From Restaurant Reservations to Great Groceries Technology for Foodies

Can’t wait for your for your favorite restaurant to reopen so you can book a special night out? Open Table has been a favorite of foodies for 15+ years enabling online reservations at hard to book restaurants all around the county. 

When life give you a lemon, it’s time to make lemon aid.  Open Table the once leading restaurant reservation app, has evolved to bring you fresh fast groceries.  Yes, Open Table has rolled out a reservation system for grocery shopping at specialty grocers and businesses such as restaurants that have started selling groceries during the pandemic.

On the Open Table website they state: "As we all work to stop the spread of COVID-19, OpenTable has teamed up with participating grocery stores and markets to help limit the number of people who enter at a time and reduce crowds and wait times for shoppers. Just as people can make a restaurant reservation or join a waitlist, they will now be able to reserve shopping times or join a virtual line in the OpenTable app," says a statement on the company website. OpenTable's new technology works in two ways:

1.       Reserved shopping times: Just like reserving a table at a restaurant, consumers can reserve a time to enter a store. 

2.       Online waitlists: If a consumer hasn't pre-reserved, instead of standing in a physical line to get into a store, he or she can simply enter a code on a cellphone to join an online waitlist. Then wait for the notification in a car or down the block away from any crowds.

"OpenTable’s new grocery product leverages our reservation software so that grocery stores, major retailers and restaurants can display available shopping times for customers to book in advance or join a waitlist at the door. Not only does this help control crowds in a simple and contactless way, but it also provides a safer option for shoppers, especially those at high risk, to get their groceries without waiting in a crowded line," the company says.

Currently, the app feature is mostly available at specialty grocery stores and shops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The COVID-19 pandemic has sent everyone scrambling to update their business models. Food retailers have been scrambling to keep up with demand for grocery delivery and pickup, and foodservice operators and other businesses have been scrambling to come up with alternative revenue streams, such as selling groceries.

Regular readers of this blog know that Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® has been explain the how’s and why’s food retailers need to evolve their business model since 1991. Its simple consumers are dynamic not static. Does your business model look more line yesterday than tomorrow?

Open table is not alone in trying to help both consumers and retailers. Apps the ilk of  Resy, DoorDash, GrubHub, and others have quickly adapted their business models to meet surging demand for touchless grocery and takeout.

For international corporate presentations, regional chain presentations, local educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit GrocerantGuru.com, FoodserviceSolutions.US or call 1-253-759-7869