Fantong.com, a once-famous website for catering reservations, is suspected of going bankrupt. Yesterday, a reporter from Nandu logged into the official website of fantong.com and found that the page could no longer be opened, and its customer service hotline 400 was busy and no one could answer the call. Nandu reporters learned from people close to Fantong.com that Zang Li, the founder of Fantong.com, has gone abroad.

One of the earliest catering reservation websites in China

Fantong.com is one of the earliest websites in China to provide catering reservations. It was established in 2003. Its business model is similar to Dianping. It mainly provides consumers with restaurant reservation services and free catering discounts. The initial establishment model of Fantong.com was very simple. The main purpose was for restaurants to put their information on Fantong.com. While users could inquire and book restaurants in a targeted manner, they could also enjoy the discounted prices agreed between Fantong.com and the restaurant. Fantong.com attracts user traffic through discounts and continuously finds new customers for restaurants through user ordering. Data show that in July 2008, Fantong.com received nearly 30 million yuan (US$4 million) in venture capital from four overseas venture capital companies represented by Japan Asia Investment. Subsequently, the development of Fantong.com once covered 80 cities in China and provided information on more than 500,000 restaurants.

Has been paralyzed since April this year

Nandu reporters learned from resigned employees that Fantong.com has been paralyzed since April this year, and some employees have been owed 11 months of wages. "Fantong.com, which was impacted by the group buying industry, once launched Fantong Rice Balls to save the situation, but consumers did not buy it. Later, there were buyers who wanted to acquire it, but it failed in the final stage."