OPEN

I’ve been a fan of Open Table for several years and I still think it’s a pity that most restaurants in RVA don’t use it (~30 as of today).
From a recent NYT article: “Over the past decade, OpenTable has grown into the dominant online restaurant booking service and now claims more than 20,000 eateries, mostly in the United States. As of March, it says, it has seated more than 200 million diners.
The reasons are clear: You can check online for available tables at top restaurants in most major markets, making a booking and get a confirmation e-mail – all for free, and without having to wait on hold with a (sometimes) snooty reservations host.”
(we’ve been “turned away/off” from quite a few restaurants in the area owing to this archaic policy)
In a down economy with fewer people dining out, its quite fascinating to see how Open Table (Nasdaq: OPEN) has performed relative to the Dow since its inception (trading at 5x its Summer 2009 IPO price and a tripling since last year!). Wish I had some investing acumen!

A few restaurants around have 1000 point tables available many evenings. At a simple calculation of 2000 points equating to a $20 gift certificate*, that’s like a nice ~10% discount at many places, just a click away. Too bad the choices on where one can use it are limited here in RVA.
* - Consider a typical meal for two (sadly still sticking to the general 3-course paradigm and using rough price estimates) (>> half of the Style Magazine’s Top 50 are at this level or higher) to establish a base: Shared appetizer - $8 + Two entrées - $46 + Shared dessert - $8 + Drinks - $18
Total - $70 (add t&t) ~ $90 as the base price (± $) for two.