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By Ed Avis
When Mario Ponce opened Takito Kitchen in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood in 2013, he decided to use OpenTable as his reservation system. Though competitors to that system have emerged in the decade since, he still uses OpenTable for his business, which has grown to three Chicago locations.
“I have a love-hate relationship with OpenTable,” Ponce says. “I love that they bring people in the door, but hate how much it costs.”
Ponce’s situation is not unusual. All restaurant reservation systems have pros and cons, and choosing which is right for your restaurant can be a challenge. Here are seven questions to ask when you are deciding on which reservation system to use.
1) Do I need promotional help from my reservation system? Most POS systems offer a solid reservation program as part of their software package, and if all you need is a basic system that takes and manages reservations, that may be enough. But if you want the promotional help that a more sophisticated system, such as OpenTable or Tock, can offer, you may need to use one of those systems.
For example, Wednesdays are slow at Ponce’s restaurants, so he pays a premium fee to OpenTable to appear higher up in their search page when someone seeks a reservation for that day in his area. Sometimes he goes to the max and pays $7.50 per person, per reservation, for OpenTable’s promotion that gives 1,000 extra points if a customer books that particular restaurant.
“I use that on Wednesday because I’d rather have someone walk through the door than nobody,” he says.
2) What are the demographics of my customer base? Izzy Kharasch, a restaurant consultant and owner of Hospitality Works, says customer base is one of the first considerations when one of his clients is considering what reservation system to take. Why? Because different systems appeal to different groups.
“When my restaurants are choosing a system, I say, ‘Who is your demographic?’” Kharasch says. “Tock is very hot with the younger crowd, 20 to 35. OpenTable is more classic now. It’s the first one people used and appeals to a crowd that is looking for points, for a more classic reservation experience. My managers who are younger are always pushing for Tock. The managers from fine dining and higher check average restaurants tend to like OpenTable.”
3) Where is your restaurant located? Restaurants surrounded by tough competition may need a different system than one in a smaller community or that has a long-established loyal customer base.
For example, Sandoval’s Café & Cantina in Portland, Oregon takes most of their reservations by phone, because they have a loyal customer base that is accustomed walking in and getting a table right away, and if they are bringing a larger group, just calling ahead to make sure a table will be available.
“We’re a neighborhood restaurant,” says Danny Sandoval, the restaurant owner. “We’ve been here for 27 years, and our customers know that if they’re bringing in a group, they need to make a reservation by phone. If they just call on the fly, nine times out of 10 we won’t have room. But if they call in the morning, we’ll tie up the tables for them.”
In contrast, a restaurant in a highly competitive neighborhood may need a highly visible system like OpenTable, Tock or Resy.
“If one of my clients is in a city and is looking for a system, I tell them to look at OpenTable or Tock,” Kharasch says. “Because customers in or near big cities tend to use those systems to find a restaurant. But as we get farther out from the city, those systems are not necessarily the standard.”
4. What features do you want? All reservation systems do the basics – take reservations, coordinate those reservations with your dining room layout and POS system, and help remind customers of reservations. But there are a lot of potential features beyond those.
For example, Citlali Mendieta uses Tock for her restaurant Antigua Latin Inspired Kitchen in Milwaukee. Among the Tock features she appreciates are that she can do ticketed events – she used that feature for a special prepackaged Thanksgiving dinner during Covid – and the ability to charge for reservations. She has charged customers for reservations for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and other big days.
“That has worked well to prevent no-shows,” Mendieta says. “We only do it for those special days.”
OpenTable has the option to require people to provide a credit card when making a reservation, and Ponce says he uses that option during busy days.
“If Mr. Jones decides to no-show, we have the right to charge him a fee for not coming,” Ponce explains. “Now, there’s a good and a bad about this. We’ve never charged anybody, because we know the consequences – a one-star review, ‘They had the audacity to charge us for not showing up’ – and it’s such a small percentage of customers who no-show. We like the guarantee of the fee, but the truth is, we don’t charge people if they don’t show up.”
Ponce also likes how OpenTable helps him manage the dining room flow and customer experience. “We get a lot of data on our customers,” he says. “OpenTable tells us the history of the customer’s spend, and we can send them notes and text messages. As a table management tool we know when the customer is paying the check, because the software integrates with our POS system. So when Mr. Jones pays for his meal, we know that his table will open shortly.”
5. Are big groups and/or catering events important to my restaurant? Some reservation systems are better than others when it comes to promoting your restaurant’s ability to handle large groups or catered events.
For example, Ponce pays an extra $99 per month for OpenTable’s private party booking option, and he feels it’s worth it.
“If you’re the secretary for a corporation and the boss says, ‘Book a dinner for 20 people,’ you go to OpenTable and there’s an option there for parties,” he explains. “We show up there, and even one of those parties can be thousands of dollars in revenue. It’s paid for itself.”
6. How much do you want to pay? All of the reservation systems have some kind of fee. If you use the system that comes with your point of sale (POS) system, it’s probably already part of your fee so there’s no extra cost.
OpenTable charges a monthly fee ranging from $39 to $449, depending on the features you want, and per-guest fee that ranges from $1 to $7.50.
“It gets more expensive if you participate, as we do, in the promotional campaigns,” Ponce says. “My bills are $1,200 to $1,500 per month, up to $5,000 when we get aggressive. But it does bring people through the door.”
Tock charges a monthly fee ranging from $79 to $769 per month, but with no per-guest fee. Resy charges $249 to $899 per month, with varying services at each level. Mendieta, who has used Tock, Resy, Yelp and OpenTable, appreciates the flat fee that Tock offers: “Tock is definitely the most affordable,” she says.
7. How should I manage reviews? All of the major systems – OpenTable, Tock and Resy – provide a way for customers to submit reviews -- they send a message to each diner after the visit and request a review -- and provide a way for the restaurant to respond to the review.
“I like how Tock collects the review on our behalf,” Mendieta says. “And we can reply with emails or texts from the app.”
The bottom line is that all the reservation systems have pros and cons, and which is system is right for your restaurant depends on your situation. “It’s really a matter of deciding what’s right for each restaurant,” Kharasch says.
Why Take Reservations?
An el Restaurante reader survey in January 2024 showed that 52 percent of Mexican restaurants take reservations all the time, and an additional 17 percent rake them during busy days and times.
Why do they take reservations?
The number one reason, according to the survey, is because the restaurants know that customers appreciate the certainty that they’ll get a table. Seventy-five percent of the survey respondents said that is one reason they take reservations.
The next most popular reason, chosen by 69 percent, was because taking reservations helps manage the dining room flow (respondents could choose as many answers as applied). Related to that is staffing – half of the respondents said they take reservations so that they know how much staff to schedule.
“The main reason we take reservations is to make sure we can staff properly,” says Danny Sandoval, owner of Sandoval’s Café & Cantina in Portland, Oregon. “When we get a group of 10 or more, we need to have someone extra because that person will be dominated by that reservation.”
Another popular reason for taking reservations is so that the restaurant gets to know their customer base a little better, and so they can learn if a particular guest has a special request or allergy issue. About half of the respondents selected those reasons.
Finally, about 44 percent of respondents said they take reservations so that they can plan their food purchases effectively.
Webinar: How to Choose a Reservation System
Want to hear directly from restaurant owners about how they chose the reservation system they are using? Then register for a free webinar on the topic on March 7 at 10 am Central. The event, hosted by el Restaurante, will feature a panel of Mexican restaurant owners discussing the reservation systems they use. Register via the QR code below or at https://bit.ly/ChooseReservationSystem
Click here to go to the next article in this edition, The Appeal of Pox and Sotol