Top Five Things You Need To Know About OpenTable As A Restaurant System

One interesting topic in the foodservice industry is OpenTable, an online restaurant system that attaches to a restaurant’s existing website, allowing customers to book tables online. I must admit, it sounded like a wonderful idea at first. But truth is some restaurant operators are saying the exact opposite about OpenTable. The consensus is that OpenTable had so much potential were it properly managed by the company that created it.

As a restaurant operator, you must be interested in signing up OpenTable as your online restaurant system. Brooklyn-based technie Jonathan Wegener wrote about OpenTable on his blog. This is what he had to say.

• OpenTable makes money from restaurant businesses that pay a one-time installation charge, a monthly subscription fee, plus another fee for every guest seated through the service.
• OpenTable charges $0.25 per diner booked through the restaurant’s website, and $1 per diner that booked directly through the OpenTable restaurant system.
• According to OpenTable’s finance records, the restaurant system seated 57% of diners directly through its service. The remaining 43% booked through the restaurant’s website. These statistics show OpenTable as an effective marketing tool.
• OpenTable has 8,090 member restaurants that pay $515 each month.
• On average, OpenTable fills 345 seats every month or 14 seats daily.

Okay, let’s talk real numbers. If OpenTable charges $515 and seats 345 diners, on average, every month, then the cost of the restaurant system is closer to $1.50 per diner.

But here is the thing. More or less 43% of OpenTable’s reservations are directed from the restaurant’s website, meaning the customers were going to reserve seats anyway even without OpenTable running things around. Simply put, the customer has already decided to book a table before OpenTable steps in. So the real value of OpenTable’s service is actually 197 new customers for a $515 monthly fee. That’s $2.61 per seated customer.

Another blogger writes about OpenTable,

“In my mind, the question of whether or not to sign up for Open Table boils down to whether or not I feel Contigo needs to take advantage of Open Table’s substantial marketing power.”

The decision is still yours whether OpenTable would prove to be an effective restaurant system for your business. I’m just saying the facts, and the facts are saying that it’s $2.61 per diner, not $1.50.

Do you think a monthly $515 is a worthy investment for this restaurant system?