The CoverManager Story: The Software Filling Tables in the Global Hospitality Industry

CoverManager is a company based in Seville, Spain, that has revolutionized the hospitality sector through innovative technological solutions for comprehensive restaurant management, including reservations, orders, and at-table payments. Since its founding, the company has grown from an emerging startup into an international benchmark, digitizing the operations of thousands of restaurants, including high-end establishments and Michelin-starred venues. This is the CoverManager story.

The idea for CoverManager arose from observing a real need within the restaurant sector: optimizing reservation management. The founders realized that many establishments struggled to maximize occupancy and improve customer experience using manual, disconnected processes. Consequently, they decided to develop a platform that would facilitate not only bookings but also the end-to-end management of the restaurant.

CoverManager has established itself as one of the most prominent Spanish startups in the tech sector. Founded in 2015 by José Antonio Pérez Moral and Carlos Pérez Fernández, the company has evolved from a local reservation management solution into a global platform that integrates marketing, sales (bookings), at-table payments, and customer loyalty services. With a valuation of hundreds of millions of euros, a presence in dozens of countries, and a portfolio of thousands of restaurants, its history is a testament to innovation, adaptation, and strategic vision.

In its early years, the company operated using its own resources, without external investment, managing to double its size year after year. This period was marked by the validation of its software within the Spanish market, attracting clients ranging from Michelin-starred restaurants to emerging chains. Over time, they brought in external investors, opening the doors to international expansion and the development of a wide range of services adaptable to any restaurant or hospitality business.

CoverManager. Restaurant management and marketing software.

The Founders of CoverManager

CoverManager was founded in 2015 by Seville natives José Antonio Pérez Moral (born 1984) and Carlos Pérez Fernández (born 1985). Carlos has been passionate about computing since childhood; he began programming at the age of 12 using his brother’s ZX Spectrum. With a grandfather who was an aeronautical engineer and a father who was an industrial engineer, technology was always a natural part of his family life. Carlos studied Computer Engineering at the University of Seville. He mentions that he was never a top student, but his love for hardware and robotics made engineering the obvious choice.

During his final year of university, Carlos did an internship at an online toy store startup. It was a small company that gave him the opportunity to work across various departments. He was deeply impressed by the entrepreneurial environment within the startup. After completing his studies, he worked as a software developer for several companies, specializing in e-commerce.

As for José Antonio, he recalls dreaming since childhood of being part of creating and building something. He studied Telecommunications Engineering. After graduating, he worked first in the aeronautical sector and later in the electrical industry. Since his brother was also an entrepreneur, José Antonio didn’t hesitate to leave his job to start his own venture. He believed that entering the hospitality sector made perfect sense due to its massive scale. Being a highly traditional industry, it offered countless opportunities for innovation.

The toy startup where Carlos had worked encouraged him to attend entrepreneurial events, where José Antonio was already a regular. This shared habit likely led them to cross paths at an event in Seville called Iniciador. This event aimed to create a space for collaboration, training, and networking, allowing entrepreneurs to validate their ideas, gain new knowledge, and connect with potential investors and mentors. Ultimately, these chance encounters blossomed into a friendship and a shared drive to create something together.

Founders of CoverManager: José Antonio Pérez Moral and Carlos Pérez Fernández.

How CoverManager Was Created

José Antonio was the first of the partners to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. In May 2010, he co-founded Yspoon alongside Daniel Escribano Alés. Yspoon was a company that delivered daily set menus to employees and workers, ensuring they didn’t have to prepare food at home or look for a place to eat near the office. They delivered the chosen meals directly to the workplace. Unfortunately, they faced fierce competition from rivals with greater resources and geographical reach, such as El Tenedor (now TheFork) and Restaurantes.com. In May 2012, they shut down operations.

