Quandoo Türkiye

What did it do?

Quandoo was an online restaurant booking platform founded in Berlin in 2012, which entered Turkey in mid-2013. Users booked tables through the website and app, while restaurants were offered software for managing bookings and capacity. In Turkey it listed restaurants mainly in Istanbul, and in 2015 it enabled bookings through Foursquare.

Why did it shut down?

Quandoo suffered its first jolt in Turkey in 2016; Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, reported that the company had let go of its remaining employees in Turkey, while the company said it was not leaving the market and would continue the operation with a limited team from Germany. According to Webrazzi, the biggest challenge in Turkey and Italy was getting restaurants and users used to booking online. On 24 March 2026 the company announced that it would end all its operations, a business decision taken, as reported by The Straits Times, after a strategic portfolio review. The last day for new bookings was set as 30 September 2026, with consumer services due to end on 1 October 2026. The decision covers every country in which Quandoo operates, including Turkey.

The story

Quandoo arrived in Turkey with a familiar team. According to a January 2014 report by Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, its founders, Philipp Magin, Ronny Lange and Daniel P. Glasner, were the people behind CityDeal, the parent company of Şehir Fırsatı, which had been sold to Groupon. Founded in Berlin in 2012, the online restaurant booking platform entered Turkey in mid-2013; in January 2014 it aimed to grow there on the back of an $8 million Series B from DN Capital and Holtzbrinck Ventures. What set it apart from its rivals was offering restaurants software integrated with till and capacity management.

Growth was fast. In 2015 Japan's Recruit Holdings bought Quandoo for 198.6 million euros. In March 2016 the company said it had reached 13,500 restaurants in seven countries, Turkey among them; the number of restaurants in Turkey and Italy was 5,400. Through a partnership struck in December 2015, Foursquare users could also book tables with Quandoo from within the app. According to Webrazzi, the biggest challenge in these markets was getting restaurants and users used to booking online.

In August 2016 Webrazzi reported that Quandoo had let go of its remaining employees in Turkey and was pulling out of the market. The company denied the report: the Turkish operation would continue with a number of employees determined by the headquarters in Germany. And the platform did indeed carry on listing restaurants in Istanbul.

The final decision came a decade later. On 24 March 2026 Quandoo announced that it would wind down its operations in a planned and orderly way. According to The Straits Times, the company described this as a business decision taken after a strategic portfolio review. According to the announcement on the Turkish site, the last day for new bookings is 30 September 2026; from 1 October all consumer services end, and the site closes completely by the end of the year.

Quandoo's Turkish adventure showed once again how tough the online restaurant booking space, where TheFork and Zomato also struggled, is for foreign players.

Lessons for founders

• In a market where the user habit has not yet formed, calculate the cost of creating demand from the outset.
• A market managed remotely is among the first to be sacrificed when the parent company's priorities shift.
• The future of an acquired start-up depends on its new owner's portfolio strategy.

Sources

1. Important Update About Quandoo Services (Quandoo, 2026-03-24)
2. Restaurant booking platform Quandoo to end services on Sept 30, cease operations by Dec 31 (The Straits Times, 2026-03-26)
3. Quandoo to shut restaurant booking platform by end of 2026 (Verdict Food Service, 2026-03-26)
4. Online booking service Quandoo aims to grow in the Turkish market with fresh investment (Webrazzi, 2014-01-13)
5. Quandoo pulls out of Turkey [Updated] (Webrazzi, 2016-08-02)
6. Quandoo bids for leadership with 13,500 restaurants in 7 countries including Turkey (Webrazzi, 2016-03-04)
7. Recruit Holdings acquires online booking service Quandoo for 198.6 million euros (Webrazzi, 2015-03-05)

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