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Press Release


Need a corner table? Reservation at 7? OpenTable online gets it for you fast


February 21, 2007 		The Internet is a World Wide Web of the weird and the wonderful. For customers and restaurateurs alike, www.opentable.com falls into the second category.

If you're not familiar, you should be, because it's a free and handy convenience for serious diners. OpenTable is a 24-hour, real-time online reservation system. In other words, you could check right now which restaurants have a table for six available at 7 tonight - and get an instant confirmation, including directions and parking info.

Well, not all restaurants. OpenTable, founded in San Francisco in 1999 and now into Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, arrived in Northeast Ohio just two years ago. The site has already grown to 46 Cleveland-area restaurants, plus nine in the Akron-Canton area. The list is dominated by big names: Restaurant owners pay for the service, because it can boost business, manage their reservations more efficiently and enhance customer service.

When diners make a reservation online, they can note any dietary needs, mention that the evening is for a special occasion or include other preferences. And the site, through an OpenTable touch screen right there at the reservation station, allows restaurants to stroke its regulars.

"With a touch of a button they can tell where Joe likes to sit, what his favorite martini is," said Michael Sanson, editor-in-chief of Restaurant Hospitality magazine.

The system also tracks no-shows. Blow off four reservations in 12 months and you're kicked off. (No penalty for a member restaurant that screws up a reservation, though.) OpenTable diners are rewarded with points toward discounted meals.

Rick Cassara, owner of John Q's Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland, joined OpenTable last fall to boost reservations. But he's also found that managing his tables better is "invaluable."

"A customer could make a reservation on his laptop at the airport," he said, "and come straight here for dinner."

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