Karen Hanton - Toptable

Karen Hanton is that rare entrepreneur: she built a web-based business during the dotcom boom years and it has not only survived, but is profitable. Toptable.com is Britain’s leading restaurant booking website, which counts Sir Alex Ferguson and chef Gary Rhodes among its shareholders.

The idea for Toptable came when Hanton was involved in a property business that had a café attached to it. “We needed to promote that business and I realised there were few marketing tools for small ventures,” says Hanton. It was the end of the 1990s and the answer was the internet. “I said we should build a website,” says Hanton. “It was a marketing tool for the restaurant industry. It was clear that everyone had the same problem – there was no way of driving business to restaurants.”

The Toptable concept was simple – and has remained the same today – restaurants pay a flat fee per diner that Toptable sends to them. “We sussed at the beginning that the commercial model had to be very simple. We had no way of knowing if people spent a lot or a little when they ate at a restaurant, so it had to be a flat amount,” says Hanton.

Toptable, which now represents around 5,000 restaurants in 12 countries, with a high proportion that are Michelin-starred, made a profit four and a half years ago. This stood it in good stead as the economy became tougher. Though Hanton acknowledges it is tough for restaurateurs in the current climate, she says that Toptable is important in driving trade and will bring in £100m revenues in 2009. “We drive business to clients. We are counter cyclical,” she says. “Restaurants need us more at times like these.”

Research suggests that the AB1 (higher socio-economic group) clients that typically use Toptable are value driven.

A year ago about 35 per cent of Toptable bookings were on special offer, today that figure is just under 50 per cent. But that doesn’t necessarily mean total spend is down, customers are just being more discerning. “They are not mean – they might want value for money on food but will buy a really nice bottle of wine,” says Hanton.

The Toptable concept was based on a fundamental need, which has not changed over its nine-year history. What has changed is the technology.

“I have just signed off our mobile application,” says Hanton. “For a long time people were hailing mobile as the be all and end all. But mobile has had limited success because there were not that many applications that people wanted to use repeatedly. We are excited because we are at a point where mobile works.”

The Toptable application will enable people to have the same sort of experience as they currently get on the web on their phone. Diners using Toptable will be able to be more spontaneous when choosing their restaurant. “People often decide to eat at a restaurant when they are already out, so it tends to be about need. That means the restaurant has to be nearby, cheap and quick,” says Hanton.

Toptable users who take up the new service will get the nearest special offers to where they are located sent to their phone.

Hanton is a seasoned businesswoman. Before she set up Toptable she had been involved in several ventures. After starting her career in HR she developed and divested several ventures including Spinks, an IT recruitment company that was sold to Harvey Nash.

Hanton, who is Scottish, has a loyal group of shareholders who have not changed since the business was launched in 2000. Fellow Scot and Manchester United manager Ferguson introduced her to a couple of chefs including Rhodes, who were sufficiently positive about the concept to put their money into the venture at the start.

Hanton recognises in herself those traits that define other entrepreneurs. “If I think about entrepreneurs the characteristics you get are restless and inquisitive about things and always trying to find solutions and different ways things can be done,” she says. “It is about seeing opportunities here and there.”

And Hanton still sees opportunities to grow Toptable. The business is easy to transpose to other cities. It is already possible to book a table in countries as diverse as Germany, Italy, Portugal and America. But a full roll out of Toptable is underway in France with rollouts planned in other countries. “We have been driving business from the UK database before,” says Hanton. “But now the site handles multiple languages.”

When Toptable started out Hanton was certain it would follow the same trajectory that online travel bookings had already followed. But that has not proved to be the case. “It has taken a long time to take off,” she says. “But it is a tremendously exciting business. We are true pioneers.”