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Maitre D'igital

Technology brings convenience, better service to the table

John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 15, 2006 at midnight

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Once upon a time, you had to be a very patient person if you wanted to guarantee a table for two at a Denver restaurant.

First, you had to find one of the few places that actually took reservations. During this ancient era, most dining establishments didn't take them except for special occasions.

Then, you had to call the restaurant when it was open. (Younger readers take note: There actually was a time before everyone had voice mail, cell phones, call waiting and computers.) If the line was busy, you had to hang up and call again. Once you got a person on the phone, you gave them the information and hoped they spelled your name right.

That was then. Now you can make a restaurant reservation online at 2 a.m. while sitting in your underwear at home. As a result of this and other technological breakthroughs, the dining experience will never be the same for the customer or the restaurant.

When it comes to online reservations, San Francisco-based Pointable.com is the king. More than 1 million reservations a month are made at the eight-year-old OpenTable or through the Web sites of its 4,500 participating eateries. That includes 120 Colorado eateries - 89 of those in Denver, its suburbs and Boulder. The list includes big-name establishments such as Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Palace Arms, Flagstaff House, Frasca and Mizuna.

Other online reservation services include (with 24 Colorado restaurants) and . (The latter charges consumers a fee to make online reservations.)

Restaurant owners say OpenTable hasn't just made reservations easier, it has changed the way they do business for the better. Beth Gruitch, co-owner and general manager of Rioja, is what the techies call an "early adopter." She became an OpenTable believer six years ago while managing at Panzano restaurant.

"Before that, it was a completely manual system. People called in reservations and you wrote them in a daybook with a pencil. Otherwise, you needed a lot of White-Out. You had to call everybody back to confirm. There were lost reservations that got scribbled on paper but never put in the book and lots of illegible handwriting," Gruitch said.

"Every day you sat down with the book and worked out a floor plan - which reservation was at which table - on a plastic sheet with a grease pencil. You erased and changed it a lot. Usually you weren't planning ahead more than a day."

Times changed to such an extent that when Gruitch and co-owner (and chef) Jennifer Jasinski opened Rioja in 2004, they cut out decorations and pieces of equipment to make sure they could afford OpenTable.

"Reservations are much more prominent now and not just for special evenings like birthdays and anniversaries. People dine out much more frequently and reservations are more of a necessity, especially on weekends," Gruitch said. "They want to make them when they have personal time available."

The virtual maitre d'

OpenTable provides both hardware and software. To demonstrate, Gruitch sat down recently at the touch-screen computer at Rioja's hostess station. She starts by pointing out that customers can make reservations a month or even years ahead. Speeding through the calendar she noted wryly: "7 p.m. reservations are available at Rioja on April 9, 2010."

One of the biggest benefits of the system is that it allows diners to leave information on their preferences with the reservation. For example, they may want a table, not a booth; or it's a 40th birthday, or "I'm going to propose during dessert."

If you dine at the same restaurants repeatedly, the system also functions as a sort of virtual maitre d', retaining information that allows for a more personalized experience.

Gruitch calls up a reservation for a "regular" and points out detailed information about the diner's previous meals. "This person has eaten here 36 times, canceled five reservations, and wasn't ever a no-show. It shows where she sat, what she drank, who her server was and even how much she tipped," Gruitch said.

Gruitch points out one marked "V.I.P." that notes: "Style her out and tell the waiter. Great friend of Beth and Jen." The notation "Amuse" doesn't mean "tell the VIP jokes" but rather that they get an amuse bouche, a special little taste from the chef served before the appetizers. Those details can be printed out and handed to the server.

Gruitch reviews the day's reservations when she arrives at the restaurant. "I look for big groups and special occasions. I'm always looking ahead so I can plan scheduling for the staff."

Every evening includes two or three "manager's slot" tables reserved for hotel concierge reservations and last- minute changes. Then Gruitch uses the handy table-mapping function to assign tables to particular servers and reservations.

"Look, no grease pencil," she said.

