Increased Efficiency with Open Table

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

The Club at Ibis has incorporated Open Table not only as a reservation system for our dining venues, but also to make service more efficient, increasing speed and accuracy. Open Table allows us to track Member preferences, average dining time, and have a dossier in the Server’s hand before Members are seated, or Jonas (POS) is opened. This is particularly useful to provide accurate, immediate service with Member preference in mind.

We are able to track and update the floor plan as Members are seated, as they begin each course, and when they have departed, which is immediately available to hosts, managers, bussers and others across the restaurant.

Using this system, we can view all aspects of each dining venue from any tablet in any venue, allowing us to provide accurate current wait times in a restaurant to a Member at another restaurant, without picking up a phone.

Open Table also records historical data of how long a member takes to eat at a given venue, so reservations can be stacked more accurately reducing time reserved tables sit empty.

With the increased efficiency, we have been able to turn tables more quickly, increasing covers and decreasing wait times. We were able to increase the number of covers by 5―8% in each venue.

We have also added our Take-out orders to Open Table, treating them as an additional restaurant and each order as a reservation. This allows us to mark on tablets when the Member arrives for pick-up, alerting the kitchen to bring the order out, keeping hot orders hot.

Open Table allows us to track incident occurrences across dining venues, so if a Member was dissatisfied by service in one restaurant, even if their next reservation is in another restaurant, the server will see the note and has the opportunity to recover Member satisfaction.

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

With a little extra work on the front-end, and minimal time spent updating preferences and other details, we have been able to streamline communication within restaurants as well as between all dining venues, permanent and temporary. Members have noticed and appreciate smoother service, fewer empty tables, and enjoy receiving texts when their table is ready.

Members also appreciate the same level of service they receive in the restaurants, offered in banquets since we use Open Table there as well, turning the ballrooms or outdoor areas into additional “restaurants.”