Drake & Morgan launches Facebook booking app
Bar and restaurant group Drake & Morgan has launched a booking app that works via social networking site Facebook.
Each of its individual venue pages will feature access to the app, which will allow customers to book a table, share a reservation with friends, and upload photos via their existing Facebook accounts.
It is intended that the system will allow customers to book tables in "real time", across a computer or on a smartphone or tablet, and will also allow the brand to communicate more directly with booked guests. It is also hoped that sharing reservations on the site will increase its visibility and reach.
The app was developed by London-based digital design agency Aardvark. Its release date also coincides with the tenth anniversary of the creation of Facebook, which was initially co-founded and developed by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg.
The is not the brand's first foray into mobile-based ordering. Only last week it announced it was trialling another app, the QApp, at its Heron Tower site The Drift. Using their phones, customers can order without queuing at the bar, and are then sent an alert letting them know when their order is ready to collect or be delivered to the table.
London-based operator Drake & Morgan opened its first site in 2008. It now has seven restaurant-bars across the capital including The Folly, The Happenstance, The Anthologist and the soon-to-be-open The Fable.
All operate on a similar whimsical, "female-friendly" menu and style but with significant design and space differences depending on the building and area.
Lisa Yearwood, head of marketing, comments: "We're hugely excited to launch the Drake & Morgan Facebook app. It's a milestone for the way Drake & Morgan will use technology in the future."
She added that the company intended to use the app to "reward customers with personalised offers" and give them "insight" into the brand.
Founded by Jillian MacLean (pictured above) in 2008, the company has seen significant growth in recent years, posting record annual profits in 2012. A £30m management buyout in 2013, backed by private equity investors Bowmark Capital, sparked suggestions that plans for expansion could extend to as many as 70 sites.
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