A few months later, in September 2012, José Antonio came up with another idea: Restaurant50. Created alongside Ignacio Candau García, this company aimed to manage last-minute restaurant reservations. If a restaurant had empty tables at the last minute, they managed their occupancy in exchange for price discounts. Carlos Pérez joined Restaurant50 as one of its first employees in July 2013. Knowing Carlos’s coding skills, José Antonio did not hesitate to offer him the position of CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Carlos possessed great dexterity in writing code and was capable of solving any challenge thrown his way.

After nearly two years of hard work, they finally closed the project in 2015. Ultimately, high operational costs left margins too thin to guarantee its viability. As José Antonio himself noted: “In 2013, I started with an app and a website acting as a sales channel for restaurants. The idea was to get the best last-minute table. The best table was either the one with the best price or one that had been cancelled at the last second. Although this didn’t succeed either, that’s where we realized that the best table is the one that gets resold after someone cancels.“

Finding himself without a project once again, José Antonio decided to take a more measured approach. After interviewing more than 200 restaurateurs, he realized that the core issue for restaurants was reservation management and, above all, how to solve the problem of customers who book but do not show up (no-shows). The latter causes losses that can exceed 15% of annual revenue. According to José Antonio: “I realized I was doing it wrong. I was starting from creating a solution, whereas I should have been starting from a problem. I dedicated myself to listening and seeing what the restaurateurs’ actual problems were.“

Finally, he saw clearly where the opportunity lay. He pitched the idea to Carlos, and both decided to go all in. In October of that year, they created CoverManager. Fortunately, there were similarities between Restaurant50 and the new project, allowing them to reuse nearly 40% of the code from the first venture. The new idea was to create reservation management software that restaurateurs could use under a SaaS (Software As A Service) model. As they stated, together they invested €250,000 from their personal savings.

Crucially, the experience both gained with Restaurant50 became the technological and operational foundation that enabled this new launch to be much more agile than its predecessor. This proves, once again, that a seeming failure can become a springboard for innovation and success.

CoverManager’s Initial Business Model

José Antonio and Carlos built a team well-equipped to face the challenge. José Antonio brought hands-on experience from launching two previous entrepreneurial projects in the industry. For his part, Carlos had accumulated extensive expertise in developing this type of solution. Both understood the sector’s needs and had a clear vision of how they could add value. José Antonio took on the role of CEO (Chief Executive Officer), while Carlos became the CTO (Chief Technology Officer).

Their core focus was to create a scalable, comprehensive solution. However, they initially zeroed in on solving the issue of reservations where customers failed to show up (no-shows). To achieve this, their first step was to digitize and automate the booking process. In the beginning, the software sent automatic reminders to customers to confirm their attendance (either via SMS or app notifications).

This solution evolved and grew more sophisticated over time, turning into an innovative system based on two fundamental pillars:

Financial Guarantee: At the time of booking, a specific amount is held on the customer’s credit card. This amount is released if the customer shows up; otherwise, it is paid to the establishment as compensation for the financial loss caused by the cancellation.
Risk Management: Over time, the solution integrated an algorithm that analyzed the risk associated with each reservation. Depending on the customer’s risk profile or the type of service, a different hold amount was applied. To do this, the tool automatically connected with the booking systems of hotels, restaurants, and other services. This ensured transparent, real-time management, reducing manual intervention and errors.

The result marked a definitive before and after for restaurants. CoverManager led to a significant improvement in optimizing venue occupancy, allowing them to drastically cut financial losses from unfulfilled bookings. According to CoverManager, revenue losses due to no-shows dropped from 15% to just 2% for some restaurants.

Furthermore, they also wanted to innovate by breaking away from the traditional commission-based model. While food delivery and booking platforms like El Tenedor/TheFork charged a commission of between 15% and 25% of the bill—heavily eroding restaurant profitability—CoverManager’s proposal was based on a fixed monthly fee (starting from €99). In addition, establishments could manage reservations directly from their own websites, cutting out intermediaries. This B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) approach remains in place today.

