BigDish to Launch Nationwide Rollout

RNS Number : 5244A

BigDish PLC

30 May 2019

 

30 May 2019

BigDish Plc

("BigDish" or the "Company")

BigDish to Launch Nationwide Rollout

BigDish Plc (LON: DISH), a food technology company that operates a yield management platform for restaurants, is pleased to announce that it is ready to commence its larger UK roll out.

Highlights:

·    BigDish ready to commence its larger UK roll out

·    Brighton and Reading are expected to go live around 7 June 2019

·    The Company will develop new search functionality that will be more intuitive and provide for a better user experience.

The Company is pleased to announce, following successful launches in Swindon and Taunton, that Brighton and Reading are expected to go live with an initial selection of restaurants around 7 June 2019.  The number of restaurants available is expected to increase significantly over the weeks following these launches. 

To ensure a smooth roll out, BigDish has divided the United Kingdom into ten territories.  Each territory will have one Territory Manager with the exception of London, which will have three.  The Company currently has Territory Managers for both Territory 1 and Territory 2.  BigDish will now recruit a further ten Territory Managers to cover the entire United Kingdom.  It is estimated that the recruitment process will take three to four months.  The Company expects new locations to go live at a more rapid pace as new Territory Managers are recruited throughout the United Kingdom. 

Alongside the national rollout, the strategy for June is to add more restaurants to existing locations in Territory 1 and 2.

Additionally, the Company will develop new search functionality that will be more intuitive and provide for a better user experience.  This will take several months to develop and once completed, it will also create additional space within the App for new features and functionality.  The Directors consider BigDish to be first and foremost a technology platform and, as such, innovation remains at the core of the business development strategy.

The Company now has over 150 restaurants on the BigDish platform which are predominantly independent restaurants.  This is very encouraging when compared against platforms which have a majority of chain restaurants.  It gives the Company confidence that its yield management platform will continue to be well received by the restaurant sector throughout the United Kingdom.

BigDish plans to expand throughout the United Kingdom by initially targeting independent and smaller restaurant groups.  This ensures that the App will provide consumers with a wide selection of cuisines and restaurants.  The Company also expects to sign up restaurant and pub groups to the BigDish platform in the second half of the year.  The process of signing up and on-boarding groups is a longer process than it is for independent and small restaurant groups.  The Company is funded to execute its strategy.

To coincide with the Brighton launch, the Company expects to launch a partnership with a UK tech platform.  The Company expects to provide more details to the market around that time.

Sanj Naha, CEO commented:

"We are very excited to announce the plans for our nationwide UK roll out.  We have spent the last couple of months preparing our strategy for the execution of this expansion and are now ready to push the button, especially after the success of and learnings from the roll out across our first two territories.  We continue to innovate; we are a tech platform, it's what we do.  As such, we continue to improve our App and the user experience and are looking forward to announcing our next upcoming partnership, which will help drive the business forward.

"One of our goals is for every BigDish shareholder to become a BigDish user. It is great to see shareholders reaching out and asking to be involved in the Company's growth by introducing restaurants. This is an exciting time for BigDish as we enter our biggest growth phase yet, which should generate a high level of newsflow; we look forward to keeping the market up to date on our activities. Recent restaurant chain closures in the UK show BigDish is in the right place at the right time with the right product. Our focus remains on bringing diners back to restaurants."

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION EU 596/2014 ("MAR")

Enquiries:

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Notes to Editors

BigDish Plc is a London Stock Exchange listed food technology company that operates a yield management platform for the restaurant industry, including a mobile App.

The Company helps restaurants in the UK fill their spare capacity and optimise their revenues through smart and dynamic discounts. Consumers can access these via the BigDish App and website platforms. Restaurants pay BigDish a fee per diner seated.

BigDish is fully committed to delivering shareholder value to its stakeholders through this model and is actively seeking to expand across the UK. An expansion strategy has been outlined which divides the UK into territorial target areas. 

 

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