8 ms·

OpenTable Restaurant Performance Data

137 points by georgespencer 7y ago

spqr233 7y ago
This has a huge impact on the restaurants bottom line, but honestly, surprised the numbers aren't worse. I hope they can weather these bad times.
blackoil 7y ago
Is this only dine-in or does it include delivery also? Both of them should have different patterns.
- milesskorpen 7y ago
  Dine in only. Reservations and walkins. (Source: I created this spreadsheet with our data team)
  - usaphp 7y ago
    Could it be that people just don’t bother to place a reservation if they feel like restaurants won’t be busy due to a virus, but they still go there
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - URSpider94 7y ago
      This includes walk-ins - anyone who sits down in the restaurant to eat.
  - tsycho 7y ago
    How do you get data for walk-ins? Do restaurants share that with OpenTable, regardless of reservation? Is this so that you can remove the table from your inventory, or because you provide their "seating management" software?
    - milesskorpen 7y ago
      Both — but primarily because we're their table management system.
Danieru 7y ago
From Japan with Love: it is irresponsible to go to a restaurant at this time. A population's safety is worth more than a couple small businesses going into mothball mode. If you want to support said small business your task is clear: ensure 110% you and your family does not get infected. Risking infection just to "save" a business is an oxymoron. These businesses are at risk because of the infections, their pain will continue until the entire population treats the virus seriously and contains it. If you want to help restaurants: stay home.
- lukasm 7y ago
  There has to be a trade-off between "social distancing" and being a productive human being which can afford to buy food and medicine and can go to the store to get the goods. One could make an argument that is more socially responsible to go to a small restaurant than to a crowded store.
  - lathiat 7y ago
    as stated maybe that sounds true, but you can visit a crowded store once with one person and then feed a family of multiple people for a week (perhaps 21 meals). Multiple people have to visit a restaurant once for each 1 meal. So on the whole it would seem to scale much better if 1 person per household visits the store once per week, and the store should also not be super "crowded" if everyone is doing the same.
    - lukasm 7y ago
      sure, but in practice that ain't gonna happen. My point was about an average trip to a restaurant vs average shopping. If we are talking about the scenario with the minimal possible risk a restaurant could still beat the shop. You are going to drive through or pick up a pizza that you order online, so you spend a few minutes per meal with a limited number of people, say, for 21 meals, you have contacted 50 people. No need to touch trolleys, bags, boxes of pasta that people sneezed on. At home you reheat the pizza in the oven to kill the viruses. > The Institute of Transportation Engineers estimates that one Walmart super center receives 10,000 car visits per day
freepor 7y ago
Only down 50%? What kind of numbskulls are eating out at reservation restaurants during an uncontained pandemic?
- conductr 7y ago
  I ate out twice today. Maybe a numbskull but I honestly don’t care if I get this virus. I’m probably an idiot for that. But I don’t access my personal risk any more than the normal flu seasons. Edit to note; both restaurants were packed. I’m not alone in this mindset
  - freepor 7y ago
    I guess I have to add sociopaths to my numbskulls who don’t care about spreading a deadly disease.
    - conductr 7y ago
      Maybe. I guess. I don’t think it’s incredibly controllable. It’s going to spread. We’ve never learned how to control the flu which is also deadly. I am limiting my social interaction with risk groups (working from home, cancelled trip to grandparents, etc). But I just don’t care if I get it by going in public. There are tons of people out in public in my city so an individual decision on my part isn’t going to change the macro.
      - jacobsenscott 7y ago
        It is clear you don't care, and nobody cares about you either. But it isn't just your grandparents. Many young people are caretakers for their parents/grandparents and can't just "cancel the trip". You risk spreading it to them that way.
        conductr 7y ago
        So they should probably stay away from restaurants? All scenarios that support your line of thinking halt all human physical contact and presence in shared spaces. Does that sound feasible to you?
mapmeld 7y ago
When I saw drops on Mondays, I initially thought it was due to a year-on-year weekday mismatch, but the analysis is sound > For year-on-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of week from the same week in the previous year. For example, we'd compare Tuesday of week 11 in 2020 to Tuesday of week 11 in 2019. Interesting that most have a double dip, with a big drop on 3/2 and then again on 3/9 which is ongoing