Notably, CoverManager develops technology for the hospitality industry, making it what is known as a hospitality-tech company. This technology refers to solutions used within the hospitality sector, including hotels, restaurants, and travel services. Generally, its purpose is to improve operations and guest experiences through marketing, booking, back-of-house management, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

Validation of the Model

Looking back, the founders and analysts themselves state that CoverManager’s growth progressed through distinct phases. The initial high-stakes phase, focused entirely on validating the business model, was followed by stages of expansion and internationalization before the company established itself as a promising global model.

CoverManager officially launched in 2015 with 14 pilot restaurants in Seville. Fortunately, some of these were iconic venues, such as Taberna del Alabardero or Abades Triana, which served as excellent brand ambassadors. Once the model was validated, they rapidly expanded to Madrid and Barcelona. This initial legwork was highly intense and challenging, but they successfully closed 2016 with a portfolio of 87 clients and a turnover of €120,000. Furthermore, their customer retention rate was remarkably high due to their dedication to providing deeply personalized support.

From its inception, the platform was designed to cater to high-end restaurants. This made their solutions highly attractive to the top establishments in the city, including Michelin-starred venues. As a result, the platform grew steadily across Spain. Over time, CoverManager expanded its offerings to meet the needs of a more diverse range of establishments, including independent restaurants, food chains, and businesses across different market segments.

In 2017, they successfully synchronized their platform’s bookings with TripAdvisor, Google, and TheFork. This integration attracted major restaurant chains like Goiko Grill and allowed them to acquire 320 new clients across Spain. With morale at an all-time high, they set out to capture the wider Spanish market.

During these early days, CoverManager’s growth was driven fundamentally by the continuous validation of its model.

Expansion and Internationalization

Everything indicated that they had the right tools demanded by the market and that they had found the appropriate business model to leverage them. Given their unstoppable growth rate, they decided it was time to look beyond the domestic market and pursue international expansion.

They wanted to avoid taking on debt and were deeply concerned about making missteps, especially at a time when they had come so far. Consequently, they prioritized operational loyalty and retention over massive customer acquisition. To make the international leap, they decided to target countries that met the following criteria:

High density of premium restaurants (more than 15 per 100,000 inhabitants).
Favorable legislation for SaaS tools.
Low penetration of direct competitors.

Following these guidelines, they expanded into Portugal first in 2019, followed by Italy. To replicate their Spanish success, they set up local teams of 3 to 5 people (sales, support, and a country manager). Through them, they focused on acquiring iconic local clients who could serve as brand ambassadors and examples for the rest of the market.

By the end of 2019, they had 1,200 clients, 15 employees, and a turnover of €2.1 million. While this made them highly optimistic, the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly hit, and everything ground to a halt. However, far from giving up, they saw this as the perfect time to focus on improving their solutions and making a qualitative leap. In 2020, they offered free licenses and launched their delivery service (CoverAtHome), connecting their platform with third-party delivery companies (they did not handle the delivery logistics themselves). This allowed restaurants to use the platform to keep serving meals at home. As a result, they gained 620 new clients in 2020 and reached a turnover of €4.5 million.

The year 2021 was likewise a period of major growth. To give an idea of their market mix, 65% of their clients were independent restaurants (ranging from 25 to 50 tables), 20% were restaurant chains (such as Goiko or La Mafia), and the remaining 15% were premium, internationally recognized establishments like DiverXO (Dabiz Muñoz), El Celler de Can Roca (the Roca brothers), Aponiente (Ángel León), or Smoked Room (Dani García). In fact, 12 of the top 50 Spanish restaurants were already using CoverManager.

CoverManager's Turnover (Source: historical records and projections). — CoverManager’s Turnover (Source: historical records and projections).

Entry of Investors

During these first six years, the founders received various investment offers; however, they turned them down in order to maintain operational control, prioritizing the company’s organic growth. Nevertheless, they eventually felt the time had come to take their expansion to the next level. Although their recurring revenue was highly reliable, it was not enough to fund the massive growth potential they envisioned. They had managed to get this far using their own savings and revenue, but turning their idea into a global enterprise meant taking risks, which led them to seek outside help.

