“Life is a game of inches….the six inches in front of you” – Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday

The evening of Nov 20th, 2012, sipping tea in our office, we were discussing the beauty of London during Christmas. Naturally, the conversation steered towards restaurants in London and how much fun it would be to spend Christmas in London while eating at some of the best restaurants in the world.

Somewhere in the middle of the casual banter, someone jokingly said, “This Christmas, Zomato is coming to London”. This was followed by complete silence…and some goosebumps. The line was so powerful, that everybody wanted to bring Zomato to London, this very Christmas. Ohwhichbytheway was only 35 days away.

We have a habit of pressure testing Zomato and our people by putting big challenges, six inches in front them. So, we decided, that this Christmas, Zomato is coming to London. This meant, we had to collect data for over 15,000 restaurants on foot in extreme cold, upload all the information, scan all the menus, and quality check everything before we could say London is live. On top of that, all the product and design changes that were needed to make sure that we were ready to compete in a market such as London, where we are going against some of the biggest, most respected players in the world.

We gave ourselves 35 days. Zomato needed to be in London.

85 flights, about 1500 night outs, endless hours of brainstorming sessions, and after painfully missing the deadline by a good two weeks, Zomato is now in London. We have over 14,000 restaurants listed on Zomato London already and are still chugging along, uploading content for almost 500 restaurants everyday. Our team of six people is out everyday making sure we are covering every single alley in one of the biggest cities in the world. Just for reference, the number of restaurants in London is close to 50% of the entire Indian market.

Currently, the London section is by invitation only, but if you ask nicely, we will give you access. Please go here to request access.

Our investors, friends and family asked us very important questions about the London launch. Here are a few samples:

Why London, why not pick an easier market with fewer competitors?
Because we are not scared of a fight. More on this later.

What will differentiate your product from others already out there?
The leather at the bottom of our shoes, rather – the lack of it. The same thing that works for us in India – we actually go around town and collect content on our own. We scan each and every menu card and put it up online for users to view for free. We geocode restaurants on our own and do not rely on erroneous public maps information to tell customers where they should go. If a restaurant exists, we want to see it for ourselves and then provide that information to people. Overall, we are a better product, with content that actually matters. Not everyone has the time to read 1000 reviews for a restaurant – but everyone wants to know what is served and how much will it cost.

Will you be able to get better penetration and coverage than your competitors who have been there for ages?
As of now, we have 14,000 restaurants listed on Zomato London. With about 3,000 more to go, our coverage is almost double of the next biggest player. We have always believed that a better product wins and are putting our money where our mouth is.

Does this make business sense?
We don’t know. But here is our theory, Risk Execution = Rewards. We are willing to play this game and bet on ourselves.

What’s next?
Stay calm and execute in London. Just like we did in UAE- where we are one of the top few websites in the country in less than 6 months.

We know London won’t be that easy, so we need your help. If you love Zomato, please help us reach out to as many people in London as possible. We need you to make this work.