Fork is a platform that allows users to book online at more than 80,000 restaurants of different types and in different countries. This initiative allows users to book in a simple and comfortable way without having to call and being able to benefit from promotions and significant discounts (from 20% to 50%). In turn, restaurants manage to have greater visibility, increase their reservations, manage their room easily and retain customers.
But The Fork is no longer The Fork.
Goodbye, The Fork. Hello The Fork
“It has been 15 years since a group of entrepreneurs decided to revolutionize and digitize the restaurant industry worldwide through a small company that over time has become the main ally of the hospitality sector and the leader in online restaurant reservations in the world.
As in any company, the brand has evolved and grown exponentially during all these years, expanding to new markets, but always faithful to its essence and its commitment to connecting restaurants and diners. Today the brand takes a new step in Spain and opens a new chapter in its history: TheFork is now TheFork, the global name with which the company is recognized internationally and in the 22 countries in which it operates in Europe, Latin America and Australia».
the company announced its name change throughout the world. A milestone in the history of one of the leaders of the restoration reserves, who was born in 2007 and currently leads the world market for online restaurant reservations and is trusted by a network of nearly 80,000 restaurants globally (more than 12,000 in Spain).
The second great novelty of The Fork in 2021
“This change responds to the natural evolution of an international brand of the magnitude of TheFork. The company has not stopped growing over the last 15 years until it has become the market leader in online restaurant reservations globally. Our presence in multiple markets requires a global brand that can be easily recognized by diners around the world, something that will undoubtedly boost tourism-related consumption in all the countries in which we operate. Spain is one of our key markets and although the name changes, we remain the same.
We remain faithful to our mission of supporting and offering the best service to diners and restaurants, firmly committed to innovation with new digital proposals to help the sector adapt to the new context with tools such as TheFork Paythe new payment solution, integrated into the app itself, which is already being implemented by tens of thousands of restaurants”, comment Sergio SequeiraCEO of TheFork in Iberia & Latam.
How TheFork Pay works
Launched in March this year, TheFork Pay It is a new solution that allows you to pay the bill of the restaurants attached to the platform directly from the app itself, thus promoting contactless digital payment and better control of transactions.
Half an hour after the reservation time, When in the restaurant and as long as it has this payment method activated, the customer receives a notification reminding them that they can pay with TheFork PAY. Payment can also be accessed by clicking on the banner displayed in the app where you can see the “Pay” button. Once the user accesses, You can enter the account amount and card number.
If the card has already been saved, just select it. After clicking on the “Pay” button, you can choose leave a tip to the restaurant and finish the operation. The client receives a payment confirmation via email and in the section dedicated to TheFork PAY in the user profile.
History of The Fork: La Fourchette
At the end of 2006, Alain Ducasse, one of the most renowned chefs in the world, had problems in the daily management of reservations for his restaurants. He worked with a traditional paper book and, having a lot of traffic, it was difficult to organize reservations without errors and in an agile way.
This is the need of market detected by three French partners and one Spanish, . They start with the intention of helping Ducasse with this problem, but at the end of 2006 they already create La Fourchette in and in 2007 Fork in Spain.
At that time, the restaurant sector was very traditional and the Internet was, for many, a great unknown. Before selling their new business concept, they had to explain what the internet was and convince restaurant owners of the advantages they could achieve with El Tenedor.
For us to put ourselves in a situation, one of the co-founders once told a Funny anecdote which illustrates this situation: on one of his visits to a small restaurant he asked the owner, while surfing the Internet with his computer, to open a window (referring to a browser window). This, without hesitation, got up from the chair and opened the window looking surprised at the young people for that request.
Although the beginnings were complicated, the approach of A B2B strategy was essential to achieve a considerable offer on its website and then be able to start with the B2C approach.
2010: Becoming a world reference
From 2006 to 2010, El Tenedor did not obtain notable profits. It was from 2010 when the reward came for the effort made in those early years. The objective they had and maintain is ambitious: to be the reference gastronomic website worldwide.
They want that when a person thinks of lunch, dinner or celebrating a birthday having a drink with friends, they automatically think of The Fork. And here comes an important question: Who do you think is the main competitor of The Fork? Perhaps Just Eat The answer is possibly in your hands: the phone. The main challenge for this company was really to change people’s habits and customs since we were very used to calling by phone to book and not so much doing it online. Reservations at The Fork are key to your success.
Two different lines within El Tenedor
The company’s income comes from two clear lines: from the reservation management software that they offer to restaurants (with different functionalities and costs) and by the commission they earn for each diner that you book through The Fork.
The reservation management softwarewhat they call smart reservation book or “The Fork Manager”allows restaurants to create a very valuable database with customer information (regardless of whether or not they book through The Fork) as well as save time and optimize the service since, for example, the user will be able to see online if there is or unavailability to book the day and time you want.
Who uses The Fork
According to what the company explained a couple of years ago, before the pandemic, users who use the El Tenedor website and app are people who like gastronomy and go out to restaurants with a medium purchasing power. More than 50% are between 30-50 years old and they usually go out, on average, 2-3 times a month for lunch or dinner in restaurants. The most requested type of cuisine is and modern style and with an average price between 25-30 euros. According to The Fork, restaurants receive between 25-50% of their reservations online. 80% of users make reservations online and 40% do so via mobile (more than 12 million downloads of their mobile applications).
To communicate with these users, the communication channels they use the most are: and own blog. In addition, they work with hold conferences often, organize events like “TheFork guides you” and they put out quite frequently press releases that are disseminated in both online and offline media.
TripAdvisor buys The Fork
In May 2014, and in a few weeks it became effective. The giant tourist recommendation company was already working with El Tenedor to manage restaurant reservations but they were confident that this acquisition would help The Fork gained strength and expanded more rapidly.
And, highlighting a phrase frequently used by Marcos Alves, co-founder of El Tenedor, “The difficult is achieved, the impossible is attempted”.
In continuous expansion, despite the pandemic
In 2015, after the commented purchase by the TripAdvisor company, El Tenedor managed to gain a foothold in 11 countries (Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Holland, , Portugal, Sweden, and Australia) thus managing to expand more strongly and establish its position as the reference gastronomic guide. Currently there are already 22 countries in which it operates in Europe, Latin America and Australia.
The last year has been the one in which the company has overcome the most challenges, but his strategy was adapted to each circumstance and place, focused on supporting restaurants to reactivate their business and continue digitizing the industry. A good example of this were initiatives such as “Save the Restaurants”, which managed to raise nearly 500,000 euros for the participating restaurants during the total closure of the sector; free visibility to the “delivery” and “takeaway” options of its associated restaurants; o “Let’s go back to restaurants”, a global action that mobilized millions of diners around the world and helped reactivate consumption after confinement. TheFork has invested more than 25 million euros (4.5 million in Spain) in actions to accelerate the recovery of the sector.
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