In 2022, they decided it was time not only to seek capital but also specialized guidance to help them scale the business. In May of that year, they closed a seed funding round, raising €35 million. Prominent industry figures stood out among the investors, including Félix Ruiz (co-founder of Tuenti and Playtomic, contributing €12M), Javier Gutiérrez (CEO of Grupo Dani García, €8M), Paco Ávila (founder of Medac, €7M), and Fernando Martínez (Alia Capital, €5M), among others. Following this investment, the company was valued at €150 million, with the founders retaining a 75% stake.

These contributions provided not only financial backing but also access to expertise networks and crucial advice for the company’s growth. Paco Ávila, one of the investors, stated: “We would have to be very clumsy if, with this group we’ve assembled, we aren’t able to accelerate the company’s growth in an impactful way. It is highly possible that we have found Spain’s next unicorn.”

Subsequently, in December 2022, the British boutique investment bank GP Bullhound injected an additional €14 million, alongside another €3 million from Félix Ruiz, bringing the total funding raised to €52 million. This transaction placed the Spanish company’s valuation at €140 million. By the end of 2022, CoverManager had 6,800 clients, 170 employees, and a turnover of €14 million.

CoverManager’s Acquisitions

In 2022, they opened offices in Chile and Mexico and entered Germany, where they also acquired the restaurant reservation company Seatris.ai (October 2022). This acquisition, paid partly in cash and partly in shares, brought in 1,200 clients from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, while adding its AI technology for demand forecasting to CoverManager’s suite of solutions (CoverBookings, CoverAtHome, CoverOntheGo, and CoverAtTable).

Driven by this growth acceleration race, in 2023 they acquired the company PremiumGuest (with a rumored purchase price of €15 million). Founded in 2018 by Anxo Coterillo, Pol Domingo, Iñaki Morton, and Vicent Guasch, PremiumGuest aimed to digitize the nightlife and leisure sector by replacing manual processes with software (ticketing, table booking, sales channel management, public relations, etc.). Thanks to this move, CoverManager successfully broke into 400 nightclubs and beach clubs, perhaps the most famous being Pacha Ibiza.

In October 2023, they took another step forward by acquiring the French company Guestonline. Established in 2007, this company was a pioneer in the French restaurant reservation software market. Together, CoverManager and Guestonline became service providers to more than 400 Michelin-starred restaurants, including those of renowned chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Sébastien Bras, Glenn Viel, Alexandre Mazzia, Kei Kobayashi, Hugo Roellinger, Ángel León, Joan Roca, Dani García, Dabiz Muñoz, and Quique Dacosta. The integration was fully finalized by the end of 2024, when Guestonline officially rebranded and adopted the CoverManager name.

Consolidation as a Global Standard

One can easily imagine that the last two years have been an absolute whirlwind for the two founders. Accustomed to hard work and growing steadily, step by step, they suddenly found themselves swept into a financial, organizational, and infrastructure growth vortex that would overwhelm anyone. Fortunately, they found the right advisors.

As a result, they entered 2024 with offices in five European countries (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Germany) and three American countries (Chile, Colombia, and Mexico), boasting a portfolio of 16,000 clients across 25 countries and a turnover of €25 million. Their clientele includes some of the finest restaurants in the world.

According to José Antonio Pérez: “We are the perfect ally in hospitality technology, and we focus on the front-end—meaning we provide solutions to improve demand, operations, marketing, and customer loyalty.” If that weren’t enough, CoverManager allows its solutions to integrate with more than 40 back-end software systems (orders, point of sale, and stock management). All of this data is integrated into the client’s CRM to provide various analytics and reports to assist in strategic decision-making.

