Restaurants dissatisfied with OpenTable: a startup opportunity?

[bobf]

UrbanSpoon announced a competing restaurant reservation service earlier this year: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/urbanspoon_challenges_o...

Their pricing model is described as $99/mo + $1/reservation, which seems more reasonable than OpenTable's reportedly high fees. Also, UrbanSpoon seems uniquely positioned to replace OpenTable, since they already have users and restaurant data.

[phil]

Thanks! We've been working for a while now on this at Urbanspoon.

There's more press on our reservation efforts here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870369180457525...

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/urbanspoon-squares-...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/technology/personaltech/01...

[petervandijck]

It sounds like it's definitely an opportunity. A though one to crack though, like all marketplaces.

[DanielStraight]

I had no idea OpenTable charged restaurants so much. I didn't use it often, but I see no reason to use it at all now. It's convenient, but I would much rather the money go to the restaurant.

[_urga]

I've developed a web-based alternative to OpenTable: http://www.sexbyfood.com

[m_eiman]

Isn't the name a bit of a problem?

[_urga]

Video: http://vimeo.com/9152251

PDF: http://bit.ly/cXpF25

Screenshots: http://bit.ly/bIZBrv