Maitre D'igital Part II
April 15, 2006
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However, if it wasn't for the insistence of his managers, his team would still be answering phones and entering reservations by hand.
"They had to talk me into using OpenTable. There are a lot of products out there designed to take money out of the restaurant owner's pocket. I waited to see which online reservation service won the war," he said.
Wolkon decided to try it for a year. "Now, I think it's great. We have a phone message that directs customers to make reservations online."
Wolkon admits to the error of his ways. "In retrospect, I was proven wrong and I'm man enough to admit it. Listen, everybody wants to eat at 7:30 or 8 p.m. on a Friday. Everyone would show up at once and get seated at once. It was hard to control the flow of the food and service. Now they will make reservations earlier or later and don't have to stand around for two hours in the bar."
In January alone, Wolkon said Vesta Dipping Grill received reservations for 479 "covers" (or diners) directly through OpenTable.com, and 1,020 through Vesta's Web site, which routes diners to OpenTable.
"The January monthly report also tells me that 52 percent of those customers were first-time diners and that the average dinner ticket was $40 (per person)," he said.
"It really has made a difference. If you take reservations, you almost have to use it."
That's not to say that OpenTable has no quirks and problems.
"We've had situations where someone tries to make a reservation on a night when we are booked solid and the system offers the next available reservation, which may be the next day or the next week. Sometimes diners don't look closely enough and show up on the wrong day. That happened on Valentine's Day. It was tough."
Joy Tagert, OpenTable's director of sales for the United States from Colorado east, suggested that it's just a matter of time before most upscale restaurants join the fold.
"If you use it, it can elevate the quality of the service. The Denver market has become a lot more sophisticated," said Tagert, who lives in the suburbs south of Denver.
OpenTable has been available in Colorado for six years. The 120 restaurants already signed up will be joined, Tagert said, by 10 or 12 more soon, including Dave Query's roster of LoLa, Jax Fish House, Rhumba, Zolo and the West End Tavern.
Still on the sidelines
OpenTable is the big dog of online reservations, with only a few small competitors and restaurants that take reservations individually. "Our major competition is paper and pen," said Tagert.
Count the general manager of Denver's oldest operating restaurant, the venerable Buckhorn Exchange, among the naysayers. It opened in 1893, long before the advent of telephones and most other modern conveniences we take for granted.
"We've looked at OpenTable but we've always turned it down," said Bill Dutton, longtime general manager of the museum-like eatery that specializes in buffalo and game.
"Being a small restaurant, capital investment like that is prohibitive," he said, while admitting to a deeper, psychological reason.
"I don't like the idea of turning over dining room management to some software. I worry about overbooking the tables. I just don't have faith.
"I like to talk to the customers on the phone and see what they need and give directions. For me personally, I think it's sad how we've gone over to technology. At the supermarket I like to talk to a checker, not do it myself. At the bank, I like to talk to a bank teller."
That said, he pointed out proudly: "We were one of the first restaurants in Denver to have a Web site, www.buckhorn.com. We did it because we try to make dining as easy as possible."
And Dutton said he'll never say never to online reservations. "I know that sometimes it costs me because people like their computers. We might have to use it in the future, especially since so much of our business is out-of-towners."
"Listen, 27 years ago when we re-opened the Buckhorn, if you ordered decaf you got a cup of hot water and a little foil envelope. Now, everything is brewed or espresso. We changed because our customers asked. Technology-wise, it all catches up with us eventually."
Online leaders
In recent weeks, OpenTable's Top 10 list of most booked Denver restaurants have been, in order:
• Vesta Dipping Grill
• Rioja
• Denver Chophouse
• The Fort
• Elway's
• Rodizio Grill
• Capital Grille
• Ruth's Chris Steak House
• Panzano
• Boulder Chophouse
Part III click here.
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