Halfseat vs
FirstTable.
FirstTable built the original "discounted seats" model in New Zealand in 2014. Smart idea. The execution leaves money on the table for venues: FirstTable keeps the entire diner fee. Here's where Halfseat differs.
| FirstTable | Halfseat | |
|---|---|---|
| Diner booking fee | £4 to £8 per booking | £5 for 1-2 guests (£8 for 3-4, £14 for 5-6) |
| Venue's share of the fee | £0 | £3 to £8 per booking by party size, same on every tier |
| Booking window | 14 days ahead, drops at midday | Tonight only, venue chooses each afternoon |
| Drinks treatment | Full price | Full price (venue keeps margin) |
| Where the booking fee goes | Kept by the platform | £3 to £8 of every fee goes straight to the venue, by party size |
| Venue contract / commitment | None, free to list | None, free to list |
| Geography | UK, NZ, AU, 50+ cities, ~850 UK venues | Brighton first; Bristol + Bath next; deliberate slow roll |
| Curation | Open to most independents that apply | Selective, we list only rooms we'd happily pay full price for |
| Built by | NZ tech founder, scaled to bootstrapped UK ops | UK hospitality operator (Coal & Co Group) |
The £3-to-venue difference
FirstTable's model worked in 2014 because the alternative was an empty table. Today, restaurant margins are tighter (UK hospitality net margin sat at 6% in 2024, down from 12% pre-pandemic). The booking fee FirstTable charges diners makes FirstTable money, none of it reaches the venue.
We took the same model and route from £3 of every booking straight to the venue, rising to £8 on a five or six-top. On a £60 cover (£40 food + £20 drinks), the venue receives £40 + £3 = £43 from Halfseat vs £40 from FirstTable. Same drinks margin. From £3 more per booking in their bank account.
Why hasn't FirstTable matched? Because giving up a slice of their fee would cut their unit revenue overnight, and they have 850 venues to retrofit. We're starting from zero, different problem.
Tonight-only vs 14 days out
FirstTable lets diners book up to 14 days ahead. That's convenient for the diner, but creates an awful incentive: a venue with a hot Saturday night ends up giving 50% off a table they'd have sold at full price 13 days later.
Halfseat is same-day. Listings unlock at 4pm each afternoon. If a venue knows tonight's 8pm sitting is full, those tables never reach us. The only seats on Halfseat are seats that were genuinely going to leave empty. Diners get late availability they couldn't otherwise get. Venues lose nothing they wouldn't have lost anyway.
Should you use both?
We don't ask for exclusivity. Most of our partner venues run FirstTable and Halfseat alongside each other and pick whichever channel has the higher yield for the slots they're releasing.