Dutch restaurant site Iens no longer simply compares restaurants or diners, but also gives the consumer the ability to book a table immediately. On a restaurant page the visitor can enter the day, the amount of people and the desired time and see whether there's a table available. The first 150 restaurants have since connected their booking system to Iens.

Both Iens and Livebookings, real-time booking partner in this course, make money of these bookings. When a visitor books a table the owner of the establishment pays 2 Euros. If a reservation is cancelled, no costs are charged.

Iens used to earn as much from the site as it did from its guides, but it wants to earn much more from the website. The yearly revenue of about 1 million Euros has to be increased. That's why the organization is professionalized. The stock holders decided with founder Iens Boswijk that she'll step down as director. Since the beginning of this year Sander Klos has been in charge as the CEO.

Future Vision by Erwin Van Lun on this article

In the demand-driven economy new models, based per definition on the wishes of the consumer, will be created. This can be seen perfectly in this example. Iens first mapped the consumer’s wishes and then starts offering added value. Furthermore, by being transparent about the contribution of the restaurant owner and by asking the same price for each restaurant, Iens can guarantee her independence.

For now just in the Netherlands, but soon this type of brand will be present world-wide. Now solely for dining out, but soon also advice about deliveries, eating at home, even cooking for friends. Because in future even their taste will be known to food coaching brands.

• in Dutch