[nabraham]

Future growth must come from international. OT is in 50% of all reservation taking restaurants in the US but in only 10% of reservation taking restaurants in international markets. That said, it's not easy to go international - they've tried a few times in Europe and had to retreat.

[jacquesm]

If there is one thing that companies consistently underestimate it is how hard it is to internationalize a business.

[_delirium]

That 10% seems rather unlikely. Are you sure that isn't just of restaurants that take online bookings, not of restaurants that take bookings? In much of the world, the vast majority of restaurants that will take reservations do so via telephone, and OpenTable has 0% of that very large market, which would make it pretty much impossible for their overall market share to hit 10%. Even in much of Europe: for example, nearly every tavern in Greece (tens of thousands of them) will reserve tables via telephone, but very few of them have any kind of online presence.

[alextgordon]

> only 10% of reservation taking restaurants in international markets

Surely 10% of the international market would far exceed 50% of the US market? The US is only 4.5% of the world's population.

[jacquesm]

Restaurants are strongly tied into local culture. What works in one country may very well not work in another.

[matwood]

Population has little to do with it. What percentage of world restaurant reservations are made in the US? For example, I don't know if people in India or China make reservations or is it more customary to show up or maybe have standing reservations.

[smackfu]

The key missing stat is what percentage of restaurants are reservation-taking restaurants, in various countries. And what percentage of those restaurants are using a point-of-sale computer system.

[nabraham]

Yes - you need the % that is reservation taking vs walk-in. That said, my 10% stat is from their 10Ks and relates only to the markets they are in.

[bonestamp2]

They could also grow by diverging from just tables (possibly requiring a name change) to include other reservation types such as spas, hair cuts/colors, etc.

They could keep the "table" name if table is thought of in a more abstract way, such as an open spot in a reservation table/chart/spreadsheet.