Popular Restaurant Search Service Zomato Expands Reach In NZ

Popular Restaurant Search Service Zomato Expands Reach In New Zealand; Launches In Hamilton

18th December 2013: Zomato, the popular restaurant search service, has expanded its presence in New Zealand with the launch of its Hamilton section, both on the web and mobile for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. Zomato first entered the New Zealand market with its launch in Auckland and Wellington on the 22nd of July, 2013. After receiving USD 37 million in its most recent round of funding, Zomato continues to expand globally.

Headquartered in New Delhi, India, Zomato is now present in 40 cities across 11 countries worldwide, with its most recent expansion in Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia.

Zomato provides in-depth information for over 360 restaurants in Hamilton. With a 92% coverage of menus and 98% photograph coverage of all listed restaurants, Zomato is the most exhaustive restaurant discovery service in New Zealand for anyone looking to dine-out, have food delivered or order take-away. Zomato's strength is in the information it provides on the restaurants such as scanned menus, photos, maps and directions, contact details, user reviews and user ratings.

Zomato follows a rich-content approach to restaurant search, and has a team that collects menu cards, clicks pictures and gets mapping information on its own. In New Zealand, Zomato currently employs 15 people and plans to increase the team size to 25-30 in the next 4-6 months. Zomato is now 5 years old and gets over 15 million visitors a month who use the service to discover places to eat around them. Zomato expects an increase in the number of visits to the website with the launch of the Christmas and New Year Events sections for Auckland and with the recent announcement of the iPad contest. There is a possibility of extending this contest to Zomato’s Hamilton section as well.

On mobile, Zomato’s award-winning app is location-aware and suggests the best restaurants around a ser’s physical location. Zomato is also the first social network in the food vertical, with social features such as allowing users to create profiles, follow one another and send direct messages.

Sahil Ludhani, Country Manager, New Zealand said "We have been focusing on increasing our presence in New Zealand aggressively and Hamilton seemed like the obvious destination with its vibrant gathering of gourmet restaurants, cafes, delis and specialty food stores. The response from Auckland and Wellington has been very encouraging.” Zomato updates its restaurant information every three months for over 197,000 restaurants across the 11 countries of its presence. Zomato plans to further expand its reach into Australia, Europe, South East Asia and the Americas in the next 2 years.

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