PR is a Powerful Growth Hacking Tool for Start-ups
Left to Right, Mr. Tanaboon Lawhachainam (Senior Analyst), Ms. Ornsasipachr Siriwonporn (Business Development Director), Mr. Patchalit Klinhorm (CEO; Chief Executive Officer), Surasit Sachdev (Hungry Hub Founder & CEO), Ms. Muenthip Siriwannporn (Legal Advisor)
The fastest growing ‘exclusive dining deal’ startup raises Pre-Series A funding to expand throughout Thailand and get ready for South East Asia expansion.
Hungry Hub, a reservation app with exclusive dining offers, has announced that they have secured an investment with a Thai private equity firm ECG-Research.
Hungry Hub’s unique selling proposition is turning A la Carte restaurants into ‘All You Can Eat’ promotion exclusively for customers that is booked through the app or website. Recently, Hungry Hub has been working more with high-end restaurants and hotels dining outlets under the ‘Party Pack’, which is a unique set menu concept.
Hungry Hub is currently working with over 400 restaurants in Thailand and have seated more than 1 million diners to date resulting in revenue increase of over THB 500 million or 17 million US dollar for its restaurant partners. Notable partner restaurants include Marriott Group, Banyan Tree Hotel, Audrey Café, Copper International Buffet, Crab & Claw and Sushi Den.
Hungry Hub Founder & CEO, Surasit Sachdev, highlights how Hungry Hub dealt with the pandemic, “Covid-19 had a negative impact on Hungry Hub’s dining deal business. In response, we launched a set-menu food delivery concept to help restaurants survive the shut-down. In June 2020, many of Bangkok’s top restaurants, which previously relied on tourists, have been reaching out to Hungry Hub to provide promotional offers to our local customer base. With this investment, we will be using the funds to help top restaurants more aggressively reach the local market and expand our restaurant base”.
ECG-Research Founder & CEO, Patchalit Klinhom, said “ECG-Research is proud to partner with Hungry Hub. We have seen much potential in this industry market due to the business model that fits Thai lifestyle and the overall market size is quite large. We have also noticed that there are many restaurants in Thailand and Thai people love the ‘All You Can Eat’ buffet. In addition, Hungry Hub aligns perfectly with our mission of Private Equity for Public Equality, which is to innovate for public equality by building a sustainable future with impact and scale, so we are focusing on investments that create value for the community. During the initial Corona Virus outbreak, Hungry Hub helped many restaurants to increase sales by implementing an upselling strategy. Moreover, Hungry Hub has the ability to adapt itself to circumstances, especially during difficult times like COVID-19, which is one of the important factors for business to grow sustainably. ECG-Research is pleased to strengthen Hungry Hub capabilities by generating new business opportunities, such as finding potential business partners.”
For the next step, Hungry Hub is looking to launch in Phuket and Pattaya by December 2020. Given the expansion to other cities, Hungry Hub will also be launching Hungry Experience, a product focused on dining plus activity like karaoke, bowling, along with hotel day pass or full board getaway packages.
Prior to ECG-Research investment, Hungry Hub raised its Seed funding round in August 2019 of US$450,000 from Expara and 500 TukTuks (500 Startups Thailand fund).
About Hungry Hub
Hungry Hub was first established in Thailand in 2014 as an online restaurant reservation app. However, in 2016, the start-up pivoted and redefined itself into an ‘a reservation app with exclusive dining deal’ concept. Inspired by founder and CEO Surasit Sachdev’s solution to over – budget group dining experiences, Hungry Hub launched the concept of fixed price F&B promotions. Providing a la carte restaurant with an ‘all–you–can–eat’ a-la-carte buffet, Hungry Hub has sustainably managed to bring diners to restaurants for buffet experiences without affecting the eatery’s brand essence and operations.
As Hungry Hub extends its service to more restaurants, giving customers’ greater choice and restaurants a bigger appetite to get on board with this new dining concept, the startup is attracting awards too. The Seedstars World Summit 2018 in Switzerland awarded Hungry Hub first place in the Pitch Corner event, pitching to international investors and executive attendees, competing against entrepreneurs from 14 different countries. Another win was scooped at the Echelon Asia Summit 2018 in Singapore, where Hungry Hub was not only named as the top startup in The Pitch competition for the e-commerce category but also praised by the judges.
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