Manila’s new ‘friendly neighbourhood restaurant guide’: A chat with Zomato CEO Katrina Clasara

“It answers that question,” she says, and we all know what she means. “When you’re in a group, out in an area, you will always ask each other, ‘where are we gonna eat?’” Katrina L. Clasara shakes her head, understanding how common the experience is. “And then we always go, ‘you figure it out, you know, ikaw na ang bahala…’ And I was a chef, so it was always, ‘you’re the chef! You decide!’”

Being the CEO of Zomato Philippines probably means more responsibility for Katrina than being the resident restaurant decision-maker, but at least the site is there to take point. Put out as a “ridiculously easy way to discover new places to eat and drink when you are bored of your usual haunts,” Zomato works as an exploratory platform that makes restaurant suggestions based on location. Katrina describes as “phenomenal” the site as well as the app launched this past year in Metro Manila.

“We can track the actual numbers of visits on the Manila section of the website,” she says. “And I'm really glad to say that the Manila section gets the highest traffic on Zomato after India and the UAE.” This is a fact that certainly enforces the idea that Zomato is well-needed in the Philippines.

Founded five years ago in New Delhi by entrepreneurs Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, the site has since grown to cover restaurants in 40 cities across 11 countries. Zomato Metro Manila has only been around since March, but if the site’s heavy traffic is any indication, many are making use of the restaurant discovery guide.

“We prioritize the exploratory part,” Katrina says. “We really want to encourage people to eat out in different places, not just go to the same places that people always eat at.”

Only a few years ago, what is practically a GPS for food would not have seemed plausible in Manila. Even today, where restaurants are booming and dining out is more than a pastime, the service provided by Zomato is daunting.

“You know how the restaurant business is so volatile,” Katrina says. It opens, it closes, there are holiday seasons, occasions, special menus… so we make sure we have all of the information.”

How does Zomato get all of its information?

“A data-collecting team. Everyday they go out, make sure the data is fresh,” Katrina explains.

They have a very busy content team. In Manila, they have about 20 people for both sales and content; the 11 or 12 people in content are in charge of every bit of information you see on Zomato, with content analysts at the office uploading and data collectors out on the field visiting (and revisiting) restaurants.

“We make sure no information goes stale,” Katrina adds.

The commitment to being as fresh and accurate as possible is certainly a big part of what makes Zomato appeal. The other is its desire to be highly local.

“The website itself caters to the true Pinoy foodie,” Katrina explains. "The goal for Zomato is to be used locally by the locals and not something only tourists will use when they visit a place.”

The most recent extensions to Zomato’s coverage in the Philippines are Tagaytay and Antipolo, but any more expansion is not to happen without intensely studying the potential area.

The locality is not always a great thing, as being based in Manila has not been without its bit of challenges.

“What comes to mind are the unexpected, crazy rains we have here as of late,” she says. “This really affects everything from the ability to come to work everyday to the content team holding off collecting data from restaurants.”

Still, there seems to be little a very dedicated team cannot overcome. “The Zomato team is really something as well! We're a bunch of young, fun loving, driven folks who feel passionately about what we do here,” Katrina adds.

“I was there during the data collection, before it launched,” says Katrina, recalling the months past. They only recently moved to a new office, one that can actually fit the whole team. “It took us around 20 days to collect around 9,000  restaurants. On foot.”

Eventually their first hire in Southeast Asia, Katrina had been looking for a change when the opportunity to work with Zomato came up.

“I’m actually a chef by profession. I was working for hotels and restaurants, and then I was teaching in Benilde, where I had studied culinary. And then last year I got married, and so I wanted to get out of the kitchen,” she explains.

With the recent expansion into three new countries this year and the even more recent addition of five cities to Zomato, there is no sign of slowing down just yet.

“There's always something exciting to expect with Zomato,” Katrina says, even locally. “We are constantly asking out users for feedback and try and implement as many suggestions as possible. We are currently running a contest in association with Nokia where our users can enjoy our new feature on the app and website of uploading food shots along with their reviews and to instantly share these on Twitter. The best photo by January will win 4 Nokia Lumia phones. The response has been tremendous and we're very excited to do tie-ups with great brands like Nokia.”

Despite the rapid growth and the likelihood that it will continue to grow, one of the things Katrina looks forward to is the way Zomato continues its startup culture, “where everyone has a high level of ownership and commitment to the same organizational goals. We really look for ambitious, fun, open minded and awesome people — with or without any kind of work experience to join the team. What's important is that they have a passion for the product.”

Katrina believes that at Zomato, she has “met some of the most brilliant young minds ever.” She herself values the work that she does, offering a genuine sentiment that is so crucial to the team’s success: “I honestly really believe in the product.”