MAM
Dineout’s onward march into contactless future of restaurants
NEW DELHI: The ongoing COVID19 crisis is paving the way for a ‘new normal’ as most industry experts are arguing. There is positivity about demand reviving sooner than later, there are going to be newer consumer engagement rules, redefined spaces, and modified demands from not just users but also stakeholders. One of the sectors to quickly get back on track, if China is an example to follow, is going to be the restaurants and related services. There is a lot of pent-up demand in the sector to be addressed; however, a lot of investments in new technologies and ways of indulging a visitor will have to be introduced as there is going to be a lot of apprehensions in a consumer’s mind.
Taking a positive step in this direction, Dineout, one of the topmost digital products companies in the space, has started a slew of initiatives, with its Contactless Dining Suite, to ensure ‘contactless engagement’ at its partner restaurants. Not just that, it has started to extend these services to other categories as well, including hospitals, grocery stores, airports, and alcohol stores.
Dineout co-founder and CEO Ankit Mehrotra told Indiantelevision.com: “Even before the Covid2019 breakout, we were one of the largest tech providers in the restaurant industry, helping them from CRM to cost-management, to billing, etc. A total of 15,000 restaurants were already a part of our network, utilising our software.”
He added: “With contactless, we will have to understand that the idea is not to eliminate contact but make it lesser, taking it out from places where it can be easily avoided.”
Mehrotra explained that with this whole suite, restaurants of tomorrow will function as cinema houses, where one will be able to book the table in advance, and also pre-order food, in theory reducing the amount of time they will be spending there.
In addition to these services, there are going to be digital parking receipts and the visitors will be able to alert the valet to bring their car to the porch while paying the bill. The whole idea is to make the whole experience seamless, reduce time spent at crowded places, and completely take away the need to touch the menu, which is probably the most infected thing at a restaurant.
The exciting part about this the visitors will not have to download the Dineout app to avail these services.
Not just this, Dineout is offering its partner restaurants a yearly package, which will include a one-time set of PPE kits, sterilisation machines for utensils and cutlery, and software suite to manage the bookings and payments.
“All these services come at a very cost-effective solution. The charges depend on a case-to-case basis. We are in touch with around 3000 restaurants where we might be offering an initial six months or so of service for free on a trial basis,” Mehrotra told us.
Dineout is partnering with companies like Equinox to develop these features. It is also in touch with Google to develop certain other features like discovery and reservation models etc.
Some of the companies that have already partnered with Dineout for the Contactless Suite are The Park (Juhu, Mumbai), Hyatt (Pune), Holiday Inn (Delhi), Radisson (Hyderabad), Mad Over Donuts, Mainland China, Giannis and SideWok.
Mehrotra also added that in the next phase, their focus is going to be on architectural changes as well. “We are already working on increasing gaps between seats at partner restaurants. Going ahead, at more crowded places like QSRs, we are planning to install physical partitions. Most of the standing spaces in bars will be turned into seating arrangements to control the crowd.”
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