- milesskorpen 7y ago
  This can typically be explained by weather effects this year or last.
- conductr 7y ago
  Monday’s are big news days with markets reacting to weekend news, businesses making worldwide directives, and the general dystopian state the world is slipping into.
- spullara 7y ago
  And people were wondering recently when you would ever use week numbers.
trts 7y ago
Data analysis does not need to be complicated to tell a story. This is simple, relevant, and paints the whole picture. Thanks for sharing.
adrr 7y ago
Most Restaurants don’t provide paid time off for sickness and the back of the house employees make near min wage. Seems like a huge risk to eat out during a pandemic.
- troydavis 7y ago
  Even in cities like San Francisco[1] and Seattle[2] where all employees must receive paid sick leave, demand fell off a cliff (understandably!). There are great arguments for offering and/or legislating paid sick leave, but if it's made any impact on demand, the impact is too small to matter. [1]: https://sfgov.org/olse/paid-sick-leave-ordinance-pslo https://sfgov.org/olse/paid-sick-leave-ordinance-pslo [2]: http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/LaborStandards/PSST%20QA%20%2006-29-18.pdf http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/LaborStandards/...
Reedx 7y ago
Brutal. Restaurants are already often hanging on by a thread. Over 400 closed in SF last year[1] due to the high cost of doing business there - some that had been operating for over 20 years. And that was with normal demand! Imagine now that their traffic has dropped 51%? https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-San-Francisco-Jardiniere-14928007.php https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-...
- ttul 7y ago
  Canada rolled out $10B in business financing just today to give businesses like restaurants a lifeline through this challenging and unusual time. The money is being pushed out via BDC (which is like the US Small Business Administration) and EDC, an export development agency that provides guarantees so that banks can lend to risky borrowers to support exports. On a GDP-scaled basis, the Canadian financial package is the equivalent of a $90B package in the US -- nearly twice what Trump's administration is offering.
  - config_yml 7y ago
    Switzerland did the same, they offered 10B in help. They also waived a lot of bureaucratic paperwork for companies wanting to apply “Kurzarbeit”. I hope people take advantage of it and not in a bad way.
  - jariel 7y ago
    Even though $10B seems nice, it's a drop in the bucket - any sustained depression at this level will start to have severe consequences far, far beyond the 2008 recession. I hate to sound like Trump and make this about the economy, but if this keeps up, we're all in serious trouble - we need to spend. With all of the 'social isolation' talk, there needs to be a push to 'stay calm carry on' i.e. focus on the 'carry on' parts - we need to do our jobs, we need to finish our work, we need to keep buying stuff (obviously thoughtfully), and we should also be trying to find ways to enjoy ourselves or we're going to go crazy. I'm really worried about my two locally-owned cafes, I'm literally stepping out now to get 'take out coffee' as I would normally 'sit-in' so as to cause the least disruption to their business. Same with everything else frankly. 1/2 of my 'What I am going to do?' Coronavirus thoughts have revolved around how I can 'keep spending at my regular places' because if we don't do that, it's going to go down like dominos. I know most people probably don't think in those terms, but the moment you become responsible for a P&L, one's worldview shifts! It's possible that negative economic downturn could inadvertently cause more bad life outcomes than the pandemic itself. The economy is the circulatory system of our collective wealth (and therefore health), we need to chin up and keep at it.
Alex_P13 7y ago
12 best web hosting service providers 2020 We are discus here about 12 best web hosting service providers worldwide, who serve the best service every time and every single moment for all the customers. Let’s get started to knowing about the 12 best web hosting service providers worldwide, and knowing details about them! https://www.electronthemes.com/12-best-web-hosting-service-providers-2020/ https://www.electronthemes.com/12-best-web-hosting-service-p...
edgefield0 7y ago
