UrbanSpoon Business Case Presentation

Marketing 476

Michael Goodrum

HISTORY OF URBANSPOON

Founded by Ethan Lowry, Adam Doppelt, and Patrick O’Donnel in October of 2006

Created originally as a place to get truly simple and accurate restaurant information all in one place

First founded as a website at www.urbanspoon.com

URBANSPOON OVERVIEW

Developed an extremely popular software app that runs on iOS, Android and Windows phones

Users can search specifically within certain price ranges, locations, and food genres (Italian, Mexican, etc.) and can mix all three for specific, nearby cuisines

Social media sharing aspect similar to Facebook and Instagram with Like and Dislike ability

URBANSPOON’S STRUCTURE

Urbanspoon is highly decentralized in its structure

Users of the application gather almost all of the data needed to make the application run

Pictures of the restaurant, uploaded menus, pricing, and even restaurant ratings and comments come from users

CONTINUED

Sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ of restaurant information

Users can create a “wishlist” of places they want to visit in the future

Rezbook allows users to make reservations at restaurants and communicate directly with them

The one thing that the admin actively does is fit in reviews from critics to lend authenticity to the application

KEY COMPETITORS

Open Table – An application that allows users to book reservations at a restaurant and provides a number of benefits (at a cost) to the restaurant taking the reservation

Yelp – Both a website and an application, it is an extremely popular review site for restaurants and provides many of the same functions as Urbanspoon in terms of reviews

PARTNERSHIPS Urbanspoon partnered with Dimmi and Livebookings in

November of 2012 to increase their volume of restaurants able to be booked and to approve these bookings instantly

Sociallybuzz and Urbanspoon became partners in March 2012 to increase the customer acquisition and exposure to their new feature Rezbook

Partnered with Zagat in 2011 to take advantage of their enormous reserve of credible restaurant reviews, thereby enriching their application

These are only a few, and every secured partnership enriched the applications quality or increased its user base

USERS

Urbanspoon has 15 million users and counting, and 75% of them access the product via their mobile device

One million “shakers” (users of the restaurant search function) every day

Users range from teens to the baby boomers who are familiar with mobile software applications

IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS

Users who seek new food experiences and who use the program for reservations

Restaurant owners who want to drive customers to their business and maintain a good reputation

Investors of Urbanspoon (mostly IAC who acquired them in early 2009)

Employees at their Seattle Washington headquarters Partners of Urbanspoon mentioned earlier

ECOSYSTEM COMPETITION

The fact that Urbanspoon is largely decentralized is one of its biggest competitive advantages

Urbanspoon’s user base evaluates restaurants for them, and it provides the majority of other information needed for other users intrinsically

Now with booking that provides benefit to customers and restaurants, there is no application like it out there

Large and extremely active user base (1 million+ every day) that corrects errors and updates information for them

Advantage comes from users filling in the little gaps while the company continues to expand internationally, they don’t have to fuss with the little things!

URBANSPOON ASSETS

It was a first mover to the restaurant location AND review industry for mobile applications

Huge partnerships with trusted names to increase the value and reach of their product (Zagat reviews and Livebookings restaurant connections)

1 million restaurants receive a reservation from Urbanspoon every month. THAT’S CRAZY

The database of 300 million restaurants they have reviews and details of as well as the brand around their reservations are their biggest assets

URBANSPOON’S FUNDING

Unbelievable and uncanny story of Urbanspoon’s funding Built from the ground up as a website and application

with virtually no funding received Only funding monetized during beginning stages was

through Google AdSense ads on their app on iOS Offer from IAC (InterActiveCorp) for no less than $100

million Actual amount of money was not disclosed but IAC does

not make purchases over that amount

REVENUE MODEL

Majority of revenue was coming from ads that showed up on millions of mobile devices a day

Rezbook now makes up other half of Urbanspoon revenue, costing $200 per month for restaurants who want to partake, and $1 per guest at each reservation

Rezbook doesn’t charge anything for reservations made through the restaurant’s website, unlike OpenTable!

PEER PRODUCTION/CROWD WISDOM As discussed earlier Urbanspoons success is largely

dedicated to peer production from its users Business owners as well are incentivized to upload critical

things to Urbanspoon such as precise location, accurate menu, and correct contact information to increase traffic

Restaurants are also incentivized to subscribe to Rezbook, so that other diners nearby do not receive guests that are looking to try something new

EMPLOYEE INCENTIVES

While there is not profit-sharing with Urbanspoon, employees come to work in a fantastic environment

They meet big benefits and compensations that come from being owned by IAC while working with a company that is as flexible and fast paced as a startup

Employees are encouraged and allowed to choose their own projects and see them through to completion

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The spoon that is their brand’s image has a copyright on it

A clause of their terms of service states that the information found on both the application and the website is strictly copyrighted, trademarked, and service marked to Urbanspoon

http://www.urbanspoon.com/tos

WORKS CITED

Information on Rezbook pricing http://www.chow.com/food-news/108637/urbanspoon-revamps-app-takes-on-online-reservations-pioneer-opentable/

Urbanspoon history, overview, and funding information http://www.abqtopten.com/blog/about-urbanspoon/

Employment information http://www.urbanspoon.com/careers/