OpenTable, Author at opentable.co.uk blog

OpenTable adds restaurant delivery across new markets

OpenTable March 31, 2020 1 Comment

OpenTable has partnered with Deliveroo and Uber Eats to offer delivery options at hundreds of restaurants across the world including those in Australia, Mexico, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, through the OpenTable app and desktop site. The global launch follows the introduction of this delivery feature with Uber Eats and other local partners in the US and Canada in 2019.

We are committed to helping and supporting our restaurant partners globally in these uncertain times. The partnerships with Deliveroo and Uber Eats will enable diners to select and order a restaurant quality meal in just a few simple taps and have it delivered direct to their door. This gives diners the opportunity to continue supporting their favourite eateries, whilst bringing a much-needed additional revenue source to the restaurant.

Andrea Johnston, COO, OpenTable said: “Restaurants are a vital part of our communities, and we hope these partnerships will help support restaurants with additional revenue sources and give diners access to restaurant quality meals to enjoy at home during these difficult times.”

When searching for a restaurant or visiting a restaurant profile page on the OpenTable app or via opentable.co.uk, diners will now see a ‘Get a delivery’ button alongside the usual table reservation option. Diners who choose delivery are then directed to either the Deliveroo or Uber Eats site to complete their transaction. This launch will see more than 3,000 restaurants offer delivery through OpenTable.

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OpenTable’s recommendations on how to support restaurants through COVID-19

OpenTable March 17, 2020

In these unprecedented times due to the spread of COVID-19, restaurants are among the hardest-hit businesses. OpenTable data shows severe declines in business, and many have been forced to close, laying off employees in the process. Others have remained open, following rapidly changing local regulations surrounding delivery and take-out.

One thing is clear: Restaurants need our support. Here at OpenTable, we are working around the clock to assist restaurants through as many channels as possible. Here are a few ways you can safely help:

Order take-out and delivery

Many restaurants offer take-out or delivery. Check their website, social media or delivery companies to see which ones are offering these services and order your next restaurant-quality meal to your doorstep.

Buy gift cards

Buying gift cards now helps your local restaurants to keep paying staff and bills during these times.

Spread the word on social media

Use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to show how you are supporting restaurants right now. Tag @OpenTableUK, and we can amplify those messages. Spreading the word through social networks could encourage others to do the same.

Everyone’s health and safety is our first priority. We urge everyone to stay informed — World Health Organization and other local government sites regularly update their sites — and to take the recommended precautions.

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OpenTable on restaurant impact from COVID-19

OpenTable March 15, 2020

Hello — Andrea Johnston here, chief operating officer of OpenTable.

I wanted to personally reach out about the current situation. The COVID-19 pandemic is making many of us stay home and our community of nearly 60,000 restaurants is facing a severe reduction in diners.

Reservations stayed stable in February with a big increase on Valentine’s Day. But March brought new health and safety concerns around the world. Looking at comprehensive data from restaurants on our platform — across online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins — we note sharp declines over the last week. We’ve summarised this data below, as well as in a report of more detailed industry trends. We expect to refresh data periodically:

In the United States and United Kingdom, we see a 20 percent reduction in total seated diners vs. last year. (All declines cited here are on a year-over-year basis.)
Mexico and Canada are down 15 to 17 percent.
Things seem to be getting worse quickly, though. Yesterday, the U.S., UK, and Canada all declined by around 30 percent.
At the city level, diners are down approximately 45 percent in Seattle, 40 percent in San Francisco, 30 percent in New York, and 25 percent in London, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Please support your local restaurants during this turbulent time, as they are a vital part of our communities. Many operate on thin margins and fear staff layoffs and shut downs.

You can also support restaurants by purchasing gift cards (where available) or by ordering take-out or delivery. Many restaurants that don’t usually offer these options are making exceptions.

Restaurants are already required to operate under the strictest health codes and are monitored at the local level — but we are seeing many of them go above and beyond. They are taking swift action to protect diners, such as by distancing tables and dedicating staffers to full-time sanitising.

To help our partners we’ve prepared guidance on how restaurants can handle downturns in business. We’re working with restaurant associations in their discussions for government relief. Finally, we will soon share daily information on dining trends via a public website until this crisis passes. We are all in this together.

I hope all of you stay safe and healthy. Thank you — Andrea

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Food for thought: London’s best museum and gallery restaurants

OpenTable March 13, 2020

Museum and gallery restaurants have an important part to play in keeping everyone from the casual observer to the serious academic fed and watered. Step forward this lot, who do just that but to a standard far higher than you might expect.

*Photo Credit: © National Portrait Gallery, London.*

Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
The views from Portrait are straight from a tourist’s deepest fantasy, including Nelson’s Column, the London Eye, and Big Ben. While you’re admiring them, you might as well settle in for lunch – braised lamb shoulder followed by honey rum baba, perhaps? – or a spot of afternoon tea.

Bryn Williams and Spring at Somerset House
Not one, not two, but five restaurants grace the halls of one of the UK’s foremost art centres. Bryn Williams’ eponymous restaurant and Skye Gyngell’s Spring are chief among them – the former for its Welsh-themed menu where veg takes the lead role; the latter for its seasonal British cooking with a focus on sustainability.

Garden Museum Café at the Garden Museum
Backed up by some remarkable pedigree in the kitchen and arguably one of the best wine lists in Lambeth, the Garden Museum’s café is well worth a visit. The focus is on simple, quality ingredients so expect dishes like gnocchi with wild garlic or pollock with roasted fennel. It is, as you might expect, best visited when the flowers are out to bloom.

V&A Café
Want to know what museum cafés looked like during the period of Victorian revival? This is your chance. With its stained glass windows and imposing columns circa 1868, the V&A’s café is the oldest of its kind in London. Compared to the ‘gaily-adorned’ cafés of Paris of the time, it’s a fantastic spot to enjoy the likes of fresh salads, sandwiches, and tea and scones.

*Photo Credit: Nic Crilly-Hargrave for Tate Modern.*

Level 9 Restaurant at Tate Modern
When does modern art transcend its allotted space? The search begins at Level 9, where prettily-plated modern European dishes are made with carefully sourced British produce. Head chef Jon Atashroo has spent time behind the pass at Elliot’s Café and Arbutus – so art or otherwise, diners are in good hands here.

Rochelle Canteen at the ICA
Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold’s Rochelle Canteen is head and shoulders above just about any other restaurant of its ilk in London – it just so happens to be tucked round the side of the Institute of Contemporary Arts on The Mall. The theme is, like the name, modern canteen-style: rough-round-the-edges British dishes (soups, pies, faggots, shoulders of lamb), only with a shrewd chef in charge of them.

Rex Whistler Restaurant at Tate Britain
Named after the wartime British artist (the room-sized mural ‘Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats’ in the restaurant is probably his most recognised work), this place is going strong after 93 years. The award-winning wine list and ambitious British menu might have something to do with it.

Visit OpenTable to discover more restaurants in London.

This is a guest post from freelance food journalist Hugh Thomas. He’s contributed to Foodism, Time Out, Great British Chefs, and is part of British Street Food’s small team of vigilant writers. Find him on twitter @hughwrites.

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