Queenstown-based First Table has achieved a number of impressive milestones in the last week. The business celebrated its fourth year, 1,000th restaurant and 250,000th active subscriber all within days of each other.
Just last week it was named the regional Rising Star – One to Watch at an event in Dunedin for the prestigious Deloitte Fast 50 Awards.
First Table rewards diners making early-bird bookings with a 50 percent discount off the total food bill from member restaurants.
It was founded by Queenstown man Mat Weir to break the age-old problem in the hospitality industry of slow starts to evenings. The platform has doubled in size year-on-year since launching.
Since starting with Queenstown restaurants, First Table spread across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK with London and Dublin joining the international cities earlier this year. On Monday, First Table launched in Indonesia with 20 restaurants on Bali island. The service also opened in Cairns this week, following a rave review on 9 News in Perth recently.
The Rising Stars award is part of Deloitte’s international Fast 50 competition which celebrates innovation and entrepreneurship in high-growth companies. They are awarded to companies with the most growth potential.
“We are absolutely over-the-moon with this award,” Weir says.
“The Rising Stars alumni include great Kiwi businesses such as CHIA and Flick Electric, so it’s an honour to join them.
“This award is a recognition of the huge effort and extremely long hours put in by First Table across the world over the past four years. Inventing a totally new kind of business model from scratch is never easy, but the thousands of happy users and awards like this make it all worthwhile.”
Over the past four years, more than 250,000 diners have used the service to discover the best restaurants in their area, without breaking the bank.
“Like every entrepreneur, I had big aspirations for First Table when I launched it,” Weir says.
“Today, it’s extremely satisfying to look back on the growth we’ve had and the team we’ve built. The high quality of the 1,000 restaurants we promote is a source of pride and the Rising Star award is the cherry on top.”
