Redefining the future of dining, by enabling diners to select and upgrade to the table of their choosing: Tablz

For the general public and travelers alike, finding and booking the perfect spot in a restaurant can be a huge task. In recent times, restaurant websites have made significant changes and have managed to eliminate several stress points in the booking process. Interactive solutions have furthermore given the patrons freedom to get a virtual feel of the venue even before their arrival. Various studies have pointed out that tailored guest experiences will drive the success of businesses in the hospitality segment.

Globally there are various companies delivering booking solutions, but Tablz stands out from the rest because they never intend to replace a restaurant’s reservation management system (RMS). Tablz gives restaurants a new way to monetize their premium real estate by unlocking the extraordinary through the power of 3D mapping. The opt-in booking service efficiently works in conjunction with all major RMS providers, giving guests exactly what they want by choosing both where and when; it’s an empowering experience for everyone involved!

In conversation with the key executives of Tablz

Q. What was the motivation behind starting Tablz?

“First and foremost, we have built Tablz for restaurateurs like us. For our friends, for those that we have rubbed shoulders with in the kitchen, and on the dining room floor. We can name countless restaurateurs, particularly those husband and wife teams that we all know, and the ones that are staples in our community who may retire with debt after tirelessly working and giving for their entire careers.” -Frazer Nagy, Tablz Founder and CEO.

COO and Co-Founder Stef Scrivens says, “Working in restaurants for a long time, and knowing how slim margins can be, the thought of keeping them alive is my #1 intention with Tablz. I love that diners can have their choice of a table and experience, but what drives me is getting restaurants to reframe their business model based on profitability. Most of my experience was in smaller restaurants that didn’t have the full scope of their economic value; at times, they were in week-to-week and month-to-month survival.”

Tablz is a first-of-its-kind service that is revolutionizing the restaurant industry by monetizing the premium real estate in a restaurant’s dining room. By mapping a unique virtual 3D walk-through, we unlock a premium booking system, empowering guests to customize their dining experience. This opt-in booking system works efficiently with all major reservation management systems, providing guests the freedom to sit anywhere.

CPO and Co-Founder Andrej Sakic believes in design-centricism “Our product strikes a balance between our restaurant audience and their guest audience, and a design-centric approach to our product is invaluable to both. Not only does our product add clear value and is beautiful from a design standpoint, but most importantly, Tablz is opt-in. We focused on the notion of choice as one of our core tenets; it allows everyone to be comfortable, both restaurants and their guests. It could be the single most important aspect to our product and our design. I want to transform the guest experience by leading our creative team to push the envelope on what’s possible.”

Tablz has consciously created a net-new revenue stream of total profit for restaurants, while giving the guest a customized experience. Integrating with Metaverse-style tech, Tablz can enable restaurants to meet the needs of our evolving social landscape, including their future success. Through the simple power of choice, Tablz is bettering the way we dine out together.

Q. Developing high quality services needs support of high-level talent and dedication. How did you manage to form your dream team?

Tablz has a unique team of original founders and serial entrepreneurs from the restaurant and hospitality industry. We are cemented as a unit by our love for the F&B industry and start-up life. The restaurant tech space is a tight-knit community, and we are blessed to have advocates among many well-respected founders in the space. These relationships have helped us round out our group after our pre-seed funding this past spring. We continue to build our team from the best of the industry in both Canada and the United States. Our last wave of strategic hiring brought us  Lee Arbel, a co-founder of Bbot (recently acquired by DoorDash); Gabriella Littleton, from Urbanspace Food Halls; and Kyle Webster, from Farm’r Prepared Meals; each with vast industry operations and restaurant tech experience. The whole team knows that restaurants are in need of a pricing revolution, and we are making that a reality by monetizing the need for unique and special experiences.

Q. How do you verify the credibility of the reservation before it is posted on your platform?

The booking is verified by Tablz booking specialists using our proprietary system, based on the purchase of an eligible table, and accessed through the Tablz widget on the restaurant’s website. Furthermore, the Tablz system has several decision points that require interacting with the 3D mapping prior to purchase, requiring a real person to verify those decisions before engaging Stripe for payment. 

Q. Tell us about your data management system and compliance.

Jérôme St-Hilaire, CTO of Tablz had worked in government cybersecurity while co-founding Tablz. He says, “We are proud to be at the forefront of data management, compliance and security. We strive to provide a safe, transparent platform for both our restaurant partners and their guests. To do so, we partner with global technology companies that enable us to stay compliant and secure in all our markets.”

Q. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful CEO?

• Uncompromising global vision, with all the energy and focus that requires to inspire change in the world
• Deep abiding love for the purpose, and the ability to unite a community around it
• Passion for making a difference and the fearlessness to communicate that vision to those who will benefit the most

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

Tablz is securing the future of the restaurant industry; all things ahead are exciting! We have some dyanmic, sophisticated hospitality groups across North America, just getting their toes wet in terms of what Tablz will do for their business. Furthermore, by the end of the year, we will see well over 100 restaurants enjoying a fruitful holiday season utilizing Tablz and selling thousands of bookings for their special tables. All before we launch V.2 and continue to make Tablz more accessible to both restaurateurs and their treasured guests.

Meet the leader behind the success of Tablz

Frazer Nagy, Founder and CEO of Tablz is a multi-founder who is passionate about his journey in the F&B industry. His first start-up, Transparent Kitchen, broke down barriers and made the farm-to-table supply chain a gorgeous, visual journey for the consumer. He brought the same ethos of openness and honesty to Tablz. His vision for Tablz is to provide restaurants with security, and guests with a better experience, all built on choice.

“We are grateful for the position that we are in, where we are the first and only platform to generate no-cost, no-labor revenue for the hospitality industry. We are a booking system that adds value rather than a service that adds costs.”