Pensioner-hour is now happy hour thanks to savvy discount dining app

A reservations platform that gives diners half-price dinner if they book a restaurant’s first table of the night is launching in Victoria this month after making pensioner-hour dining attractive in 50 cities around the world.

Coder Mat Weir launched First Table in Queenstown, New Zealand, in 2014 after seeing a clever restaurant offer the same deal: 50 per cent off your bill if you took an early table. It’s a reward for helping to transform the dining room’s atmosphere from cold to convivial.

“A crowd attracts a crowd,” says Weir. “No one wants to eat in an empty restaurant.”

First Table has since expanded to 240 restaurants around Australia in the past seven years, including in Sydney and Brisbane, and counts 1400 venues on the platform globally.

Geelong resident Deborah Columbus used First Table when she was on holiday in Queenstown, using it to book breakfasts and early dinners.

She hopes that First Table’s launch in Victoria means she and her partner can eat out more often.

“We really enjoy eating out, but everything is getting a bit pricey,” she says.

When the bookings platform arrives on August 14, local diners can search for restaurants by location or by cuisine, with tables listed up to one week in advance. They pay a $10 booking fee, then get 50 per cent off the food they order. Drinks are not included and there is also a booking limit of two to four diners.

More than 20,000 people worldwide made bookings on the platform in June, according to data from First Table, with 3900 of those booking more than one table.

Similar platforms already in Australia include Eat Club, which uses dynamic pricing to offer discounts at times that AI predicts will be quiet. Weir says First Table is different because of the simplicity of the proposition.

“The deal was always different for different venues [on other platforms]. You’d always have to read through the T&Cs,” he says.

Thirty-five Victorian restaurants and counting have signed up ahead of the launch, from American barbecue spots to tapas bars.

Venues can choose to offer either a single table or several from their first sitting at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

All-day eatery Abacus in South Yarra is focusing on filling early dinner spots. It will offer three tables on the platform at 5pm between Wednesday and Sunday.

“We always have a lull between 3pm and 5pm,” says owner Dylan Whitmore. “Having people fill a few tables in the window definitely attracts more customers than an empty restaurant.”

Weir believes the platform is popular with venues because it’s not a bulk deal, and they can control the uptake from diners. There are no fees or contracts when signing up.

It may also bring new people through the door. First Table claims 75 per cent of bookings are made by first-time visitors to a restaurant.

“You get to try places that might not be within your budget, and it forces you to try new places that you might not have heard about,” says Columbus.

Anecdotally, operators say first-time diners will often return as full-paying customers while many First Table bookings spend more on drinks.

Columbus says this is true of her own experience in Queenstown. “You might buy something on the menu that you think you couldn’t afford, or buy dessert or order an extra drink,” she says.

Women aged 25 to 34 are the most active users, but Weir says the concept is also popular with young families, who are often dining at “nursery hour” anyway.

So far, there have been 12,000 sign-ups from Victorian diners.