The French Laundry Goes Online with OpenTable.com
February 12, 2003
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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (February 12, 2003) — OpenTable, Inc. (www.opentable.com), the leading provider of guest and table management systems to restaurants and free online reservations to consumers, today announced that The French Laundry Restaurant has joined the OpenTable network, allowing diners worldwide to make reservations online for one of the country’s most revered dining establishments. Starting immediately, lunch and dinner reservations can be made for The French Laundry at www.OpenTable.com, providing diners with an instant indication of table availability.
The French Laundry has garnered numerous awards for its cuisine and service, including James Beard Foundation awards for Outstanding Chef and annual Zagat Survey rankings for Top Food and Most Popular restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Reservations for The French Laundry’s intimate dining room of 17 tables are among the most sought after in the world. It is estimated that the restaurant receives 300 calls per day for reservations two months in advance of the calendar date, and that as many as 200 callers per day receive a busy signal.
“To give our customers a better experience reaching us, we looked at various alternatives,” said Laura Cunningham, General Manager of The French Laundry. “Online reservations were a great option for our clientele.”
Now, diners everywhere can quickly check The French Laundry’s table availability online instead of calling, often to find that the restaurant is booked. Guests can log onto OpenTable.com 24 hours a day, search for table availability, make reservations and receive instant confirmation of their reservation. To make a reservation for The French Laundry on OpenTable.com, diners can find it listed as “The French Laundry” in the Wine Country region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Fifty percent of The French Laundry’s customers visit the restaurant from outside of the Napa Valley, and 40% visit from outside the state of California. The ability to reserve through OpenTable.com will give the restaurant’s large contingent of out-of-town and international customers a better option for making reservations.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have The French Laundry in our network and to offer our valued diners tables at one of the most esteemed restaurants in the world. Having a world-class destination restaurant such as The French Laundry join the OpenTable network attests to the appeal and efficiency of making restaurant reservations online,” said Thomas Layton, CEO of OpenTable, Inc. “This addition to our more than 1,300 top restaurants across the country demonstrates the power of the network and the benefits of the OpenTable System.”
OpenTable Provides More Than Just Internet Reservations
As a restaurant on the OpenTable network, The French Laundry adopted the OpenTable System, a computerized reservation systemthat replaces traditional pen-and-paper reservation books. The restaurant’s online and telephone reservations and its waitlist are entered and managed within the OpenTable System. The system’s customer database provides The French Laundry with an effective way to stay abreast of guest preferences and dining histories. In addition, the restaurant is using the OpenTable software to seat guests and match servers to tables.
"Excellent service is essential to providing our customers with an exceptional dining experience. OpenTable offered an effective option for allowing customers access to reservations. If a customer dined with us two years ago, we want to know who served them, what they ate and what their preferences were. The OpenTable System provides us with an easy-to-use database that gives our staff quick access to the information.” said Chef Thomas Keller.
About OpenTable, Inc.
OpenTableis revolutionizing the world of fine-dining reservations by providing high technology to restaurants and free, instant online reservations to consumers. The company provides restaurants with incremental reservations, advanced marketing capabilities, and operational efficiency by providing a computerized reservation system that replaces the traditional pen-and-paper reservation book. All reservations -- whether from the Internet or the telephone -- are entered into the OpenTable System. The resulting customer database allows the restaurant to understand and segment its guests and conduct marketing programs based on guest preferences and dining histories.
Diners can go to www.OpenTable.com at any time to scan for available tables and instantly confirm a reservation. This free online reservation service eliminates the inconvenience of multiple telephone calls, busy signals, waiting on hold and restaurant answering machines. OpenTable extends the convenience of instant, 24by7 restaurant reservations to hotel concierges, travel agents and administrative assistants. The company works with many distribution partners, including American Express, Citysearch.com, Digital Cities, Zagat Survey, washingtonpost.com, Time Out New York, and the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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