Meet Reserve, the OpenTable-killer

Vedge isn’t just considered one of the best restaurants in Philadelphia. The all-vegetable dining room makes lists when some of the most-respected publications in the field draw up surveys of the best restaurants in the entire country — just ask Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Eater or Bon Appetit.

Vedge is an industry leader partly because it’s a trend-setter (who knew vegan fine-dining could be so successful?), and this summer, chef-owners Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau took another risk. They stopped using OpenTable to accept reservations, and signed on with Reserve.

There were various reasons for the change, but one is most conspicuous: Saving at least $30,000 a year.

Same for Twenty Manning Grill, where GM Jillian Encarnacion estimates her OpenTable bill was around $2,500 a month before she jumped ship. At Laurel, the constantly-booked East Passyunk BYOB from “Top Chef” winner Nicholas Elmi, most reservations are made on the spot or via telephone, but Reserve will still save him around $12,000 a year.

As of right now, 40-plus restaurants in the Philly area have already made the switch, according to Reserve Philadelphia general manager Ben Fileccia. That includes high-profile spots like Village Whiskey and High Street on Market, and neighborhood favorites like Hungry Pigeon and Rex 1516. And more are on the way.

Busting a monopoly

It’s a dirty little secret of hospitality, but every guest whose table was booked via OpenTable costs restaurants money. If the res was made on the restaurant’s own website (via a widget), the surcharge is 25 cents. If it’s made anywhere else, like OT’s website or a partner page like Zagat.com, the restaurant pays $1 per seat.

A buck a person might not seem like a lot, but — especially at busy restaurants — the numbers add up.

Until recently, there wasn’t a great alternative. OpenTable got into the game early, and basically created the online reservations sector. When it launched (in 1998) “it was revolutionary,” Jacoby says. The company now boasts 38,000 restaurant clients worldwide. But as it became what amounts to a monopoly, with rising prices and fees, many restaurateurs began wishing for an out.

Over the past five years, a few startups have tried to challenge OpenTable’s supremacy. But none were able to make inroads as quickly and completely as Reserve seems to have.

“If Reserve can break the automatic connection between ‘Where should we go for dinner?’ and ‘Lets check OpenTable,’ that would be a gigantic industry disruption,” says Peter Hwang, co-owner of Southgate in Graduate Hospital.

There’s an important caveat to the idea that Reserve is the disrupter restaurant owners have been waiting for: It is very, very new. Like, less than 3 months old.

The San Francisco-based, venture capital-backed company launched in 2014, but back then it was just an app that let customers pay for a concierge service to get into heavily booked restaurants. Then it pivoted. Though people can still use the concierge app (now for free), Reserve’s main product now is the OpenTable competitor — officially called “Reserve for Restaurants” — which also offers additional services to help restaurants run.

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