How OpenTable Restaurants can Optimize Marketing Strategies through SMS Marketing
Updated: Mar 28
OpenTable released statistics on Dec. 13, 2022 that reinforces that everyone is making up for the past few years—going out more, spending more, and craving spending time with friends.
After assessing their 2022 restaurant reservations, OpenTable discovered:
People are willing to splurge: Restaurant meals priced $50 and more per person saw the largest increase in orders (8%) compared to 2019.* Coming out of experiencing restaurant closures and restrictions, people are revenge dining—going out more and spending more.
Mindful and sustainable dining is still holding strong: Vegetarian cuisine saw a 60% spike in diners compared to pre-pandemic 2019, which speaks to an emphasis on health-minded diets as well as diners being mindful of where their food comes from and its effect on the environment.**
Mondays are the weekend after-party: In what might be another symptom of revenge dining, people aren't confining fun to the weekends anymore—Mondays saw the biggest increase in dining compared to last year (27%), followed closely by Tuesdays (26%).
Happy hour is happier than ever: Dining between 4:00-4:59 pm saw the largest increase at 27% as more people make a conscious effort to strike work-life balance, or head out to socialize after a day of working from home.
Everybody is craving Latin cuisine: Two of the three top trending cuisines (those booked by OpenTable diners compared to 2019) have Latin American influence; Colombian clocks in first with a 224% spike and contemporary Latin followed with a 68% increase.
People want connection: After so many meals at home, diners proved they want communal and interactive dining experience. Korean, hibachi, and Brazilian steakhouses all saw a lift in diners compared to 2019 (50%, 50%, and 49%, respectively).**
Maximize your marketing efforts using data gathered through OpenTable reservations. Integrating your OpenTable account with our SMS platform allows you to segment your customers and send specific messaging based on the number of visits, spending, last visit, and more.
Are you taking advantage of your OpenTable data to effectively reach customers?
Are you checking in on customers who have not visited you for several months and letting them know about new menu items?
Have you contacted customers recently who made reservations for a large group to see if they have any family or business gatherings coming up? Encourage them to visit your restaurant again.
What about regular happy hour visitors? Entice them to invite more guests with a an offer of a free appetizer or beverage?
Drive traffic on slower days and evenings with a BOGO offer.
Give your loyal customers who tend to spend more with you an exclusive invite to “taste test” some of your seasonal menu items before you release the menu to the public.
Are you regularly following up with customers and requesting their feedback? While email may be part of your marketing and communication efforts, it is important to know that the average email open rate for restaurants is only 18.5%1 while SMS averages a 98% open rate2.
If you are already using SMS marketing—great! You know the value of texting your customers. Find out how our SMS platform compares to the service you use now. Looking to start an SMS marketing program?
AGE Texting offers a variety of features and benefits for restaurant SMS marketing. Complement an OpenTable integration through our multiple opt-in methods.
METHODOLOGY: OpenTable looked at seated diners from online, phone, and walk-in reservations from January 1 – October 31, 2022 and compared it to the same range in 2021 and 2019. *Price category self-determined by restaurant **Cuisines reflected had a minimum of 100K diners in 2019.
SOURCE: https://www.opentable.com/blog/2022-dining-trends/
Other Sources:
2 smscomparison, 2022
Updated 2/16/23