How we cut reservation fees by 87% for KLARA
KLARA Charcoal Dining + Bar was paying approximately $6,000 per year in reservation fees. Unfortunately, this is the norm for the industry with big booking platforms charging anywhere between $1 to $3 per cover. This means a booking with 10 guests would cost restaurants $30. With thin margins in the F&B industry, these costing structures are not sustainable to many small to medium restaurants, cafes and bars.
Searching for more reasonable alternatives
We searched for more reasonably priced options, however it seems the big platforms are mainly charging either per booking or per guest - even if it is a repeat customer! Even if fees are a few dollars per booking, this quickly eats up the restaurant's margins.
KLARA sits about 20 pax each time. If we were just looking at dinner, KLARA would easily pay between $600 - $1,800 per month in reservation fees. We were determined to find a way to reduce this significantly, as savings could be put towards marketing efforts such as Google ads or Facebook ads to drive more customers to the restaurant.
halos - KLARA website booking screen
halos reservation platform
Unable to find alternatives that could provide certainty and reasonable pricing for our clients, we built halos. halos is a Singapore based reservation platform that is fully digital. This allows halos to pass on cost savings to restaurants, businesses and bars. When we built halos, we focused on these key pointers that we felt restaurants would benefit the most from:
- We wanted restaurants to be able to self-onboard online without having to talk to sales team
- Onboarding should be easy - it takes only 5 minutes by just syncing to your Google Business Profile
- Unlimited reservations so restaurants are not tied to a "commission" fee structure
- Marketing integration with tracking pixels for Google Analytics and Meta Pixel to improve advertising results for restaurants
Calculating our savings
With the halos reservation system, we worked out 2 possible scenarios for KLARA. If there were 50 or less bookings per month, KLARA would be able to use halos for free. Otherwise, instead of paying $6,000 per year in reservation fees, KLARA would be paying about $780. This would cut KLARA's reservation cost by 87%, allowing the restaurant to spend savings on improving other parts of the business.
Either way, onboarding halos ensures that KLARA would save 87% ($5,220) or more in reservation fees. KLARA only seats about 20 pax at a time, which means that larger restaurants may see even more significant savings.
halos - Google reviews automation email sample from KLARA
Using halos to boost Google reviews
halos also provides automations for Google reviews through email. The system automatically sends out a Google review request on your behalf to your customers. This helps to benefit your searching ranking on Google Maps, and draws into even more customers in the long term.
Onboarding halos
If you are a restaurant owner or manager, you may want to check out halos. As of 27 May 2024, halos provides a Starter plan which is free to use (no credit card required). Onboarding halos only takes 5 minutes, simply sign up, search for your business and set up your profile.
For more information regarding halos, you may contact hello@halosapp.com