OpenTable, whose headquarters are in San Francisco, California, has been a massive success story right from the company’s inception in 1998, since when it has garnered 25,000 restaurant clients and seated more than 280million diners around the world. The OpenTable service is available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Japan and the UK.

By using the OpenTable website, diners can select their favourite participating restaurant and reserve a table at the date and time of their choosing from the availability shown. This service is free to diners. The information they give is passed in real time to the restaurant’s reservations system so information is always up to date.

Mission’s integration allows the host/ess to see which tables are about to become free so that they can easily intertwine walk-ins with reservations, to keep those tables turning at the optimum rate to maximise sales. The Mission integration also sends real time table closing times back to OpenTable, so even if a table was booked out for a 2 hour period on OpenTable but becomes free earlier than anticipated, that information updates immediately so that again, only the most up-to-the-minute information is shown. Colour coding is used on the table plan to show what stage a table’s meal is at, to help maximise the information available at the host/ess stand. For reporting, Mission also sends OpenTable the final bill amount.

Please watch this space for details about how your restaurant can get involved with OpenTable – coming soon!

Harvey Nichols had used the same EPOS provider throughout for fifteen years, so the decision to move was not straightforward. Having researched the market thoroughly they selected Mission for their new Bristol opening in 2008 and rolled out the entire in estate the following year.

‘This was a huge project for a very important part of our business. Mission delivered everything as promised on time and made sure everything went smoothly for all our Restaurants.’

Paul Fitt – Retail Systems Manager

Mission have worked closely with Harvey Nichols ever since, integrating with the company’s internal processes and security procedures to a robust platform for the restaurants to work from.

www.harveynichols.com

Locale’s aim is to provide a true Italian food experience. Accordingly the menus feature fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh pasta, home-made bread and freshly baked desserts. Each individual location produces its own food daily from scratch. The ingredients are sourced at market, and authentic Italian ingredients are used wherever possible. Executive chef Paulo Barone oversees the kitchens to ensure that the seasonal and a la carte menus utilise only original Italian recipes, and that the suppliers live up to his exacting requirements for freshness, taste and texture.

Currently there are 5 Locale restaurants – Balham, Blackheath, County Hall, East Dulwich and Fulham. A key requirement for any potential EPoS solution was the ability to grow and expand in step with the brand, so that the system would feel comfortable, easy to use and appropriate for the business, whether there was one site or 20.

‘When we started we looked at a lot of different solutions, Mission were the first company that we really liked, and we have used them ever since. We have had very few issues with the system throughout and recommend them frequently to other operators.’

(Mark Evans – Director, Locale Cucina Italiana)

Click on the link below to see Locale’s wonderful menus and read some of Paulo’s original recipes:

www.localerestaurants.com