Looking ahead, José Antonio affirms: “The digitalization of this industry, combining all competitors, is currently under 4%. What we want is to be world leaders.” Between Europe and America, there are roughly one million restaurants, of which only 1.6% use CoverManager, so there is still plenty of work to be done.

In the United States, they already have their first 200 clients. By March 2025, they had surpassed 18,000 clients, which translates to managing around 25 million diners per month. They expect turnover to reach €40 million by the end of the year, with the company’s valuation already hitting €340 million. Everyone hopes it will successfully achieve unicorn status.

In Carlos’s words: “From here on out, the entire history of Cover is yet to be written if we want to reach the whole world and become truly global.” José Antonio puts it this way: “The big dream, really, is to leave a legacy. To make Cover the technology standard for the hospitality industry.”

CoverManager’s Technological Solutions

CoverManager’s core solution consisted of creating a booking guarantee system by implementing a preventative credit card hold. In doing so, the company not only protected the revenues of establishments but also incentivized clients to honor their bookings, significantly reducing the industry’s issue with no-shows.

Having achieved its initial goal, and since CoverManager’s broader objective was to support restaurants in the overall management of their sales, they gradually developed complementary solutions to meet various client needs. For instance, beyond reservation management, some venues required a queue management tool, at-table ordering integration, or food delivery operations.

Another major advantage of CoverManager’s solutions is that they are integrated directly into the restaurant’s own website, requiring no software installation or external app downloads. This ensures that the restaurant maintains its brand identity throughout its relationship with customers.

The primary tools developed by CoverManager include the following:

CoverBookings (2015) for reservation management. It allows for table assignment and can redirect demand from one restaurant to another within the same chain.
CoverAtTable (2018) for at-table ordering and payments via QR code. It offers digital menus and bill-splitting per diner, which is particularly useful during staffing shortages.
CoverAtHome (2020) for delivery and takeaway logistics management. This option enables customers to order food through social media.
CoverAssistant (2021) for call management powered by conversational artificial intelligence (AI). The system automatically records restaurant bookings through a virtual assistant. It speaks 8 languages and adapts its tone to each restaurant (formal for Michelin-starred venues and casual for others).
CoverDigital (2022) for automated SEO and digital marketing management. This tool helps increase bookings through the establishment’s direct channels (social media) and boosts online visibility (SEO).
CoverOnTheGo (2022) for queue management at restaurant doors, maximizing occupancy and table turnover. It functions as a virtual clipboard to sign up walk-in customers without a prior booking, allowing guests to track the real-time status of their table request.
CoverEnterprise (2023) is an end-to-end solution designed to serve multinational restaurant chains and high-volume establishments. This solution combines operational management tools, predictive analytics, and large-scale personalization. It manages inventory, marketing campaigns, dynamic pricing, and more, offering corporate integration with ERP, POS, and business intelligence systems.
CoverAnalytics (2024) is a business intelligence tool that predicts demand peaks using historical data and external variables (such as weather or local events). It also identifies the most profitable diners (CLV or Customer Lifetime Value analysis), enabling segmented loyalty campaigns.
Channel Manager (2024) for availability synchronization across more than 15 channels. It enables unified management of different sales channels, capturing demand wherever it occurs to increase bookings.
CoverSense (2025) uses table sensors to automatically analyze the customer experience without requiring verbal feedback. For example, it can detect a customer’s frustration through their tone of voice and alert the manager in real time. In trials conducted across 150 pilot venues, it reduced complaints by 63%.

The ultimate vision is to offer every software tool a restaurant business might need to market and sell its services. This integration eliminates the need for businesses to hire multiple vendors, lowering learning curves and operational costs. Ultimately, CoverManager provides multi-channel sales management, marketing tools (such as mass email campaigns), payment gateways, a CRM, review collection, integration with major food delivery services, and reporting capabilities.

