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It's pretty awful. Hold times, the potential for multitasking staff to forget to log a RSVP, determining how to best allocate tables... Not only is online reser

It's pretty awful. Hold times, the potential for multitasking staff to forget to log a RSVP, determining how to best allocate tables... Not only is online reservation a necessary component, it's just one piece of a multi-component automation solution to the many problems that arise from a desire to efficiently and effectively seat and serve as many people at once as possible. I recognize your comment is in jest, but I appreciate you making it. This challenge is rarely understood.

GCA10 9y ago
In our household, we make a fair number of restaurant reservations at 11:30 p.m. . . . and some more at 9 a.m. (Two-career couple; hard to align schedules, etc.) Online services like Open Table don't mind this at all. By contrast, restaurants are not eager to keep staff by the phone at those hours, just in case we call.
itronitron 9y ago
thanks, now I understand the value
joezydeco 9y ago
Kokonas' Tock system is built to correct these problems. It's also why Tock is not exactly the same as systems like OpenTable and Reserve (although the parent article implies so). Kokonas believes the other sites are taking millions of dollars of revenue away from restaurants when other options work better. https://alinearestaurant.com/site/2014/06/tickets-for-restaurants/ https://alinearestaurant.com/site/2014/06/tickets-for-restau...
astura 9y ago
Not only that, but you have the ability to make a reservation during non-business hours, which is huge. If you're making a reservation last minute, its a god-send to not have to call 10 places just to ask if they have tables available. You can just look for yourself online in the time it takes you to dial a phone number and have someone answer. Think about the difference between calling up and asking a business a question vs just reading the answer on their website. Since almost zero restaurants pay a staff member to sit by the phone doing nothing but taking reservations (it wouldn't be practical), by definition, your phone call is interrupting the restaurant staff - which leads to a poor experience on both ends. I imagine the staff certainly appreciate reservations being made without phonecalls. Plus it is a huge benefit to the deaf and hard of hearing.

GCA10 9y ago

In our household, we make a fair number of restaurant reservations at 11:30 p.m. . . . and some more at 9 a.m. (Two-career couple; hard to align schedules, etc.) Online services like Open Table don't mind this at all. By contrast, restaurants are not eager to keep staff by the phone at those hours, just in case we call.

itronitron 9y ago

thanks, now I understand the value

joezydeco 9y ago

Kokonas' Tock system is built to correct these problems. It's also why Tock is not exactly the same as systems like OpenTable and Reserve (although the parent article implies so). Kokonas believes the other sites are taking millions of dollars of revenue away from restaurants when other options work better. https://alinearestaurant.com/site/2014/06/tickets-for-restaurants/ https://alinearestaurant.com/site/2014/06/tickets-for-restau...

astura 9y ago

Not only that, but you have the ability to make a reservation during non-business hours, which is huge. If you're making a reservation last minute, its a god-send to not have to call 10 places just to ask if they have tables available. You can just look for yourself online in the time it takes you to dial a phone number and have someone answer. Think about the difference between calling up and asking a business a question vs just reading the answer on their website. Since almost zero restaurants pay a staff member to sit by the phone doing nothing but taking reservations (it wouldn't be practical), by definition, your phone call is interrupting the restaurant staff - which leads to a poor experience on both ends. I imagine the staff certainly appreciate reservations being made without phonecalls. Plus it is a huge benefit to the deaf and hard of hearing.