First Table is a restaurant discovery platform that connects diners with venues with an offer of 50% off the food bill, on the first table of the night.
It was founded in 2014 by Kiwi businessman Mat Weir, in Queenstown initially with 10 partner restaurants, and has now hit 1,900 restaurants across NZ, Australia and UK with 1.5 million foodies in their online community! And that’s a whole lot more diners, as typically only one person per group is a signed up member.
I’ve only just begun using it, because who doesn’t love early dining in winter?
We recently went to Onemata at the Park Hyatt in Auckland, a restaurant I’d never been to, and perused through their delcious menu, choosing starters and mains and a shared dessert (we were a bit stuffed) and got 50% off the food bill. My sister and her husband used it to check out the tasting menu at Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay.
Each restaurant can set its own terms and exclude items, such as the crayfish tail, and drinks are full price. Some require at least one alcoholic beverage to be purchased. Some offer only a “trust the chef” menu for First Table diners, which allows chef to experiment with new concepts.
The win for restaurants is they get to fill an otherwise empty table and create a buzz early on in service, and for diners they get to explore new venues and menus for a sweet price.
Here’s the First Table deal: The offer applies to the food portion of the bill for groups of two, three or four diners. Drinks are regular price.
A booking fee, paid to First Table, ranges from $8 to $15 in New Zealand, and it’s paid by the diner to secure the offer.
There is also the option to select Last Table, the same concept only at the end of the evening for you late owls who want to dine from about 8pm.
First Table has over 900 restaurants in New Zealand, over 440 in Australia and over 530 in the UK – including several in London.
Check out where you’re going to dine next at First Table NZ
