Lunchgate
Lunchgate AG is a Swiss restaurant discovery platform founded in 2009, covering 8,212+ restaurants across Switzerland with menus, reviews, panoramic imagery, and integrated reservations. It serves diners, restaurant owners, and API partners via its website, Lunchmail newsletter, and Foratable booking system.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersZürich, Switzerland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Lunchgate does
Lunchgate AG is a privately held Swiss restaurant discovery and engagement platform founded in 2009 and headquartered in Zürich. The company operates lunchgate.ch, a consumer-facing website covering 8,212+ restaurants across Switzerland, searchable by city and cuisine type (Asian, Italian, French, traditional, vegetarian, Mexican, Spanish), and supported by a daily email newsletter called Lunchmail delivered on weekdays around 10:00 AM. Diners can browse restaurant profiles, read guest reviews, view 360-degree panoramic images, and reserve tables through the integrated Foratable reservation system.
The platform's technology stack centers on a REST API (Version 2) that exposes restaurant data, menus, and panoramic imagery in JSON and XML formats, enabling both internal features and partner integrations. Lunchgate has assembled an ecosystem of embeddable modules — Digital Menu, Menu Box, Panoramic Images, Guest Feedback widgets, Swiss Guest Award badges — alongside a backend partner portal (backend.lunchgate.ch) for restaurant self-service profile management. Google Maps is integrated for location discovery, and restaurant data is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 for non-commercial use.
Lunchgate monetizes through a freemium model: basic restaurant registration is free, while paid products (premium profiles, Lunchmail subscriptions, the Foratable reservation system, and commercial API/Partner Accounts) generate recurring subscription and licensing revenue. The company serves two primary segments — restaurant owners seeking online visibility and diners seeking discovery and reservation tools — plus a secondary developer/partner segment consuming API data. To date, Lunchgate has raised approximately $1.19M across three funding rounds (2011, 2014, 2016) from 3wVentures and Verve Ventures, and operates without a disclosed parent company or institutional lead investor.
Lunchgate firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lunchgate
- Legal name
- Lunchgate AG
- Website
- https://lunchgate.ch
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Lunchgate AG is a Swiss restaurant discovery platform founded in 2009, covering 8,212+ restaurants across Switzerland with menus, reviews, panoramic imagery, and integrated reservations. It serves diners, restaurant owners, and API partners via its website, Lunchmail newsletter, and Foratable booking system.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lunchgate industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Restaurant Discovery Platform
- NAICS
- Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Restaurant Reservations & Dining Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Dining Reservations & Restaurant Booking (HSACALAF)
Keywords
Where Lunchgate is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Zürich
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Lunchgate business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Restaurant Listings and Profiles: Restaurants can register and maintain profiles on the Lunchgate platform to showcase their establishment, publish menus, and attract diners. The registration form mentions products at lunchgate.info suggesting paid offerings.
- Lunchmail Subscription Service: Premium email newsletter service delivering daily restaurant menus to subscribers. Restaurants can be added to the Lunchmail by subscribers through restaurant profiles.
- Foratable Reservation System: Restaurant table reservation application offered as an additional product (go.foratable.com) integrated with the Lunchgate ecosystem.
- API Access (Partner Accounts): Commercial API access for web developers and partners who want to integrate Lunchgate restaurant data. Partner accounts allow data redistribution with attribution.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Basic Restaurant Profile (Free) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
Lunchgate product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lunchgate operates a Swiss restaurant discovery platform that lets diners search 8,212+ restaurants by city and cuisine, browse digital menus, read guest reviews, and book tables through Foratable. Restaurants manage profiles and publish daily menus via the Lunchgate partner portal, while a REST API exposes restaurant, menu, panorama, and feedback data in JSON/XML to web developers and commercial partners. The Lunchmail newsletter pushes daily menus to subscribers at weekday 10:00 AM.
Product overview
Lunchgate is a Swiss restaurant discovery and management platform operating as a unified ecosystem with a core restaurant discovery platform and multiple integrated modules. The main platform enables users to search restaurants by location, cuisine, and city across Switzerland. Supporting modules include Digital Menu for menu integration, Panoramic Images for 360-degree viewing, Menu Box for daily specials display, Lunchmail for email subscriptions, Foratable for reservation management, Swiss Guest Award for recognition, and Guest Feedback Widgets for reviews. Restaurant partners can register via the backend platform to manage their online presence, publish menus, and integrate various features into their websites. A REST API enables third-party developers to access restaurant data in JSON or XML formats for external integrations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Foratable: Restaurant reservation system and booking application integrated with Lunchgate platform.
- Lunchmail
- Swiss Guest Award
Products and services
- Lunchgate Restaurant Discovery Platform Swiss restaurant discovery website that lets diners search and browse restaurants by city, cuisine type, and location across Switzerland, with map-based and category-based navigation.
- Lunchmail Daily email newsletter subscription delivering restaurant daily menus (including favorites and nearby establishments) to subscribers in Switzerland, sent on weekdays at approximately 10:00 AM.
- Foratable Restaurant table reservation application and widget system integrated with Lunchgate, enabling diners to book tables directly through web reservation buttons, URLs, and embedded widgets on partner websites.
- Lunchgate REST API REST API (Version 2) enabling developers to fetch restaurant profiles, menus, panorama images, and feedback data in JSON or XML format, with HTTP Digest Partner Account authentication for commercial redistribution and a Demo Account for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license.
