The restaurant global restaurant industry hosts an estimated 15,000,000 restaurants worldwide and is projected to grow to a total market value of $3,800 billion by 2019.
In a Harvard Business School Study, Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com, Michael Luca analyzed restaurant revenue records at the Washington State Department of Revenue from the period of 2003-2009 to determine the impact Yelp.com had on the restaurant industry. The impact of Yelp alone on the restaurant industry was absolutely disruptive beyond what was anticipated.
Luca discovered that a one-star increase in a Yelp rating, correlated to a 5-9 percent revenue increase. He further noted this revenue impact was isolated to independent restaurants, as chain restaurants received no measurable impact from a higher Yelp rating. However, chain restaurants were not immune from the disruptive nature of Yelp reviews. During the age of Yelp, chain restaurant revenues decreased as Yelp penetration increased in the marketplace. Furthermore, he discovered for Seattle alone, Yelp had over 60,000 restaurant reviews covering seventy percent (70%) of all operational restaurants in 2009.
Since the launch and its subsequent success, the restaurant review space has been flooded with review sites (Yelp, Eat24, Open Table, Gayot, Zagat, Zomato, Menupages, Groupon, etc.) and new trends have emerged as a result.
A half-star improvement on Yelp's five-star rating system makes it 39 to 49 percent more likely that a restaurant will sell out seats during peak hours.
68 percent of restaurant owners in the United States actively monitor and manage reviews on multiple review sites, and 57 percent of customers say they will avoid a business that has negative reviews and ratings.
According to eMarketer, 88 percent of internet users read online reviews to determine the quality of local businesses.
The Synchrolife Project
Into this disparate world of centralized restaurant review sites, loyalty rewards programs and discounted offerings comes an ERC20 blockchain solution named Synchrolife.
What is Synchrolife?
“SynchroLife is a worldwide decentralized restaurant recommendation platform that utilizes artificial intelligence, Ethereum’s smart contracts, and an Ethereum based original token. SynchroLife is creating a token-based economy connecting users and restaurants together, and where food lovers from around the world will be rewarded for sharing accurate information and high-quality reviews of restaurants."
“SynchroLife aims to create a constantly updated, maintained, and worldwide platform of trustworthy, accurate, and helpful restaurant information and recommendations. SynchroLife also aims to build a database of user’s eating habits, restaurant preferences, and overall tastes from which artificial intelligence can provide each individual user with personalized restaurant recommendations that are adjusted specifically to them. With artificial intelligence based recommendations and blockchain based high-quality restaurant information, SynchroLife will become the new standard.”
Initial Coin Offer Overview
The Synchrolife Coin Crowdsale is scheduled to run from August 16, 2017, at 12:00 PM GMT through September 13, 2017, 11:59 AM GMT (4 Weeks). Synchrolife has opted for a one-time 100,000,000 Total Token Issue (Fixed, Non-Inflationary Pool).
Fixed Pool Distribution Breakdown
- 55,000,000 Distributed During Crowdsale Period
- 5,000,000 Early Investor Incentive Pool (Paid Out Based Upon Bonus Schedule Below)
- 20,000,000 Fixed Non-Inflationary Reward Pool
- 9,500,000 Retained for Synchrolife Team, Advisors and Partners
- 9,500,000 Retained for Marketing Initiatives, SynchroLife Team Growth, and Future Partnerships
- 1,000,000 Retained for Bounty Program
Early Investor Incentive Pool Breakdown and Key Dates
- First 24 Hours (20% Bonus)
- August 17, 2017 ‒ August 24, 2017 (15% Bonus)
- August 24, 2017 ‒ August 31, 2017 (10% Bonus)
- August 31, 2017 ‒ September 7, 2017 (10% Bonus)
- September 7, 2017 ‒ September 13, 2017 (0% Bonus)
Team Overview Summary
Chief Executive Officer Tomochika Kamiya
Chief Director Laura Symborski
Development Director Hiroshi Mita
Creative Director Shun Sato
Investment Thesis
Disclaimer: This is Not Investment Advice. Please Conduct Your Own Due Diligence and Consult a Licensed Financial Planner Before Engaging in any Trading Activity
I believe the Synchrolife token presents a rare investment opportunity (rather than speculative opportunity) in emerging blockchain technology. This is a company with an existing application, user base and business model which stands to benefit from tokenizing. The company has established a solid business model and early successes which create a compelling reason to purchase this token.
Beta Application and Results
Synchrolife initially released a beta version of their mobile first web application in Japan. It grew to accommodate a passionate fan base of 32,000 active users, who generated 150,000 restaurant ratings and posted 300,000 food, menu, interior and exterior photos of 77,000 unique restaurants throughout Japan. This has all happened prior to the introduction of tokens and platform decentralization through the blockchain.
It follows that user engagement should increase with the introduction of a token based gamification. Additionally, the mobile first application supports four languages (English, Korean, Traditional Chinese and Japanese), which makes it available for use in 155 countries worldwide.
Current Revenue Model
Unlike the vast majority of ICOs which are hitting the marketplace, Synchrolife has a true business plan which discloses a cohesive revenue model for their operation. It generates revenue from both the user and the participating restaurants through a variety of methods:
Users - Premium Membership Fees and Digital Coupon Sales
Participating Restaurants - Advertising Revenue, CRM Tool Fees, and Cryptocurrency Based Transaction Fees
Clear Road Map with Key Milestones of Entrenchment
The roadmap lays out a plan to position Synchrolife well in the crypto space, with development of a multi-currency wallet (accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Synchrocoin) and the release of a Synchro debit card, which would allow users to make purchases with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Synchrocoin by May 2019.
Synchrolife is possibly one of the best positioned blockchain tokens to for success. This should absolutely be a token to purchase and hold in any portfolio.