In a rapidly evolving restaurant market, French restaurant technology platform Zenchef has raised over €50m from PSG Equity to develop technology solutions for the restaurant industry and accelerate growth in Europe and the US
Founded in 2011 by Xavier and Thomas Zeitoun and Julien Balmont, Zenchef offers a range of technological solutions aimed at facilitating customer experience and front-of-house operations. Through its SaaS solutions, restaurants can control all of their front-of-house operations (reservations and venue management, website and digital menu management, marketing activities, click-and-collect, mobile payments) from a single platform while also being owners their data are. This integrated platform helps restaurant owners increase occupancy, improve customer experience, and minimize marketing spend, resulting in better profits.
According to the startup, it has managed nearly 50 million reservations for its partners, resulting in about 170 million diners, including more than 42 million in 2021. The hospitality technology is currently operational in more than 15 countries, including France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Xavier Zeitoun, Co-Founder and CEO of Zenchef, said: “With the new funding, we solidify our ambition to become Europe’s Champion. The new round will allow us to identify the relevant synergies to better serve restaurant owners and their customers and support us in pursuing our ambitious hiring plan. With the forthcoming launch of our first mobile consumer app, we are moving closer to fulfilling our mission in an industry that has been severely tested over the past few years and for which we aim to provide the best technological solutions.”
Going forward, the company aims to accelerate its growth in Europe by developing new B2B and B2C products to further strengthen its position in the restaurant tech sector. The company acquired startup Billee last year and launched Zenchef Pay, a mobile payment solution for restaurant bills. It plans to expand this fall with the launch of Zenchef’s first mobile consumer application. With this free application, users can check real-time availability and make reservations for over 1,500 restaurants in Paris. It will include various features designed to make the user experience more enjoyable, such as B. a geolocation service, rankings and reviews of themed restaurants.
Charlotte Lawrence and Edward Hughes, Managing Directors of PSG, added: “We believe that in Zenchef we have not only identified one of the top software solutions on the market, but also a scalable company with a strong brand and an ambitious and talented team, We believe these factors combine to strategically position Zenchef to capitalize on the powerful opportunities presented by the digitization of the restaurant industry.”
