Number of seated diners via mobile apps triples in eight months (+200%).
Some of the most useful set of apps on the iPhone are the restaurant apps that tell you what is to eat nearby. OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN, since May 2009), a leading provider of free online reservations for diners and guest management systems for restaurants, announced that it has seated more than three million diners cumulatively through its mobile applications. Based on a $50 average check per diner, OpenTable estimates that diners seated through its mobile products have generated more than $150 million in cumulative revenue for its restaurant partners.
OpenTable allows diners on-the-go to view the real-time availability of restaurants in their vicinity and immediately book a free, confirmed reservation from the web or a smartphone, all without making a single phone call. OpenTable [by the way our website of the month July 2008] is especially great for reserving tables at high-end restaurants. If you are on a business trip, or wandering about town with some friends and want to make impromptu dinner plans, this app is a must-have.
Mobile is the fastest growing part of its business
Techcrunch puts that number in perspective to the overall revenues: OpenTable seated a total of 24.2 million diners in the past two quarters, roughly two million of which were via mobile apps, or about 8%. So, its mobile app is still contributing a relatively small part of the overall revenues, but it is growing faster than any other part of OpenTable’s business (here the earnings QI 2010).
OpenTable has more than 13,000 restaurant customers, and, since its inception in 1998, has seated more than 150 million diners around the world. Its revenue comes from monthly subscription fees charged to restaurants for access to the company’s service, as well as a $1 fee paid by restaurants for each seated guest derived from reservations made on OpenTable’s site. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and the OpenTable service is available throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
