The spontaneous restaurant experience of dining with friends for a night out has become endangered. A new form of reservation culture has emerged once the world opened up after COVID lockdowns where diners are battling to get coveted reservations and spending inordinate amounts of effort and time to secure dining experiences. However, each evening, even the hottest of spots, have cancellations, unused capacity set aside for regulars, and therefore available tables. Ambl is a marketplace that connects diners with restaurants that have last-minute availabilities. Diners can set their preferences within a 2-mile distance and their request is dispatched to venues for availability in the next 30 minutes. For restaurant operators, the platform allows them to maximize the number of covers on any given evening for only £1 per person per matched booking. Ambl plans to expand to 100 restaurant partners in London imminently with broader plans to service 1300 venues across the UK.
London TechWatch caught up with Ambl CEO Aaron Solomon to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our investors range from family, friends and hospitality industry experts. Ambl has completed three pre-seed rounds which now total £2.3m investment raised to date.
Tell us about your product or service.
Ambl is creating a marketplace between customers looking for venues within close proximity to secure last-minute bookings and venues looking for customers to fill real-time capacity.
For consumers it’s completely free and seeks to tap into the spontaneous nature of dining by connecting them in a matter of seconds to venues with real-time availability in the near or desired vicinity of up to two miles, allowing them to secure a booking with up to 30 minutes notice. Ambl enables users to personalise their booking based on party size, type of venue, and distance and then select one of two options: Broadcast, which is where all venues within the search criteria respond to the booking enquiry.
For businesses, it gives them the necessary tool to fill remaining gaps in capacity, in the moment; something leading reservation apps do not currently offer. The app geographically matches people looking for an immediately-available venue, with real-time venue capacity of up to 30 minutes. Ambl has been created to give restaurants and bars a lifeline; connecting them with genuine ‘in the moment’ demand from diners and drinkers nearby.
What inspired the start of Ambl?
Ambl was born out of frustration. I was tasked with booking a table one evening for a party of eight. After scrolling for what seemed like hours, and calling around venues to no avail, I said out loud ‘‘It can’t be this hard to book a table.” and that is when the lightbulb moment happened.
I quickly called my oldest friend Jed (cofounder) and told him about my thinking. The rest as they say is history…
How is it different?
We see Ambl as being a helping hand for venues, and one that they can use as and when they want to help iron out booking uncertainty. As we move into a crucial and busy Christmas season, where high-value group bookings are more commonplace, we hope Ambl can be the necessary gift to alleviate some of the venues’ costly pain points surrounding bookings, and also provide customers with a tool to find somewhere to eat or drink – perhaps somewhere they have never been before – at a moment’s notice.
Ambl has been created based entirely on consumer behaviour, unlocking the joys of spontaneous living at the tap of a button and changing the way we go out forever!
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
There are two markets Ambl is targeting:
- The hospitality market which creates £130bn in economic activity. The latest industry report suggests that more than a third (35%) of UK hospitality businesses could go bust early next year as they face a deadly combination of huge hikes in property rental and energy bills, staff shortages, up to forty percent rise in food costs due to inflation and supply chain disruption, and the prospect of recession – all at the vital time of the peak Christmas trading period looming. Plus it is still recovering from the last-minute and same-day cancellation culture brought on by the pandemic and costing £17.6bn a year.
- Consumers of an average age of 21-45years who eat and drink out. Ambl is looking to boost consumer confidence when dining and drinking out spontaneously.
What’s your business model?
Simple, we have a fee on success model. Businesses using the platform will be charged £1 per person on a booking, with no monthly subscription and no additional fees being passed to the diners, and can use it to communicate their latest deals and news with those consumers who choose to favourite them within the app.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
The business will monitor closely our expenditure and adapting consumer behaviour to ensure that our tech is responding accordingly. Already, the business is testing several streams of marketing to see what resonates best with the target market.
The business will monitor closely our expenditure and adapting consumer behaviour to ensure that our tech is responding accordingly. Already, the business is testing several streams of marketing to see what resonates best with the target market.
The product has been designed based solely on last-minute bookings so we believe we are in a good position to serve those ‘in the moment’ occasions when people do choose to go out in London.
What was the funding process like?
The funding process can be quite stressful but we are confident we have built a product that serves a solution for the hospitality sector and the consumer. The gap we bridge is extremely relatable which has worked in our favour.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Thankfully we haven’t been faced with any challenges while raising capital – yet. If and when we look raise again, the current economic climate will look a little differently than it has previously so this could potentially be our biggest challenge to come. That said, we have a solid plan to achieve proof of concept ready for the next phase, which I hope will overcome any challenges.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Key aspects in the business that are relatable and easy to understand, we have one simple revenue model meaning this is the focus rather than having too many avenues to explain. We also have a clear solution to a genuine industry problem and whilst creating the marketplace have received constant validation.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
An additional 1,300 venues are already signed-up and waiting in the wings for Ambl’s wider rollout out across London by the end of the year and the wider UK next year; with a roster of prolific venues including D&D London, Drake & Morgan and JKS.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Money goes quickly. It is easy to want to do everything, but especially in the pre-revenue stages, you need to be mindful. There are also hurdles that will occur so just be ready. Don’t panic, take a minute, talk to your network and figure out a game plan.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Ambl’s mid to long-term ambition is to expand to international markets, taking the UK model and scaling it.
What’s your favourite outdoor activity in London?
Enjoying dinner or late afternoon drinks with the Ambl team!