However, the human factor still rules any system. Gruitch said that two people typically dine for one hour and 45 minutes, four people take two hours, and eight will probably eat for 2 hours and 45 minutes. If any of them linger a lot longer, some fast table shuffling is required.

At the end of the day, Gruitch touches a few buttons to print out detailed reports on virtually every aspect of the business.

Diners are not charged to use OpenTable, at least not directly. Restaurants pay a monthly fee to the company, plus $1 for every reservation made through OpenTable.com and 25 cents if made through the restaurant's Web site. For Rioja, OpenTable costs an average of $600 a month, Gruitch said.

For those worried about the Big Brother implications of all this information collection, Gruitch said that access to credit card numbers and other financial details can be obtained by only a few managers who have a special password.

"Is it worth it? Definitely. It really helps you take care of customers and keep track of the business. It makes it easier to avoid mistakes that make customers mad."

A technology convert

Call Josh Wolkon a late, but now enthusiastic, adopter of reservations technology. His 9-year-old Vesta Dipping Grill is consistently listed as the No. 1-booked Colorado restaurant at OpenTable.com. "Our clientele base is Internet savvy, I'd guess," he said.

However, if it wasn't for the insistence of his managers, his team would still be answering phones and entering reservations by hand.

"They had to talk me into using OpenTable. There are a lot of products out there designed to take money out of the restaurant owner's pocket. I waited to see which online reservation service won the war," he said.

Wolkon decided to try it for a year. "Now, I think it's great. We have a phone message that directs customers to make reservations online."

Wolkon admits to the error of his ways. "In retrospect, I was proven wrong and I'm man enough to admit it. Listen, everybody wants to eat at 7:30 or 8 p.m. on a Friday. Everyone would show up at once and get seated at once. It was hard to control the flow of the food and service. Now they will make reservations earlier or later and don't have to stand around for two hours in the bar."

In January alone, Wolkon said Vesta Dipping Grill received reservations for 479 "covers" (or diners) directly through OpenTable.com, and 1,020 through Vesta's Web site, which routes diners to OpenTable.

"The January monthly report also tells me that 52 percent of those customers were first-time diners and that the average dinner ticket was $40 (per person)," he said.

"It really has made a difference. If you take reservations, you almost have to use it."

That's not to say that OpenTable has no quirks and problems.

"We've had situations where someone tries to make a reservation on a night when we are booked solid and the system offers the next available reservation, which may be the next day or the next week. Sometimes diners don't look closely enough and show up on the wrong day. That happened on Valentine's Day. It was tough."

Joy Tagert, OpenTable's director of sales for the United States from Colorado east, suggested that it's just a matter of time before most upscale restaurants join the fold.

"If you use it, it can elevate the quality of the service. The Denver market has become a lot more sophisticated," said Tagert, who lives in the suburbs south of Denver.

OpenTable has been available in Colorado for six years. The 120 restaurants already signed up will be joined, Tagert said, by 10 or 12 more soon, including Dave Query's roster of LoLa, Jax Fish House, Rhumba, Zolo and the West End Tavern.

Still on the sidelines

OpenTable is the big dog of online reservations, with only a few small competitors and restaurants that take reservations individually. "Our major competition is paper and pen," said Tagert.

Count the general manager of Denver's oldest operating restaurant, the venerable Buckhorn Exchange, among the naysayers. It opened in 1893, long before the advent of telephones and most other modern conveniences we take for granted.

"We've looked at OpenTable but we've always turned it down," said Bill Dutton, longtime general manager of the museum-like eatery that specializes in buffalo and game.

"Being a small restaurant, capital investment like that is prohibitive," he said, while admitting to a deeper, psychological reason.

"I don't like the idea of turning over dining room management to some software. I worry about overbooking the tables. I just don't have faith.

"I like to talk to the customers on the phone and see what they need and give directions. For me personally, I think it's sad how we've gone over to technology. At the supermarket I like to talk to a checker, not do it myself. At the bank, I like to talk to a bank teller."

That said, he pointed out proudly: "We were one of the first restaurants in Denver to have a Web site, . We did it because we try to make dining as easy as possible."

