Eat Now.

We’re insanely excited to show you our latest big feature in WalkIn, Eat Now.

You can now search for your favourite restaurants on WalkIn and if they have space, you can request a table in real time from up to 2km away.

Want to know more? Keep reading…

I want to throw you guys back about 8 years ago to a time when you were going for a night out and had to make sure you had your phone, wallet, ID and, oh yeah! If you had booked your taxi home 🚕 Remember when you had to look up a local taxi company, call them, call them again because you didn’t get through the first time, give them an approximate address that you’d hopefully be at and a time you wanted to be picked up? 📞 Maybe you had to even give a description of what you looked like, while making sure to get the taxi number plate, colour and make of the car. Also to remember to bring cash or stop off at an ATM on the way home 💵 Remember that? Yep, so do we. And we’re exhausted just describing it, imagining living that again 😵

And now there’s Uber, tap a button in real time, get in your ride and get home 🏡

Uber revolutionised the taxi service.

Now look at the process of guaranteeing a table at a restaurant. Right now the only option to guarantee you a table is either through a booking or by joining the virtual queue on WalkIn. Joining a virtual queue is a great way to get into busy restaurants later on, no doubt there... Additionally, bookings can also be great, that is if you know exactly where and when you (and your friends) want to eat. They can also be great if you guys all show up on time so they don’t give your table away 🍽

But what about those who want to eat right now? Those who don’t want to wait in a queue or book ahead?

Currently your only option is to walk around town asking restaurants if there’s space (hopefully it’s not raining or freezing and you don’t have little kids, or tipsy adults with you.) You can also try and call up these busy restaurants, (let’s hope they have a phone, a public number and can hear you) saying something along the lines of, “Hey, I was wondering if you have space for a party of 4?!” Not a great situation to be in on a Saturday night, let alone when you’re hangry 👎

Now, I want you to imagine a world where you and your friends have decided you’re going out to eat and you want to eat somewhere great. You go on WalkIn, you see a feed of the best restaurants within 2km of where you are and who have a table in real time 📱 You click 1 button and within 10 minutes you’re dining at that restaurant 🍸

__That’s Eat Now. __

How does Eat Now work for a user? 📱

When you click onto the WalkIn App from your phone the restaurants displayed at the top of your feed are the ones closest to you 📍 You can scroll through the feed and if the ones closest to you have empty tables in real time, they’ll display with the Eat Now button. Pick which restaurant you want to eat at, click Eat Now with your appropriate party size and if your request is accepted by the restaurant, you’ll have 10 minutes to head straight there 😀 You must be within 2km of the restaurant for Eat Now to display.

How far away from the restaurant can I use Eat Now? 🌍

At the moment you will be able to use Eat Now from up to 2km away. We plan to eventually tie this to your user rating (for those of you who have above 2km), but we need to work out ways to ensure you have enough time to get to the restaurant within 10 minutes from your exact location. Work in progress… 🛠

How is Eat Now different from Joining a Queue? 🤔

If you’ve had WalkIn since the beginning, firstly we love you and thank you for the support! 💙 Secondly, you’ll know that you’ve only ever got a table with WalkIn by either being added to the restaurant’s virtual waitlist at the door, or by clicking ‘Join Queue’ on WalkIn. You then wait to get notified to tell you that your table is ready and to head to the restaurant.

With Eat Now, you’re not joining a queue, you’re essentially grabbing an empty table and making your way to the restaurant straight away, within 10 minutes to be exact.

What happens when I get to the restaurant?

Let them know your name and that you got your table on WalkIn and they’ll show you to your table.

What happens if I’m late or I don’t show up? ☠️

If you’re more than 10 minutes late the restaurant may give your table away, and if you don’t show up your user rating will be negatively affected, aka your radius will shrink.

What happens if the restaurant that had empty tables suddenly becomes full?

In the scenario where a restaurant has just filled their last space, they can add you to the newly formed queue with a wait time - so that you’ll be near the top of the list to get in next.

How does it work for the restaurant? 🧑‍🍳

Obviously we’re super excited to be able to revolutionise the way diners eat out, but we’re also SO excited about how this helps restaurants operate. Whenever a party requests a table via Eat Now, a notification is sent to the restaurant to let them know you want a space. They can then either accept (or reject with a reason) and that’s it. They know you’re coming and can prepare a table for you whilst you make your way.

I love it! How can I help? 👋

The more WalkIn grows the more awesome it becomes. If more restaurants know their diners want to be able to access their restaurant in real time, the more will sign up and the happier we can make you guys. So we need you to spread the WalkIn word whether that be verbal, digital, analogue, melodical… Whatever it may be so you can have an impact in creating a world where you can get a table at your favourite restaurant in real time.

I want in 🤙

If you’re sitting there wondering “How isn’t this a thing already?!!!” Maybe you should think about joining our team and helping us take WalkIn to the world 😎 Email us at [email protected]