The French startup that assists restaurants in the creation and simple management of their digital presence, Zenchef – formerly known as 1001menus – has received new funding of € 6 million. It will allow the company to break new ground in its expansion toward conquering new international markets.
Zenchef was launched in 2010 and has more than 2,500 clients now in restaurants across France, the United Kingdom and Spain. These are markets where the company has invested in early 2015. Now the goal of the company is to multiply this number up to 25,000 clients in Europe by 2018. The estimated market is more than 500,000 independent restaurants accross Europe. Many online ordering or reservation sites as well as new generation point-of sales (POS) have been launched recently in order to faciliate restaurants’ management and bring new customers. Restaurant owners who now understand the benefit of using these new services are feeling lost among the multiplicity of offers and the complexity of managing several tools that work separately.
Furthermore, Zenchef plan on recruiting more than 35 employees over the following 12 months, thereby increasing the size of the startup to over 80 employees. The company is currently recruiting numerous international positions for marketing, sales, finance and software engineering in Paris.
This funding round was lead by Edenred Capital Partners with new investors such as XAnge, METRO and past investors such as Elaia Partners, L’Accélérateur Capital Partners, Kima Ventures and several angel investors.
“Zenchef is now at a key stage in its growth. Within three years of existence, we have managed to leading position in one of Europe’s biggest markets, France, owing to a unique service that addresses the growing issues that independent restaurant owners face in the digital sector. Our new funding allows us to reinforce such leadership, while speeding up our development in significant markets, such as Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain,“ commented Xavier Zeitoun, CEO and co-founder of Zenchef. He continued: “Moreover, the presence of Edenred and METRO, with hundreds and thousands of affiliated restaurants and clients in 42 and 26 countries respectively, presents a real opportunity for our company and we are delighted that the strong potential of our business and our position have convinced such established enterprises in the restaurant sector.”