COVID-19 is going to wreck economies. We are all thinking that closures and social distancing will end in a month, maybe two. This process will unfold over many months, perhaps years. Every city and country is handling this differently. We have containment measures in some US cities and states and then Florida hosting an event with 50,000 visitors. Sure, we can reduce infections in North Carolina, but then these 50,000 will disperse and bring infections back again through out the country. The only end game here is everyone gets infected, we develop a vaccine, or in unison we lockdown every country and city for a fixed period of time, say 45-60 days (never going to happen). And if COVID-19 mutates? We restart the whole process. I bet many of us are still in lock down mode come fall 2020 and even into 2021.
- aaronblohowiak 7y ago
  how many small and medium businesses can meet obligations with basically 0 revenue for a month? The ripple effects will be huge. I don't think many of us will be in lock down mode continuously until fall 2020 -- we don't have the will for that.
- ISL 7y ago
  No snowflake in an avalanche feels responsible. That's okay, because they're snowflakes, not people. People should have enough respect for their fellow humans (and for themselves!) not to attend any large events at this time. Source: haven't interacted in-person with another human in the last ~30 hours precisely because staying home is the right thing to do for our fellow humans at this time. Leading by example is one of the most powerful ways to lead.
remarkEon 7y ago
I wish this administration would do something like zero interest SBA crisis loans for this situation. I've already seen two of my favorite places where I live shut down indefinitely (I personally know one of the chefs at one of them). These places really do operate on razor thin margins and count on major holidays like St. Patrick's Day, and the summer in general, to make it through the year. The Fed's $1.5T "injection of liquidity" falls on deaf ears to these people.
- xyst 7y ago
  Likely won’t happen. Historically, these bailouts are given to big business, and the small businesses are subject to free market rules (adapt or die)
bentcorner 7y ago
Can someone enlighten me on the effects this will have on the economy? IANA economist, but it feels like I'm still relatively net-zero with my spending. My family didn't go out to eat, we spent less on gas, but we spent more on groceries at our local grocery store, and there's a little more in our bank account. People in the hospitality/tourism industry are certainly going through a lot of pain. If people didn't spend money in those sectors, where did it go?
- SomewhatLikely 7y ago
  The money doesn't have to go anywhere. Even slowing down how many hands a dollar passes through in a year leads to a contraction. More info here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/velocity.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/velocity.asp
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
zone411 7y ago
I made a quick visualization based on this data: relative number of coronavirus cases per state and restaurant performance from 3/11-3/12 https://twitter.com/LechMazur/status/1238701800997490690 https://twitter.com/LechMazur/status/1238701800997490690
jerzyt 7y ago
Kudos to OpenTable for publishing this data. I've used OpenTable a few times before - I will even more going forward.
banana_giraffe 7y ago
In a similar vein, it's crazy to me to compare traffic for the Seattle area compared to an the same weekday a year ago. https://imgur.com/a/8NHdDf8 https://imgur.com/a/8NHdDf8 It's like a ghost town out there. The couple of restaurateurs I've talked to don't know how they're going to keep the doors open much longer.
- divbzero 7y ago
  Tom Douglas [1] has closed 12 of his 13 Seattle restaurants. Only one remains open to honor the terms of a contract. [2] [1]: https://www.tomdouglas.com/ https://www.tomdouglas.com/ [2]: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/seattle-chef-tom-douglas-is-closing-his-restaurants-temporarily-due-to-the-new-coronavirus/ https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/seattle-chef-to...
ackbar03 7y ago
im surprised new york dropped by so much (up to 50%). Is everyone just cooking in their micro-appartments now? Or calling takeout?
isoskeles 7y ago
I was hoping OpenTable released this data grouped by cuisine so we can better understand the claims that "racism" is causing more economic pain for Chinese restaurants.
- ukabwlsbeux 7y ago
  Anecdotally, I have a friend who runs a middle eastern restaurant near a handful of popular Chinese restaurants. Early on, before there was any realistic threat to the area, but after it was known that a new disease was coming out of China, the middle eastern restaurant started surging in popularity because people were avoiding the Chinese ones all of a sudden. I don’t think it’s racism, but I definitely believe the claim is real
johntomczak 7y ago
Does anyone know if they quit updating or if it just takes until later in the day to post? I see up to and including March-15 but as of now, 11:07a CDT, there is nothing for 3/16. What do you all know / think?