The Sale of CoverManager to PSG Equity

Zenchef is a French company founded in 2011 and a direct competitor of CoverManager. Although it is a much smaller company—serving around 6,000 restaurants—it boasts a strong presence in Northern Europe. Since 2022, the majority shareholder of Zenchef has been PSG Equity. This US-based firm specializes in investing in established technology service companies with validated business models that require capital to scale rapidly. This type of investment firm is known as a growth equity firm.

PSG Equity realized that Zenchef and CoverManager were highly complementary companies. While one operated primarily in Northern Europe, the other dominated Southern Europe and Latin America. Consequently, in July 2025, PSG Equity acquired a majority stake in CoverManager and merged both companies. The transaction valued CoverManager at around €350 million, with more than half paid in cash and the remainder in shares of the newly formed holding company.

Although the companies are merging under a single holding structure, both entities will maintain their respective brands, headquarters, and teams. Thomas Jeanjean, the former CEO of Zenchef, will step up as the CEO of the new group. CoverManager’s founders will continue to lead their company and will join the board of directors of the resulting holding company. Although the exact figures have not been publicly disclosed, sources suggest that the founders held a 70% stake in CoverManager prior to the merger, and that PSG Equity took a 70% stake in the combined group. This indicates that José Antonio and Carlos have retained a significant ownership interest in the new group.

The merger of both companies creates a combined network reaching more than 36,000 restaurants across 20 countries. This includes 800 Michelin-starred establishments, representing 60% of the starred venues in France and Benelux, and 50% of those in Spain. The resulting platform will be fully equipped to compete against the giants of the sector. The synergies achieved will accelerate their goal of building a powerful technology standard, focusing on digitalization, yield optimization, and end-to-end customer journey management through AI-driven solutions.

According to José Antonio Pérez: “Both companies share a common vision centered around giving control back to the restaurant, optimizing their revenue, and improving the customer experience.” He added that the new group will allow them to “create a comprehensive platform driven by data and artificial intelligence, going far beyond traditional reservation systems.“

Photo of CoverManager employees in Seville.

Conclusions on the CoverManager Story

The CoverManager story is an inspiring example of how technological innovation, combined with an entrepreneurial vision and the backing of strategic investors, can transform a traditional sector like hospitality. Armed with solid backgrounds and prior experience, the founders successfully identified a genuine market need and developed the right solutions, enabling restaurants to optimize their management and elevate the guest experience. Supported by a well-defined expansion strategy and a growing international presence, CoverManager continues to set trends in the industry, proving that digitalization is key to succeeding in the new era of hospitality.

Delving a bit deeper into this journey, it appears that the secret to their success has been always prioritizing a tangible return on investment (ROI) for their clients above all else. The founders take pride in having actively listened to the real needs of restaurateurs and in being capable of providing the appropriate answers to them.

By the end of 2025, CoverManager occupied a consolidated position in the global market. Backed by a team of nearly 300 employees and software available in eight languages, CoverManager expected to reach a year-end revenue of approximately €40 million, showcasing its capacity to innovate and adapt to the demands of a highly competitive industry.

The founders, José Antonio and Carlos, have demonstrated that resilience and adaptability are essential in the startup ecosystem. CoverManager does not just solve operational challenges in hospitality; it redefines the relationship between restaurants and diners in the digital age. All of this establishes CoverManager as a clear benchmark in hospitality technology (hospitality-tech).

Bibliography

Although the content of this blog is intended for educational and informative purposes, we take data verification very seriously. Our articles are the result of interviews with key figures and industry experts, as well as meticulous research across official sources, media outlets, scientific publications, and in-depth reports. Because of this, the stories we share are often recognized by their own protagonists as highly accurate. In any case, if you spot any errors or inaccuracies, we would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment at the end of the article or let us know at blog@carballar.com.

However, as a non-profit, educational blog, we operate with a lean approach, which means we cannot dedicate the time required to exhaustively reference every single piece of data presented. Nevertheless, should you need to verify any of the figures or information, we have attached some of the primary sources utilized below. Please keep in mind that, since this is a Spanish company, the majority of these sources are in Spanish.