The app was developed to find restaurants nearby, using geo-location technology. Users can also search by a different area, for a specific cuisine type to find the perfect spot, or by using the restaurant’s name. Extra features include the ability to bookmark favourite restaurants, view a vast number of restaurant menus, view specials in the area, and share reservation details with dining companions. The user may also make bookings directly on the app to eat at signed-up restaurants. This enables users to receive reminder emails and notifications. After their meal, users can rate and review their experiences with the tap of a button.
Alongside the app is a booking system for restaurants – enabling eateries to take bookings in real time or on request. It also empowers restaurants to streamline reservations, set up sittings, configure tables and send notifications to staff.
The app and bookings system was developed by a team of senior software developers from Naspers, led by product specialist Evan Person.
Person describes how the app delivers a necessity in the SA dining scene: “The Eat Out app delivers the power of South Africa’s largest and most comprehensive restaurant directory to mobile. Apart from the incredible user experience, the app also offers diners the ability to book instantly. This is not only of value to consumers, but it’s also of great value to restaurants. It is also the first of several new features we will be bringing to the food space in South Africa over the coming months.”
Aileen Lamb, MD of New Media, the company behind Eat Out, explains why the app is a game-changer for the brand: “This was an opportunity to guide our audience along every step of the eating out process – finding the perfect restaurant, making a booking and reviewing it. We are incredibly proud of the app. It is a tool that South Africa needed and, as a defining brand in the restaurant industry, Eat Out had to fill this gap. By putting the ability to make bookings straight into our users’ hands and by working with the restaurant trade to do so, we hope to make this process smoother and less stressful than ever before.”
The Eat Out app is free and available for iPhone and Android. Download it now from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