137 points by georgespencer 7y ago

This has a huge impact on the restaurants bottom line, but honestly, surprised the numbers aren't worse. I hope they can weather these bad times.

blackoil 7y ago

Is this only dine-in or does it include delivery also? Both of them should have different patterns.

milesskorpen 7y ago
Dine in only. Reservations and walkins. (Source: I created this spreadsheet with our data team)
- usaphp 7y ago
  Could it be that people just don’t bother to place a reservation if they feel like restaurants won’t be busy due to a virus, but they still go there
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - URSpider94 7y ago
    This includes walk-ins - anyone who sits down in the restaurant to eat.
- tsycho 7y ago
  How do you get data for walk-ins? Do restaurants share that with OpenTable, regardless of reservation? Is this so that you can remove the table from your inventory, or because you provide their "seating management" software?
  - milesskorpen 7y ago
    Both — but primarily because we're their table management system.

Danieru 7y ago

From Japan with Love: it is irresponsible to go to a restaurant at this time. A population's safety is worth more than a couple small businesses going into mothball mode. If you want to support said small business your task is clear: ensure 110% you and your family does not get infected. Risking infection just to "save" a business is an oxymoron. These businesses are at risk because of the infections, their pain will continue until the entire population treats the virus seriously and contains it. If you want to help restaurants: stay home.

lukasm 7y ago
There has to be a trade-off between "social distancing" and being a productive human being which can afford to buy food and medicine and can go to the store to get the goods. One could make an argument that is more socially responsible to go to a small restaurant than to a crowded store.
- lathiat 7y ago
  as stated maybe that sounds true, but you can visit a crowded store once with one person and then feed a family of multiple people for a week (perhaps 21 meals). Multiple people have to visit a restaurant once for each 1 meal. So on the whole it would seem to scale much better if 1 person per household visits the store once per week, and the store should also not be super "crowded" if everyone is doing the same.
  - lukasm 7y ago
    sure, but in practice that ain't gonna happen. My point was about an average trip to a restaurant vs average shopping. If we are talking about the scenario with the minimal possible risk a restaurant could still beat the shop. You are going to drive through or pick up a pizza that you order online, so you spend a few minutes per meal with a limited number of people, say, for 21 meals, you have contacted 50 people. No need to touch trolleys, bags, boxes of pasta that people sneezed on. At home you reheat the pizza in the oven to kill the viruses. > The Institute of Transportation Engineers estimates that one Walmart super center receives 10,000 car visits per day

freepor 7y ago

Only down 50%? What kind of numbskulls are eating out at reservation restaurants during an uncontained pandemic?

conductr 7y ago
I ate out twice today. Maybe a numbskull but I honestly don’t care if I get this virus. I’m probably an idiot for that. But I don’t access my personal risk any more than the normal flu seasons. Edit to note; both restaurants were packed. I’m not alone in this mindset
- freepor 7y ago
  I guess I have to add sociopaths to my numbskulls who don’t care about spreading a deadly disease.
  - conductr 7y ago
    Maybe. I guess. I don’t think it’s incredibly controllable. It’s going to spread. We’ve never learned how to control the flu which is also deadly. I am limiting my social interaction with risk groups (working from home, cancelled trip to grandparents, etc). But I just don’t care if I get it by going in public. There are tons of people out in public in my city so an individual decision on my part isn’t going to change the macro.
    - jacobsenscott 7y ago
      It is clear you don't care, and nobody cares about you either. But it isn't just your grandparents. Many young people are caretakers for their parents/grandparents and can't just "cancel the trip". You risk spreading it to them that way.
      - conductr 7y ago
        So they should probably stay away from restaurants? All scenarios that support your line of thinking halt all human physical contact and presence in shared spaces. Does that sound feasible to you?

