As they compete to appeal to their couch-bound clientele, online food ordering services have been in a race to add restaurants to their databases as quickly as possible. Seamless, one of the leaders in the market, has added a big pile all at once by acquiring Menupages for an undisclosed amount, in a deal it is announcing Monday. (GrubHub is its main rival.)
Seamless currently offers a single service: the ability to order food through a Web site or a mobile app. By acquiring Menupages, the company hopes to bring in customers who are looking for general restaurant information, rather than just those who are hoping to start eating within 45 minutes. Menupages has a database of over 35,000 menus, and a system for transcribing and updating this information, according to Jonathan Zabusky, the chief executive officer of Seamless.
Since 2008, Menupages has been operated by New York Media, which publishes New York Magazine. The company maintained Menupages as a separate brand, rather than integrating its popular Web site and mobile application into New York Magazine’s own restaurant coverage. Seamless also plans to keep Menupages as a separate brand, but will integrate its core business into Menupages’ products.
Mr. Zabusky said that a major factor driving the acquisition was Menupage’s rich pool of customer data. Both Seamless and Menupages have years’ worth of information about their customers’ behavior, including ratings and reviews of restaurants and other types of data highly valued by advertisers. Mr. Zabusky said that such information would also be useful to restaurants who are looking to make money from their Web site, by giving them a better sense of how people interact with them online.
“There’s a lot of money going to these sites and there’s not a great way to monetize them,” he said.
Seamless said it planned to add Menupage’s two dozen odd employees to its staff, which numbers about 220. Seamless hopes to leverage Menupages’ existing relationships with restaurants into more agreements to provide online ordering.
The deal is a shot across the bow of Seamless’ main rival, GrubHub. That company also made news last week when it announced that it had raised $50 million in venture funding and acquired Dotmenu, another online food delivery network.
Both companies say they are seeing rapidly increasing customer use, particularly through their mobile apps. With the acquisition of Menupages, Seamless will operate in over 50 cities. It plans to debut an iPad app later this year and is in the process of moving into new headquarters to house its rapidly expanding staff. It estimates that it will handle $400 million in food orders this year.
“This is our industry’s time right now,” said Mr. Zabusky.
Seamless currently offers a single service: the ability to order food through a Web site or a mobile app. By acquiring Menupages, the company hopes to bring in customers who are looking for general restaurant information, rather than just those who are hoping to start eating within 45 minutes. Menupages has a database of over 35,000 menus, and a system for transcribing and updating this information, according to Jonathan Zabusky, the chief executive officer of Seamless.
Since 2008, Menupages has been operated by New York Media, which publishes New York Magazine. The company maintained Menupages as a separate brand, rather than integrating its popular Web site and mobile application into New York Magazine’s own restaurant coverage. Seamless also plans to keep Menupages as a separate brand, but will integrate its core business into Menupages’ products.
Mr. Zabusky said that a major factor driving the acquisition was Menupage’s rich pool of customer data. Both Seamless and Menupages have years’ worth of information about their customers’ behavior, including ratings and reviews of restaurants and other types of data highly valued by advertisers. Mr. Zabusky said that such information would also be useful to restaurants who are looking to make money from their Web site, by giving them a better sense of how people interact with them online.
“There’s a lot of money going to these sites and there’s not a great way to monetize them,” he said.
Seamless said it planned to add Menupage’s two dozen odd employees to its staff, which numbers about 220. Seamless hopes to leverage Menupages’ existing relationships with restaurants into more agreements to provide online ordering.
The deal is a shot across the bow of Seamless’ main rival, GrubHub. That company also made news last week when it announced that it had raised $50 million in venture funding and acquired Dotmenu, another online food delivery network.
Both companies say they are seeing rapidly increasing customer use, particularly through their mobile apps. With the acquisition of Menupages, Seamless will operate in over 50 cities. It plans to debut an iPad app later this year and is in the process of moving into new headquarters to house its rapidly expanding staff. It estimates that it will handle $400 million in food orders this year.
“This is our industry’s time right now,” said Mr. Zabusky.
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