Australian business is going back out to lunch: here are the top 10 corporates booking online

Online restaurant reservations system Dimmi says corporate dining is back as one of the top trends in 2015, offsetting a flat market for eating out.

Dimmi, now owned by TripAdvisor, found there was a 41% increase in online bookings from the nation’s top 10 corporates over the past 12 months.

The top 10. Source: Dimmi

Corporate consultancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers topped the list for bookings, followed by the big banks, with three – NAB, ANZ and CBA – in the top five.

But it’s been a tough year for the restaurant industry, with the overall market dropping by 2.4% according to Dimmi, and the ACT (down 9.2%), Queensland (down 6.8%) and Victoria (down 4.4%) bearing the brunt. NSW grew by 0.2%.

According to Dimmi analysis, diners in the ACT are the biggest spenders with an average of $60.77 per head, followed by South Australia at $58.88, then New South Wales ($57.43), Queensland ($53.88) and Victoria ($53.85).

Western Australia is the lowest spending state at $48.43 per person.

Crunching the numbers, the company found the premium market – more than $85 per head – was up 17%, although what constituted fine dining was changing to something more accessible. Australians are eating out less frequently and while the spend is up slightly, it’s negligible, with a 37 cent increase on 2013/14.

And technology is playing its part in how diners interact with restaurants, with mobile bookings surpassing desktop computers for the first time at 52% of online bookings. Nearly a third of all bookings, 32%, are made within 24 hours of the meal.

Dimmi tops the online bookings market, just ahead of parent company TripAdvisor and Qantas Restaurants.

Dimmi CEO and founder Stevan Premutico said tech was changing even a traditionally hands-on business like hospitality.

“The most prolific industry trend we’ve seen is the shift from desktop to mobile bookings. We saw it happen with airlines and hotels, and now we’re seeing it with restaurants too,” he said.

“Technology is changing the landscape for good and restaurants can either ride the wave or miss out on the many benefits that come with digitisation.”

Source: Business Insider Australia, Simon Thomsen, 17^th September 2015
Originally published as: Australian business is going back out to lunch: here are the top 10 corporates booking online