Frequently asked questions
What FirstSeat does, who it’s for, and how to get started.
What is FirstSeat?
FirstSeat is restaurant lead-intelligence and CRM software built for food and beverage distributors. It surfaces new and soon-to-open restaurants early, enriches them with menu intelligence and contact details, and gives sales teams a built-in CRM with activity reporting and best-fit lead matching — everything a rep needs to find and win new restaurant accounts in one place.
Who is FirstSeat for?
FirstSeat is for food and beverage distributors and their sales teams — reps prospecting new restaurant accounts and managers tracking team activity and pipeline.
How does FirstSeat find new restaurants?
FirstSeat continuously monitors a range of signals across your region to identify new and soon-to-open restaurants — often before they open their doors. That early visibility lets your reps reach the decision-maker ahead of competitors, instead of finding out once the "Now Open" sign is up.
What does FirstSeat’s lead enrichment include?
For each restaurant, FirstSeat automatically gathers the details a rep needs to personalize a pitch: cuisine and menu intelligence (proteins, produce, signature dishes, price point), website, phone, and owner or chef contacts — so your team spends time selling instead of researching.
What are "Top matches"?
Top matches rank the restaurants whose menus best fit what your company sells. Tell FirstSeat your product categories and it scores each enriched lead for fit and drafts a personalized pitch angle — so reps start with the prospects most likely to buy.
Does FirstSeat include a CRM?
Yes. FirstSeat has a built-in CRM: pipeline stages, activity logging (calls, visits, notes), lead assignment and territories, plus per-rep and manager activity reporting — no separate CRM required.
How is FirstSeat different from buying a restaurant lead list?
A purchased list is a stale, one-time snapshot. FirstSeat surfaces restaurants early (often before they open), keeps them enriched and current, ranks them by how well they fit your products, and gives you a CRM to work them — a living prospecting system rather than a download.
Is my data private?
Yes. Each company’s CRM, activity, and any leads you add are private to your account and isolated from every other company on FirstSeat. Your pipeline and notes are yours alone.
What regions does FirstSeat cover?
FirstSeat currently focuses on British Columbia, Canada, with coverage expanding. To ask about your area, reach us at hello@firstseat.io.
Is there a free trial, and how do I get started?
Yes — FirstSeat offers a free trial. Click "Get started" to request it and book a short onboarding call; a consultant will set up your account and walk your team through it. You can also reach us any time at hello@firstseat.io.