Restaurant reservations platform OpenTable has today introduced a number of initiatives designed to support the restaurant industry as it continues on its road to recovery.
OpenTable, the world’s leading provider of restaurant reservations and part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ BKNG), has today introduced a number of initiatives designed to support the restaurant industry as it continues on its road to recovery.
Restaurants across the UK continue to face a challenging outlook. To help mitigate this, the new initiatives introduced by OpenTable include a UK and Ireland ‘Dine Local’ campaign designed to get diners back out enjoying the restaurant experience, additional financial relief for 2020 and a way for restaurants to showcase the hygiene measures they have in place through their OpenTable profile page. OpenTable has also launched landing pages to showcase restaurants taking part in the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
Harnessing the power of local
In a recent survey of more than 32,000 diners carried out by OpenTable* 65% of those questioned indicated that it was very important to them to support their local restaurants, with 86% saying it was because they wanted their local favourites to survive following lockdown. Harnessing this local spirit and community support for restaurants, OpenTable is launching ‘Dine Local’, in partnership with Mastercard, a month-long celebration of dining across the UK and Ireland between 1-30 September, designed to help restaurants welcome more guests through their doors and diners to enjoy great value offers and set menus. Restaurants wishing to be part of the Dine Local month should visit https://restaurant.opentable.co.uk/dine-local-2020/ for more information.
Financial relief extended
Alongside this OpenTable has announced an extension to its Open Door programme, to waive standard cover fees for restaurants on the platform through to the end of 2020. This comes in addition to the announcement in April that OpenTable was waiving subscription fees through to the end of 2020 and cover fees through to the end of Q3 for any restaurants signed up to its Basic, Core or Pro plans. Any restaurant using one of OpenTable’s marketing products such as Offers or Bonus Points will also receive a 50% discount on covers driven through these tools through to the end of September, meaning those taking part in Dine Local can take full advantage of this. Restaurants can sign up and learn more about the Open Door Programme and how OpenTable has been supporting restaurants over the past few months here: https://restaurant.opentable.co.uk/doors-open/.
“This has been an unprecedented time for restaurants and the challenges they are facing are far reaching. The initiatives we are discussing today have been put in place to help restaurants in the UK and Ireland operate through to the end of the year, and beyond, in the most efficient way possible. We look forward to working with our restaurant partners to bring diners back through their doors with Dine
Local, and take away some of that financial worry through the Open Door programme,” comments Angela Altvater, Marketing Director, OpenTable EMEA.
Hygiene measures highlighted
As they welcome diners back through their doors there is a heightened awareness of the safety and hygiene measures restaurants have in place. 78% of diners surveyed by OpenTable said they would be much more aware of hygiene measures when dining out with social distancing (85%) and cleaning regimes (82%) being the things they were most interested in knowing about. Restaurateurs can now opt to fill out the specific procedures they are following within three major categories: Cleaning and Sanitising, Social Distancing, and Personal Protective Equipment, through their OpenTable product and these will be shown directly to diners via their OpenTable profile page.
Seated diner numbers climbing
OpenTable has been tracking the latest year-on-year data on seated diners** across the globe from mid-February to now, showing what happened as restaurants closed their doors and then began to reopen on 4th July, on the State of the Industry data centre. Closing out July seated diner numbers in the UK were down around 20% year over year, but with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme launching in early August, we have seen seated diner numbers for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday reservations climbing, showing signs that diners were keen to get out and enjoy the restaurant experience after three months of lockdown.
“We are not back at the level of seated diners we were seeing at this time last year, but we have been encouraged by the appetite we have seen from diners to get out, enjoy the restaurant experience and support the restaurants they know and love,” concluded Altvater.
