OpenTable

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OpenTable, Inc.
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Type Subsidiary
Founded July 2, 1998; 25 years ago (1998-07-02)
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s) Chuck Templeton
Key people Christa Quarles (CEO)
Matthew Roberts (Chairman)
Jeff McCombs (CFO)
Joseph Essas (CTO)
Industry Hospitality
Products Online restaurant reservations
Revenue Increase US$ 190.05 million (2013)[1]
Operating income Increase US$ 46.429 million (2013)[1]
Profit Increase US$ 33.385 million (2013)[1]
Total assets Increase US$ 310.971 million (2013)[1]
Total equity Increase US$ 230.262 million (2013)[1]
Employees 625 (2013)[1]
Parent The Priceline Group
Website www.opentable.com
Native client(s) on iOS, watchOS, Android, Windows, Windows Phone

OpenTable is an online real-time restaurant-reservation service. According to the company, it provides online reservations for about 31,000 restaurants around the world and seats about 15 million diners a month.[2]

The company was founded by Chuck Templeton in San Francisco, California, in 1998. Reservations are free to end users; the company charges restaurants monthly and per-reservation fees for their use of the system.[3]

In 1999, the website began operations serving a limited selection of restaurants in San Francisco.[4] It has since expanded to cover more than 30,000[5] restaurants in most U.S. states as well as in several major international cities. Reservations can be made online through its website.

On June 13, 2014 the company announced it had agreed to terms with The Priceline Group to be acquired in an all-cash deal for $2.6 billion.[2]

Services

For users

The service allows users to search for restaurants and reservations based on parameters including times, dates, cuisine and price range. Users who have registered their email address with the system will then receive a confirmation email.[6] Users can also receive OpenTable rewards points after dining (100 or 1,000); these points can be redeemed for discounts at member restaurants.[7]

The company also has a mobile application available in Apple's App Store, Blackberry App World, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and Palm App Catalog that allows users to find and book dinner reservations.[8][9]

For restaurants

The service provides restaurant owners with comprehensive reservation management. Subscribing restaurants use an Electronic Reservation Book (ERB) to replace existing paper reservation systems. It provides the ERB is an integrated software and hardware solution that computerizes restaurant host-stand operations. The ERB handles reservation management, table management, guest recognition, and email marketing.[10]

Features include:

  • Reservation management – manages making, changing, canceling and confirming reservations
  • Guest management – keeps track of VIPs, customer preferences and repeat customers; also allows targeted marketing to customers
  • Table management – assists restaurant staff in seating (and even preassigning to seats) customers and tracking table status
  • POS integration – connects ERB to point of sale systems (MICROS, Aloha, Positouch) to retain check spend data by reservation and guest
  • Reports – provides advanced analytics helps sustain and improve restaurant efficiency

Restaurants may also offer 1,000 OpenTable points to diners for reservations at non-peak hours. This acts as an incentive to web reservation users to fill out a restaurant during slow times, resulting in incremental revenue for the restaurant. Restaurants offering these incentives are displayed on the search results page when looking for a reservation.

Criticism

In 2010 San Francisco restaurateur Mark Pastore explained on his then restaurant Incanto's website why it was not listed with Open Table, citing high fees and the control it gave to Open Table of the customer information.[11] The explanation was cited in several publications, including the New York Times.[12]

Initial public offering

OpenTable held its initial public offering (IPO) on May 21, 2009, on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol NASDAQ: OPEN. The underwriters of the IPO were Merrill Lynch, Allen & Company, Stifel Nicolaus, and ThinkEquity.[13]

Markets

The company's home market consists of the United States, however, it has expanded in recent years to include markets including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Acquisitions

On October 1, 2010, the company acquired Toptable, a restaurant reservation site in the UK.[14] On January 29, 2013, the company announced that it entered a definitive agreement to acquire Foodspotting.[15]

Takeover by The Priceline Group

On June 13, 2014 the company agreed to a takeover offer by The Priceline Group of $103 a share, a 46% premium on the previous day's closing stock price. The offer valued the company at $2.6 billion. Both companies said OpenTable would continue to operate as a separate business under the same management.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 OpenTable, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K, February 21, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://incanto.biz/2010/10/22/is-opentable-worth-it/
  12. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12digi.html?_r=0
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ OpenTable Press Release

External links

  • Official website
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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