mapmeld 7y ago

When I saw drops on Mondays, I initially thought it was due to a year-on-year weekday mismatch, but the analysis is sound > For year-on-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of week from the same week in the previous year. For example, we'd compare Tuesday of week 11 in 2020 to Tuesday of week 11 in 2019. Interesting that most have a double dip, with a big drop on 3/2 and then again on 3/9 which is ongoing

milesskorpen 7y ago
This can typically be explained by weather effects this year or last.
conductr 7y ago
Monday’s are big news days with markets reacting to weekend news, businesses making worldwide directives, and the general dystopian state the world is slipping into.
spullara 7y ago
And people were wondering recently when you would ever use week numbers.

trts 7y ago

Data analysis does not need to be complicated to tell a story. This is simple, relevant, and paints the whole picture. Thanks for sharing.

adrr 7y ago

Most Restaurants don’t provide paid time off for sickness and the back of the house employees make near min wage. Seems like a huge risk to eat out during a pandemic.

troydavis 7y ago
Even in cities like San Francisco[1] and Seattle[2] where all employees must receive paid sick leave, demand fell off a cliff (understandably!). There are great arguments for offering and/or legislating paid sick leave, but if it's made any impact on demand, the impact is too small to matter. [1]: https://sfgov.org/olse/paid-sick-leave-ordinance-pslo https://sfgov.org/olse/paid-sick-leave-ordinance-pslo [2]: http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/LaborStandards/PSST%20QA%20%2006-29-18.pdf http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/LaborStandards/...

Reedx 7y ago

Brutal. Restaurants are already often hanging on by a thread. Over 400 closed in SF last year[1] due to the high cost of doing business there - some that had been operating for over 20 years. And that was with normal demand! Imagine now that their traffic has dropped 51%? https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-San-Francisco-Jardiniere-14928007.php https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/411-restaurant-closures-...

ttul 7y ago
Canada rolled out $10B in business financing just today to give businesses like restaurants a lifeline through this challenging and unusual time. The money is being pushed out via BDC (which is like the US Small Business Administration) and EDC, an export development agency that provides guarantees so that banks can lend to risky borrowers to support exports. On a GDP-scaled basis, the Canadian financial package is the equivalent of a $90B package in the US -- nearly twice what Trump's administration is offering.
- config_yml 7y ago
  Switzerland did the same, they offered 10B in help. They also waived a lot of bureaucratic paperwork for companies wanting to apply “Kurzarbeit”. I hope people take advantage of it and not in a bad way.
- jariel 7y ago
  Even though $10B seems nice, it's a drop in the bucket - any sustained depression at this level will start to have severe consequences far, far beyond the 2008 recession. I hate to sound like Trump and make this about the economy, but if this keeps up, we're all in serious trouble - we need to spend. With all of the 'social isolation' talk, there needs to be a push to 'stay calm carry on' i.e. focus on the 'carry on' parts - we need to do our jobs, we need to finish our work, we need to keep buying stuff (obviously thoughtfully), and we should also be trying to find ways to enjoy ourselves or we're going to go crazy. I'm really worried about my two locally-owned cafes, I'm literally stepping out now to get 'take out coffee' as I would normally 'sit-in' so as to cause the least disruption to their business. Same with everything else frankly. 1/2 of my 'What I am going to do?' Coronavirus thoughts have revolved around how I can 'keep spending at my regular places' because if we don't do that, it's going to go down like dominos. I know most people probably don't think in those terms, but the moment you become responsible for a P&L, one's worldview shifts! It's possible that negative economic downturn could inadvertently cause more bad life outcomes than the pandemic itself. The economy is the circulatory system of our collective wealth (and therefore health), we need to chin up and keep at it.

Alex_P13 7y ago

12 best web hosting service providers 2020 We are discus here about 12 best web hosting service providers worldwide, who serve the best service every time and every single moment for all the customers. Let’s get started to knowing about the 12 best web hosting service providers worldwide, and knowing details about them! https://www.electronthemes.com/12-best-web-hosting-service-providers-2020/ https://www.electronthemes.com/12-best-web-hosting-service-p...

