Appetite for Expansion: Zomato Acquires Menu Mania
Appetite for Expansion: Zomato Acquires Menu Mania
Zomato, a restaurant search and discovery service has announced its acquisition of Menu Mania, a well known New Zealand based restaurant discovery service for an undisclosed amount.
Menu Mania is a welcome addition to Zomato, in a statement issued by Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato. He has discussed how the menu mania team is very passionate about helping persons to discover new places to eat. Zomato is working with them to leverage local expertise. Both Zomato and Menu Mania will be the largest source of restaurant information in New Zealand, according to Goyal.
The integrated product is expected to roll out in the coming weeks. menu mania was founded in the year 2006 by Cristian Rosescu who works alongside his better half Karen Gibson. The Menu Mania website will now migrate to Zomato for maintenance of a single identity. The current set of restaurant reviews on Menu Mania will also be put through Zomato review quality filters to ensure there is a consistent tone in quality and genuineness.
The founding team of Menu Mania will now be working with Zomato post this acquisition. Within the next few months, the integration of the two will begin. This will deliver greater value to restaurant owners and businesses. All users in NZ will now be able to access the information on a common platform now. This is a big victory for consumers as well as the companies involved in the acquisition.
Zomato has been expanding on a very rapid scale in current times with launches in Europe and Southeast Asia in the past 6 months. It is also looking to strengthen its presence in markets across the globe. Acquiring Menu Mania is a move to consolidate its position in the Pacific, according to experts and media reports.
Sahil Ludhani, the Country manager of Zomato NZ has indicated that Menu Mania is going to be a “big boost” for Zomato's business in New Zealand. The aim will be to offer users large number of reviews and menus. This makes Zomato a number one choice for NZ users. Ludhani has also indicated that their team is expected to expand to triple times its current size within the next 6 months.
Zomato is now in 12 countries and it received 20 million monthly visits across the globe through its web and mobile platforms. This India born restaurant discovery service has a strong appetite for growth and expansion. It has now acquired Menu Mania which is an 8 year old company that is a leading restaurant listing and review portal in NZ at present. The sum of the acquisition has not been disclosed to the media. It was an all cash deal.
Zomato had launched operations in New Zealand a year ago but it was facing competition from established players like Menu Mania. With this strategic acquisition, Zomato will now be able to pave a way to the NZ market and attract more users.
