AUSTRALIA’S FIRST REAL-TIME ONLINE RESTAURANT BOOKING
SERVICE PROVING TO BE A BIG HIT WITH AUSSIE DINERS
International experience suggests usage will be high with almost one in two
restaurant reservations in San Francisco booked online
Dimmi, Australia’s first real-time online restaurant reservations service has proven to be a big hit
amongst Aussie diners with over 50,000 diners using its service to make their restaurant
reservations online, since it was launched late last year. Dimmi allows diners to make an instantly
confirmed reservation at almost 1,000 of the country’s leading restaurants across Sydney,
Melbourne and Brisbane. Diners can book via one of Dimmi’s booking partners or a restaurant’s own
Research conducted amongst Australian consumers in December 2009 found that while three
million** people in Australia search for restaurants online every month, only 24 percent* have ever
tried to make a restaurant reservation online. By contrast, in San Francisco, 43 percent *** of
restaurant bookings are made online every day. The research also found that 62 percent * of
Australian consumers had become frustrated when trying to book restaurants by phone because
they don’t answer or are often engaged.
According to Luke Mangan, the celebrity chef now running a culinary empire of restaurants in
Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo and associations with Virgin Airlines and P&O Cruises, Dimmi’s online
restaurant booking service is long overdue in Australia and it is what Australian diners have been
crying out for.
“We use real-time reservations in our other restaurants across the world and the feedback from our
diners is great. Consumers are getting more adventurous with their restaurant choices and many are
investigating their dining options on the web. Being able to search and compare restaurants on-line
and then make the reservation on-line at the click of a button makes a lot of sense and is often a lot
easier than trying to contact restaurants by phone or email,” said Luke Mangan.
Dimmi, which means “tell me” in Italian, has built the largest restaurant booking network in Australia
and hundreds of new restaurants are joining the program every month. Restaurants already
accepting real-time bookings through Dimmi include Sydney’s Quay, Bilson’s, Wildfire, Catalina,
Flying Fish, Pier and Melbourne’s Flower Drum, The Italian, Oyster Little Bourke, The Deanery,
Sapore, Balzari, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen & Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant Maze and Brisbane’s
Restaurant Two, C’est Bon & Restaurant Rapide. Dimmi will be launching in Canberra later this year
and Adelaide and Perth next year.
“We book most of our travel online, we book most of our accommodation online and diners can now
book their favourite restaurants online with that same level of convenience. We are very excited to
have launched in the Australian market at a time when there is a renewed interest in food and
dining out,” said Stevan Premutico, Managing Director, Dimmi.
Diners can avoid the traditional hassles of trying to make a phone reservation when a restaurant is
busy or closed by using the Dimmi real-time booking service online 24/7 which is found on
restaurants’ own websites or at any of Dimmi’s booking partners, including Best Restaurants -
“We’ve all experienced being kept on hold for long periods, the constant unanswered telephone
calls, the voice-messages and emails that are seldom returned and the manager who appears to be
doing you a favour by accepting your booking. Dimmi eliminates these all too common frustrations
by making restaurant reservations, simple, convenient and hassle free 24/7,” said Stevan Premutico.
“Dimmi offers diners, tourists and business people hassle-free restaurant reservations allowing
them to book 24/7, instantly, discreetly and with absolute confidence that their booking is
confirmed,” he said.
Diners Share Their Thoughts on Dimmi
“What a fantastic experience, being able to book a restaurant, hassle free and in real time. I needed
to book a restaurant for my husband as a surprise, in the past this has been quite difficult to do,
especially when playing telephone tag or waiting for confirmation emails from restaurants, which my
husband might see. This time, I have been able to totally keep him in the dark as to our plans, thank
you so much, for coming up with such an excellent idea and making it work," said Louise Cairns of
Rosebery in Sydney.
"I recently made a reservation through Dimmi and was most impressed at how quick and easy the
process was. I have dealt with online reservations before, the ordeal is confusing and the reservation
confirmation takes days to come through. Dimmi was quick and easy to use and gave an instant
response to my request. Great work Dimmi," said Tatianna Stephan of Mint Solutions, a training
consultancy in Randwick.
Consumers can be 100 per cent confident in Dimmi’s real-time reservations service as table
availability is synchronised with the restaurant's Electronic Reservation System; the same one the
restaurant uses to manage its reservations; so diners can be sure that the booking they make is
instantly entered into the restaurant’s own diary and is immediately confirmed. There’s no more
waiting hours or days for a response by phone or email.
ENDS
*Research conducted independently by Dimmi in Australia during December 2009 using
SurveyMonkey with a cross section of ages and socio-economic groups
**Google Analytics – February 2009
***Zagat Survey 2008
NEWS 
