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It seems there’s an appetite for doing everything through social media - including ordering dinner. Andover-based firm Exit41 has created a social media tool that lets Facebook users search for their favorite restaurants and then order their dinner through the social networking site. Once the order is place customers can get food delivered or pick it up.
The firm, which has signed up five restaurant clients so far including Boston-based Bailey & Sage, said it expects to have 50 customers using the social ordering service in two months.
According to the firm, the Facebook ordering tool not only allows restaurants to monetize their Facebook fan pages, but it also allows Facebook friends to compare which restaurants they like by sharing their favorite menu items or hitting the “like” button.
“Many restaurants, if not all, are making some investment in creating a Facebook presence and building a fan base,” said Joe Gagnon, CEO of Exit41. “We think this is a way to monetize that investment by facilitating order.”
After the initial setup, which costs between $2,500 to $5,000, restaurants pay a monthly fee of $65 to $150 for the service. Exit41 customer John Huddle, director of IT for the Rockville, Md.-based Silver Diner, says people are ordering meals through Facebook. The diner’s online sales have increased by 10 percent since setting up the Facebook ordering tool.
“Everybody in (the restaurant) industry thinks that you have have to have a social media presence.. but as director of information technology, I needed to provide some return on investment. What better way than to sell products through social media?”
Venture capital-based Exit41 has about 40 employees in Andover. Competitors include GrubHub and Kudzu. In May Exit41 took in $6 million of equity financing from GrandBanks Capital, Contour Venture Partners and Dace Ventures in a recapitilization round. At the time, GrandBanks partner Tim Wright said the new investors plan to retain the existing business serving the restaurant industry but add new lines of business in mobile and online ordering. Prior to the recap, Exit41, which was founded in 1998, had taken in over $50 million from existing investors, including Humphrey Enterprises LLC and Fidelity Investors III LLP. Both returned to participate in that May funding.
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