And Dutton said he'll never say never to online reservations. "I know that sometimes it costs me because people like their computers. We might have to use it in the future, especially since so much of our business is out-of-towners."

"Listen, 27 years ago when we re-opened the Buckhorn, if you ordered decaf you got a cup of hot water and a little foil envelope. Now, everything is brewed or espresso. We changed because our customers asked. Technology-wise, it all catches up with us eventually."

Online leaders

In recent weeks, Open Table's Top 10 list of most booked Denver restaurants have been, in order:

• Vesta Dipping Grill

• Rioja

• Denver Chophouse

• The Fort

• Elway's

• Rodizio Grill

• Capital Grille

• Ruth's Chris Steak House

• Panzano

• Boulder Chophouse

By the numbers

120 Number of Colorado restaurants currently using OpenTable, including 63 in Denver, 15 in Denver suburbs, 23 in mountain towns, 12 in Boulder and 2 in Colorado Springs

44 Number of states where restaurants use OpenTable. Also in use in: District of Columbia, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Montreal, Puerto Rico, Toronto and Vancouver.

4,500 Approximate number of restaurants nationally using OpenTable hardware and software

1 million: Average number of reservations made on OpenTable every month

$450million: Approximate revenue generated by OpenTable reservations monthly for restaurants

3 million: Approximate number of diners who have made reservations through OpenTable since its inception in 1998

20million: Approximate number of diners seated through OpenTable reservations since 1998

30% of all OpenTable reservations are booked online between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.

80% growth of OpenTable reservations in 2005 over 2004. The number of restaurants using the service grew by 65 percent in 2005

36% of American consumers have used the Internet to visit restaurants' Web sites

31% of American consumers have viewed restaurant menus online

27% of adults say they would use wireless Internet access at restaurants if available. (43 percent would use customer-activated ordering and payment terminals.)

70% of American restaurants have some form of Web siteSources: Opentable.Com; National Restaurant Association

Brave new lunch

Technology has become such a big deal that the 87th annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant Show this May in Chicago will feature a Technology Pavilion that includes informationon hardware, software and services, along with free e-mail kiosks and a cybercafe. Other technologies used by restaurants besidesWebsites, online reservations and e-mail marketing:

• Handheld ordering devices: Servers take orders at the table and deliver them to the kitchen without going to a terminal to input information or going to the kitchen. One example is the Mobile MICROS. (Information: .) Some upscale restaurants offer handheld wine lists.

• Cams: Besides their use for security purposes, cams allow Web site visitors to see what's happening at a restaurant or bar. For a local example, visit the Web site for Denver's Falling Rock Tap House: www.fallingrock taphouse.com

• Cooking technology: High-tech kitchen additions range from a programmable oven to the "anti-griddle" that lowers the surface temperature of foods to 30 degrees below zero. Information:

• Online delivery and pickup services: Technology makes ordering for take-out and curbside pickup much easier.

• Wireless Internet access: Allows customers to use laptop computers and devices at hundreds of restaurants and cafes, including Aviano, Monkey Bean, Common Grounds, Panera Bread and the Brown Palace Hotel lobby in Denver. For a Colorado wi-fi list: .html

• Self-serve ordering and payment: Primarily at fast- food restaurants, these ATM-like terminals make it easy for customers to place orders, pay with credit card and pick up food at the counter. Information: www.kioskmar- ketplace.com

• Teleconfer-encing: Restaurants outfit private dining and banquet rooms with teleconferencing equipment for use by businesses during daytime.

• Software: Computer systems allow real-time observation of food costs, ordering and sanitation such as Action Systems' Restaurant Manager software used at Outback Steakhouses, The Melting Pot and Wendy's. Information: www.actionsys- tems.com

• Employee training: E-learning systems allow restaurants to offer employee training at in-house terminals or via the Web at home. For an example, see www. waiter-training .com

• Cellphone blocking: It is illegal to install technology that blocks cell signals, but passive blocks such as steel mesh in walls and ceilings are not.

• 3 out of 10

table-service restaurant owners plan to spend more on technology in 2006.

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; or 303-892-5103