TIDMDISH
RNS Number : 1166E
BigDish PLC
02 July 2019
2 July 2019
BigDish Plc
("BigDish" or the "Company")
Business and Operational Update
BigDish Plc (LON: DISH), a food technology company that operates
a yield management platform for restaurants, is pleased to announce
a business and operational update.
Highlights:
-- Brighton to launch next week
-- Launch of Brand Ambassador Program
-- Issuance of salary sacrifice and debt conversion shares
-- Board composition changes
Operational Update
Further to the announcement on 21 June, BigDish is pleased to
announce that Brighton will be launched on its platform next week.
The Company believes that Brighton is a significant location for
BigDish and upon launch expects to increase the restaurant numbers
quickly. The Company aims to have all Territory Managers in place
across the United Kingdom, subject to finding suitable candidates,
by early September. This is currently the key focus.
As announced on 21 June, BigDish expects to enter into a
partnership with a UK technology platform after Brighton goes live
and expects to provide further detail in due course.
Over the past month, the Territory Managers in Territory 1 and 2
have been meeting with existing restaurant partners with a view to
ensuring that operations are running smoothly and determining where
improvements can be made. The Company believes it is important that
all systems and processes are running smoothly and that these are
scalable as the national rollout progresses. This focus on account
management rather than new restaurant acquisition will balance out
in due course. As such, Reading will now be launched at a later
date.
There are three core components to the BigDish strategy:
1. Restaurant Partner Acquisition;
2. Technology Development;
3. User Acquisition.
The recruitment process that is taking place, both in the United
Kingdom and in Manila, ensures that the first two components can be
delivered. The Company believes that once a national footprint is
achieved, alongside new functionality and features in the App, the
pace of user acquisition will increase significantly across the
country.
A separate restaurant partner website is being developed that
will enable restaurants to on-board themselves to the BigDish
platform. In addition, a blog will be launched which will have
engaging content with a view to create a vibrant community of food
lovers across the United Kingdom. This will also increase the
visibility of BigDish across various online search engines. Further
detail will be provided as the development of these new platforms
progresses.
Brand Ambassador Program
To further support User Acquisition, BigDish is pleased to
announce the launch of its Brand Ambassador Program. Following
discussions with celebrities and well-known personalities over
recent months, the Company expects to announce the first Brand
Ambassador in due course. The role of Brand Ambassadors will be to
act as Influencers in order to increase user acquisition and
customer engagement. This is expected to be achieved through social
media, video advertisements and attending key events.
Brand Ambassadors will be remunerated in shares rather than cash
and any shares will have a restricted period from being able to
sell. As such, the Company has issued 12,000,000 shares that are
ring fenced for the Brand Ambassador Program. The Company expects
to sign up several Brand Ambassadors and to launch various media
initiatives from the fourth quarter of this year onwards as BigDish
increases its national footprint.
Board Shuffle
Jonathan Morley-Kirk will move from Non-Executive Director to
Non-Executive Chairman and Aidan Bishop, BigDish Founder, will move
from Executive Chairman to Executive Director. This will enable
Jonathan Morley-Kirk to have greater oversight of various
regulatory and compliance work and enable the Company to make
improvements in this important part of the business.
In the announcement of 21 June 2019, Sanj Naha commented
regarding a "media initiative". The Company expects to update the
market several times during the month of July including further
detail regarding the "media initiative".
The Company also has issued 11,044,697 shares as part of its
Salary Sacrifice Scheme and the conversion of debt into shares. All
members of the Board of Directors and some management have opted to
receive no remuneration in cash since the IPO in August 2018. This
is due to having confidence in the future of the Company and to
ensure the interests of the Board and management are completely
aligned with shareholders.
It is expected that the new shares will be admitted to trading
around 4 July 2019 ("Admission"). Following Admission, the
Company's enlarged issued share capital will be 338,558,883.
Sanj Naha, CEO commented:
"It has been a very busy period for BigDish with the recruitment
strategy. Having all Territory Managers in place across the United
Kingdom by September would drive our growth, as well as having
additional developers and restaurant and customer support personnel
in Manila.
"Having worked previously at booking platforms such as
TripAdvisor and Bookatable, I am aware of the importance of
ensuring that every part of the business is built for scale. The
recent focus on account management in our first two territories is
very healthy for us at this stage. The summer period enables us to
put our heads down and work hard on the 'non visible' aspects of
the business. From September onwards, I expect BigDish to be firing
on all cylinders across the whole country.
"I have also been particularly pleased with ongoing interest in
BigDish from restaurant groups. I am confident that we will see
restaurant groups on the BigDish platform in due course. It has
been a deliberate strategy to date to only approach independent
restaurants and small groups. This has been done to ensure that the
platform has a good selection of cuisines and restaurants and is
not dominated by one particular brand.
"The launch of our Brand Ambassador Program is a fantastic
milestone for the Company. I believe that this will significantly
boost our User Acquisition strategy as well as bringing national
awareness of BigDish both to the general public and to the
restaurant sector. It is also great to see Brand Ambassadors
becoming aligned with the vision of the Company by becoming long
term shareholders."
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES
OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION EU 596/2014 ("MAR")
Enquiries:
Zak Mir, Digital Communications
Officer +44 (0) 7867 527658
Notes to Editors
BigDish Plc is a London Stock Exchange listed food technology
company that operates a yield management platform for the
restaurant industry, including a mobile App.
The Company helps restaurants in the UK fill their spare
capacity and optimise their revenues through smart and dynamic
discounts. Consumers can access these via the BigDish App and
website platforms. Restaurants pay BigDish a fee per diner
seated.
BigDish is fully committed to delivering shareholder value to
its stakeholders through this model and is actively seeking to
expand across the UK. An expansion strategy has been outlined which
divides the UK into territorial target areas.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
UPDCKDDKCBKDOOK
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 02, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Amala Foods (LSE:DISH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Amala Foods (LSE:DISH)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024