Three of Denver's Most Heavily Booked Restaurants Switch Reservation Supplier to Eveve
Charcoal, Old Major and Fresh Fish switch live reservation system supplier to EVEVE, now the fastest growing reservation supplier in Colorado, its fourth US market. Find out about the Denver restaurant reservation scene, how it is changing, and why these leading restaurants have switched to EVEVE!
Denver has one of America's strongest independent restaurant communities. With so many restaurants at the vanguard of modern American cuisine, the city sets the benchmark for the Mountain West when it comes to fine dining. Denver's economy is amongst the Nation's most buoyant, and as incomes rise and the city grows, the demand for fine dining is set to grow even faster than the city in general.
In line with its leading position as a technology and restaurant hub, in 2015 Denver is already one of the most heavily penetrated markets globally, in terms of online reservations for restaurants. With over 600 restaurants accepting online reservations in Colorado, the State has one of highest rates of online booking in America, and indeed the world. Beyond Denver itself, there are significant concentrations of online restaurant bookings in Boulder, Aurora, Lakewood, Aspen, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Greenwood Village and Durango.
Online reservations confer many advantages for both the dining public, and restaurateurs. For the diner, the live restaurant reservation system affords a higher degree of convenience, for they can make a reservation at any time which suits them, regardless of whether there is a vacant receptionist to take the booking. Immediately after booking, confirmation is automatically emailed, conferring peace of mind. For the restaurateur, online reservations offer the ability to take bookings 24/7 at minimal cost. Moreover, each online reservation is structured according to the restaurateur's exact parameters, to ensure that it would be taken exactly as if by them personally.
The problem facing restaurateurs in Denver until 2015 (shared across Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska) was that they were served by just one monopoly reservations supplier, Opentable, which enjoyed over 95% market share. Though Opentable provides a quality reservation product and professional service, like any monopoly situation when there is only one supplier, prices are inevitably uncompetitive.
In January 2015 the situation changed drastically. Three of Denver's most critically acclaimed restaurants - Charcoal, Old Major and Fresh Fish - have switched reservation supplier from Opentable to EVEVE. Charcoal, one of Denver's fine dining champions, specialises in modern European cuisine, and managed thousands of online diners each month. Fresh Fish is widely considered Denver's finest Seafood restaurant and tables are a much prized commodity. Old Major is one of the hottest tables in town, with one of the highest ratios of online reservations to seats in Colorado. These three are joined by The Curtis Club and Cedar Creek, which have also recently switched to EVEVE within the past couple of weeks. All told, EVEVE now expects to manage around 7,000 online diners per month in Colorado.
Why are so many restaurants switching to EVEVE? EVEVE has proven it can deliver just as many online reservations per restaurant as Opentable, across 200 case studies. This is underpinned by world class reservations software and local, designated account managers. All this is provided at a tremendously competitive price, with restaurants typically saving 60-80% when switching to EVEVE, and sometimes as much as 90%.
Many restaurants are attracted to the fact that EVEVE is a white label solution, rather than a middleman or broker. EVEVE does not promote itself to the restaurant's diners nor does it promote other restaurants. Indeed, many diners use EVEVE software without even knowing it. This was a major selling point for Charcoal's owner, Gary Sumihiro who said "Charcoal Restaurant has reached a stage where it wants to control its own reservations and branding rather than through a third party."
Denver is EVEVE's fourth market, following success in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Houston and Seattle. EVEVE chose Minneapolis-St. Paul as its first target market in 2011, and the company now manages the online reservations for nine of the Twin Cities' 10 busiest independent restaurants, and over 50% of all online diner reservations in the state. In Texas, EVEVE serves five of the top 10 most booked restaurants, as well as acclaimed fine dining establishments, such as Fresh Fish and Barley Swine (in Austin). Seattle became EVEVE's third market in November, and 15 restaurants now utilise the company's product across the greater metropolitan area.
EVEVE is very enthusiastic about the Denver market, and has made a strategic investment in the city, committing to locally based sales and technical support teams. Timothy Ryan, EVEVE's CEO added "Denver has one of America's most accomplished and innovative fine dining restaurant scenes. Unfortunately the choice of quality restaurants was not mirrored by a corresponding choice of restaurant reservation partner, until now. That combination made Denver the outstanding choice for us. We hope that we will be able to serve Denver like we have other markets, meaning lower overheads for restaurants. Ultimately these savings can be passed on to diners"
EVEVE offers onsite installs throughout Colorado from its new base in Denver. Furthermore, Denver will also serve the restaurant communities in Kansas, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming, again offering onsite sales visits and installation in those states.
If you have a restaurant in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Utah or Wyoming, and are looking for best in class reservation technology, first rate account management and training, but without the per diner cover fees, call EVEVE's Denver team today, and they will be delighted to visit with you in person:
Benjamin Brecht, Denver, Colorado: 770 335 6733
Benjamin covers Denver, Aspen, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Durango, Boulder, Lakewood, Fort Collins and Greenwood Village in Colorado; together with Utah, Wyoming,Kansas and Nebraska.