It is a pleasant afternoon in late September. Hauz Khas village in Delhi is teeming with people — foreigners, Indians, shoppers, those simply lazing around… . I am on my mobile trying to connect with Ankit Mehrotra and Vivek Kapoor in that crowd. Vivek is giving me directions on the phone, asking me to walk straight past the check post, beyond which vehicles are not allowed. I tell them that I am carrying a backpack. Big deal. Almost everybody there seems to have one. Then, Vivek asks over the phone, “Sir, are you wearing a light shirt, tall… .” We quickly introduce ourselves, and Ankit and Vivek lead the way. We climb a narrow flight of stairs and step into a small café, where a few tables are occupied. Conversation goes on despite the loud music playing over the speakers. Aptly enough, the café is called the Small Talk Café, because that is what everyone seems to be doing over a cup of tea, a glass of milkshake, or a plate of pastries. This is one of the many chic and trendy eating places in Hauz Khas village.

We get talking. I explain my predicament to Ankit and Vivek — the place is too noisy for me to record our conversation. Ankit goes and requests that the volume be turned down. Both of them insist on addressing me as “Sir.” They are in their late 20s, and they are businessmen, or, more specifically, entrepreneurs.

The beginning

Ankit and Vivek, friends from childhood, along with two other childhood friends, Sahil Jain and Nikhil Bakshi, have started a company — Dineout — that helps you book restaurant tables in Delhi and the National Capital Region. They don’t charge you anything for booking the tables, but get a flat fee from the restaurants for each customer they send them.

The four are 27 years old, and their company has got a round of angel funding from the Nijhawan group, which, among other businesses, has a travel company. They studied together in school in Delhi, then went to different places to pursue higher studies. Ankit was an investment banker based in London, Sahil was in the US in the IT sector, Vivek was in the merchant navy, and Nikhil was in financial services in Delhi.

How did they start the business? “One fine day, I picked up the phone and told Sahil, let’s go back to India and do something,” says Ankit, the Co-founder and CEO of Dineout. Interestingly, Ankit had worked on a deal in 2010 when a UK-based online restaurant table-booking company was acquired by a US-based company. “When I actually studied the model, it was such a fantastic model. In India, there is going to be massive potential,” Ankit recalls.

With Sahil and Ankit quickly making up their mind to go for a similar business, Sahil quit his job in the US and was the first to move to India, in February 2011. Ankit returned home in September and work on getting Dineout up and running started in full swing. They were joined by Nikhil and later by Vivek, both of whom quit their jobs.

“We wanted to launch on February 29, because it is such a unique day,” says Ankit. Vivek points out that their biggest challenge was in convincing their parents to have faith in them. The quartet invested about Rs 30 lakh from their funds in the company.

USP

It was a hectic period from December 2011 to February 2012, when the friends worked on getting the company ready for its February 29 launch. “In three months, we managed to tie up with 100 restaurants in Delhi-NCR,” says Ankit. Since then, they have added another 125 restaurants to their list, while the number of customers has gone up to 8,000 a month.

Ankit and Vivek say there is somebody providing this service in Delhi before, but they feel it was not being done in the correct way. That is why, says Ankit, Dineout has three-fourths the number of restaurants and as many customers in just six months than what the other company could manage in four years.

Dineout’s USP is that every customer gets a discount. “Not only are customers assured of a table booking at a good restaurant, they also get a discount. It can range from 15 per cent to 50 per cent,” says Ankit. Moreover, Dineout also helps the restaurants fill up their off-peak hours by having exclusive offers for its customers.

Says Ankit: “We do a full research of the restaurant, profile of the place, what sort of customers actually go to them.” Dineout has also started doing corporate events, parties and group bookings.

Expansion

The funds from the Nijhawan group will be used to expand to Mumbai, where it will launch its service in March, followed by Bangalore. In two years, Dineout will have its services in six cities. From about 8,000 customers a month, Dineout hopes to increase it to 12,000 by December. Most of its marketing is on the social media.

One challenge that the start-up faces is in collecting the due from the restaurants. That takes time, says Ankit. Quite often, Dineout signs up with the restaurant owners or managers, but word of the deal doesn’t percolate down. Another challenge is in finding the right people. “We are quick to hire, but even faster to fire,” says Ankit. Dineout has a staff of 15, and it has already had to let go of five people in the short time it has been in business. The entrepreneurs realise this is part of the game.

The short journey so far has not been without its share of excitement. Says Vivek: “One moment of pride for us is some of the restaurant owners call us and ask us to recommend a restaurant for them to go out with their family. That is because of the relationship we have with them.”

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