edgefield0 7y ago

COVID-19 is going to wreck economies. We are all thinking that closures and social distancing will end in a month, maybe two. This process will unfold over many months, perhaps years. Every city and country is handling this differently. We have containment measures in some US cities and states and then Florida hosting an event with 50,000 visitors. Sure, we can reduce infections in North Carolina, but then these 50,000 will disperse and bring infections back again through out the country. The only end game here is everyone gets infected, we develop a vaccine, or in unison we lockdown every country and city for a fixed period of time, say 45-60 days (never going to happen). And if COVID-19 mutates? We restart the whole process. I bet many of us are still in lock down mode come fall 2020 and even into 2021.

aaronblohowiak 7y ago
how many small and medium businesses can meet obligations with basically 0 revenue for a month? The ripple effects will be huge. I don't think many of us will be in lock down mode continuously until fall 2020 -- we don't have the will for that.
ISL 7y ago
No snowflake in an avalanche feels responsible. That's okay, because they're snowflakes, not people. People should have enough respect for their fellow humans (and for themselves!) not to attend any large events at this time. Source: haven't interacted in-person with another human in the last ~30 hours precisely because staying home is the right thing to do for our fellow humans at this time. Leading by example is one of the most powerful ways to lead.

remarkEon 7y ago

I wish this administration would do something like zero interest SBA crisis loans for this situation. I've already seen two of my favorite places where I live shut down indefinitely (I personally know one of the chefs at one of them). These places really do operate on razor thin margins and count on major holidays like St. Patrick's Day, and the summer in general, to make it through the year. The Fed's $1.5T "injection of liquidity" falls on deaf ears to these people.

xyst 7y ago
Likely won’t happen. Historically, these bailouts are given to big business, and the small businesses are subject to free market rules (adapt or die)

bentcorner 7y ago

Can someone enlighten me on the effects this will have on the economy? IANA economist, but it feels like I'm still relatively net-zero with my spending. My family didn't go out to eat, we spent less on gas, but we spent more on groceries at our local grocery store, and there's a little more in our bank account. People in the hospitality/tourism industry are certainly going through a lot of pain. If people didn't spend money in those sectors, where did it go?

SomewhatLikely 7y ago
The money doesn't have to go anywhere. Even slowing down how many hands a dollar passes through in a year leads to a contraction. More info here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/velocity.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/velocity.asp

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

zone411 7y ago

I made a quick visualization based on this data: relative number of coronavirus cases per state and restaurant performance from 3/11-3/12 https://twitter.com/LechMazur/status/1238701800997490690 https://twitter.com/LechMazur/status/1238701800997490690

jerzyt 7y ago

Kudos to OpenTable for publishing this data. I've used OpenTable a few times before - I will even more going forward.

banana_giraffe 7y ago

In a similar vein, it's crazy to me to compare traffic for the Seattle area compared to an the same weekday a year ago. https://imgur.com/a/8NHdDf8 https://imgur.com/a/8NHdDf8 It's like a ghost town out there. The couple of restaurateurs I've talked to don't know how they're going to keep the doors open much longer.

divbzero 7y ago
Tom Douglas [1] has closed 12 of his 13 Seattle restaurants. Only one remains open to honor the terms of a contract. [2] [1]: https://www.tomdouglas.com/ https://www.tomdouglas.com/ [2]: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/seattle-chef-tom-douglas-is-closing-his-restaurants-temporarily-due-to-the-new-coronavirus/ https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/seattle-chef-to...

ackbar03 7y ago

im surprised new york dropped by so much (up to 50%). Is everyone just cooking in their micro-appartments now? Or calling takeout?

isoskeles 7y ago

I was hoping OpenTable released this data grouped by cuisine so we can better understand the claims that "racism" is causing more economic pain for Chinese restaurants.

ukabwlsbeux 7y ago
Anecdotally, I have a friend who runs a middle eastern restaurant near a handful of popular Chinese restaurants. Early on, before there was any realistic threat to the area, but after it was known that a new disease was coming out of China, the middle eastern restaurant started surging in popularity because people were avoiding the Chinese ones all of a sudden. I don’t think it’s racism, but I definitely believe the claim is real

johntomczak 7y ago

Does anyone know if they quit updating or if it just takes until later in the day to post? I see up to and including March-15 but as of now, 11:07a CDT, there is nothing for 3/16. What do you all know / think?