- Restaurant Profile and Registration Service Free registration service letting Swiss restaurant owners add their establishment to Lunchgate, manage their online profile, and access partner products including menu publishing and website integration.
- Restaurant Partner Platform (lunchgate.info) Paid partner product portal for Swiss restaurants, offering Lunchgate profile upgrade, menu service, website builder, and integration with the Foratable reservation system.
Quantifiable outcome
- 8,212+ restaurants listed across Switzerland
Companies that use Lunchgate
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Lunchgate technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature6 records
Lunchgate partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.
- htr hotel revueminorFounded in 1892, htr hotel revue is the leading trade newspaper for hospitality, gastronomy, and tourism in Switzerland with the largest job market in the industry. They cover topics related to hospitality, gastronomy, and tourism in relation to economy, industry, politics, culture, sports, and lifestyle.
- Schweizerische GastronomiefernschuleminorThe Swiss Gastronomy Distance School has offered continuing education courses since 2011. The focus is on preparatory courses for the Swiss hospitality license exam in 10 cantons, with approximately 400 graduates completing a distance course annually.
- SavivaminorSaviva is the leading service provider for Swiss gastronomy, hospitality, healthcare, and retail sectors, specializing in food wholesale, food logistics, and digital solutions.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Lunchgate competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- TheFork (LaFourchette): European restaurant discovery and online booking platform owned by Tripadvisor, operating across multiple countries including Switzerland. Directly comparable to Lunchgate in restaurant reservation and diner acquisition model, though at much broader geographic and capitalization scale.
- OpenTable: Global category leader in restaurant reservation and discovery, with presence in Switzerland. Directly competes on the booking/diner-engagement value proposition that Lunchgate's Foratable addresses, with greater scale and resources.
- Quandoo: European restaurant online reservation platform operating in multiple markets with diner booking and restaurant management tools. Comparable to Foratable on the reservation module within Lunchgate's broader platform.
Broad incumbents
- Tripadvisor: Global travel and restaurant discovery platform with reviews, ratings, and booking. Lunchgate's Swiss Guest Award ratings and discovery model overlap with Tripadvisor's core diner utility, albeit at a much smaller scale and Swiss-focused scope.
- Yelp: Restaurant/business discovery platform with reviews and ratings. Comparable to Lunchgate's discovery and guest feedback widgets, but focused on North American market with limited Swiss presence.
- Zomato: Global restaurant discovery, ordering, and reservations platform active in multiple countries. Comparable platform structure to Lunchgate (discovery + reservations + content), though not native to the Swiss market.
- Google Maps: Default free restaurant discovery channel with reviews, directions, and reservation integrations. Lunchgate explicitly integrates Google Maps for location display, indicating it competes for the same top-of-funnel diner query as a default maps/search alternative.
Regional players
- Restaurants.ch: Swiss restaurant directory and review site covering restaurants across Switzerland. Closest domestic direct competitor to Lunchgate's discovery and review value proposition within the Swiss market.
Others
- htr hotel revue: Switzerland's leading hospitality, gastronomy, and tourism trade publication and listed Lunchgate partner. Comparable as a content/audience channel reaching Swiss gastronomy professionals overlapping with Lunchgate's restaurant-owner segment.
- Saviva: Leading Swiss foodservice distributor with digital solutions serving gastronomy and hospitality. Strategic Lunchgate partner and ecosystem enabler, comparable as a Swiss hospitality infrastructure player with shared B2B customer base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Lunchgate social profiles
Digital presenceLunchgate financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lunchgate leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Lunchgate funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lunchgate M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lunchgate
What does Lunchgate do?
Lunchgate operates a Swiss restaurant discovery platform that lets diners search 8,212+ restaurants by city and cuisine, browse digital menus, read guest reviews, and book tables through Foratable. Restaurants manage profiles and publish daily menus via the Lunchgate partner portal, while a REST API exposes restaurant, menu, panorama, and feedback data in JSON/XML to web developers and commercial partners. The Lunchmail newsletter pushes daily menus to subscribers at weekday 10:00 AM.
Is Lunchgate a public or private company?
Lunchgate is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Lunchgate founded?
Lunchgate was founded in 2009. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Lunchgate based?
Lunchgate is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does Lunchgate make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Restaurant Listings and Profiles are the primary driver. The others are lunchmail Subscription Service, foratable Reservation System and API Access (Partner Accounts).
Who are Lunchgate's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are TheFork (LaFourchette), OpenTable and Quandoo. Broad incumbents are Tripadvisor, Yelp, Zomato and Google Maps. Restaurants.ch is listed as a regional player. Others are htr hotel revue and Saviva.
Does Lunchgate have an API?
Yes. Lunchgate REST API Version 2 allows developers to fetch restaurant data in JSON or XML format. The API provides endpoints for retrieving restaurant lists, profiles (with images and panoramas), menus, and menu promotions. HTTP Digest authentication is required using Partner Account or Demo Account credentials ([email protected] | demo). Commercial use requires a Partner Account with attribution requirements, while non-commercial use is permitted with the Demo Account. Developer documentation is at api2.lunchgate.ch/demo.
What industry is Lunchgate in?
Lunchgate's product category is Restaurant Discovery Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAIAK, Restaurant Reservations & Dining Booking Platforms, with a secondary code of HSACALAF, Dining Reservations & Restaurant Booking. Its NAICS code is 72251 and its SIC code is 5810.