston, New England area first,” Roland said. “But our biggest aspiration is to have every restaurant everywhere using it.”
