Lunch preorder startup Allset now on Facebook Messenger

The lunch preorder startup Allset now allows people to use its service to book a table through a chatbot on Facebook Messenger, the company announced today.

Allset allows people to eat at high-end, fast-casual, and other types of restaurants within 5 minutes of arrival.

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“One of our missions is to reclaim the lunch break and bring people from offices back into the restaurants for lunch,” said founder Stas Matviyenko. “That means people who use Allset enjoy better food and a better lunchtime experience than those who eat at their office cafeterias or at their desks.”

After testing in Europe, the company launched in fall 2015 in San Francisco and Palo Alto and expanded to New York City in February.

Allset’s chatbot allows users to book a table for up to six people at about 180 restaurants. Allset for Business, created in March, allows reservations for 100 or more people.

“Our Facebook Messenger bot available both on phones and computers (and a future Slack bot) is a part of our strategy of acquiring new B2B clients and providing them with a better service,” Matviyenko said. To serve business clients, following the Facebook Messenger chatbot release, Allset’s Slack bot is due out next.

Roughly 100 of Allset’s participating 180 restaurants can be found on the Allset’s website or iOS or Android smartphone apps. Some restaurants are only available 1-2 days a week on the bot and app.

In the app, users can order from the full menu, but the bot has a limited menu of 10 meal options.

“We’re watching closely for Facebook updates that will allow us to add more features, and we’re already working on full menus with multiple categories in the bot,” he said.

In September 2015, the startup closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round led by SMRK VC and investor Alex Chernyak.

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Allset plans to expand its offerings to Chicago and Boston in 2017 and possibly to Newark and Oakland. Integrations with other restaurant platforms are also being explored, Matviyenko said.