Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Master in Business Administration
Applied Research Project
Evaluation of Table Reservation
Systems for Restaurants
June 26th 2014
Diego Anderegg
Oberdorfstrasse 39
3510 Konolfingen
077 429 45 11
[email protected]
Xi Zhang
Waidstrasse 1
8307 Effretikon
079 862 30 50
[email protected]
Tanja Berger
Bucheggstrasse 48
8037 Zürich
078 798 35 18
[email protected]
Iana Malicovscaia
Pilatusstrasse 66
6003 Luzern
078 879 92 73
[email protected]
Supervisor:
Dr. Andreas Liebrich
Zentralstrasse 9
6002 Luzern
041 228 42 32
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Management Summary............................................................................................................................ 3
1.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2.
Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 5
2.01 Table Reservation Systems .......................................................................................................... 5
2.02 Criteria for Table Reservation Systems ...................................................................................... 10
2.03 Typology of Restaurants ............................................................................................................ 13
2.04 Existing Systems on the Market ................................................................................................ 15
4. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 20
4.01 Benchmarking............................................................................................................................ 20
4.02 Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 21
5. Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 24
5.01 First Round Interview Results – Criteria Catalogue ................................................................... 24
5.02 Second Round Interview Results – System Analysis .................................................................. 25
5.03 Discussion Based on Interview Key Findings.............................................................................. 35
5.04 Synthesis of Systems and Restaurant Types .............................................................................. 38
6.
Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 40
7.
Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 41
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 43
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 47
Declaration of Sole Authorship ............................................................................................................. 96
1
List of tables
Table 1 Comparison of distribution channels by Kimes (2011) .............................................................. 6
Table 2 Three aspects to consider before adopting an ORS .................................................................... 7
Table 3 Typologies of restaurants in line with Muller and Woods (1994)............................................ 14
Table 4 Matrix to classify restaurants ................................................................................................... 15
Table 5 Summary of table reservation systems according to criteria .................................................... 19
Table 6 Synthesis of Systems and Restaurant Types ............................................................................ 38
List of figures
Figure 1 The three steps of benchmarking ............................................................................................ 21
Figure 2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 23
2
Management Summary
Online table reservation systems (ORS) can boost the demand for seats in a restaurant.
Accordingly, they should consider using such systems. However, Kimes (2011) shows that
implementing an unsuitable tool can result in a loss of time and money. There is a vast
amount of different suppliers of ORS on the market. Resultantly, there is a demand for
guidelines which help restaurants choosing the appropriate system. The aim of this research is
to identify the needs of the restaurants in Switzerland andas well as to identify the most
suitable online table reservation systems for the most common restaurants.
In order to achieve this goal a literature research on criteria for choosing an ORS was
conducted. Additionally, restaurants were questioned in a first round of interviews about
criteria they used to select a provider. In doing so 24 characteristics were found which
appeared in both, the literature research and the interviews with the restaurant managers. The
topics are broad and include aspects such as pricing, the time since when the system is on the
market, marketing possibilities, support, panorama pictures or the possibility to adjust the
content of the restaurant’s page without a need of contacting the provider.
In a second step a typology of restaurants was introduced. Based on the literature and the
Swiss
gastronomy
standards
a
matrix
differentiating
between
city/country
and
upscale/midscale/fast service was created (Almanza, Canziani and McKeig, 2010; Demen
Meier, 2005; GastroSuisse, 2013). Subsequently, restaurants in Switzerland were identified
according to the classification. They were then interviewed about the criteria catalogue. The
authors consulted three city fast casual, two country fast casual, three country casual, four city
casual, and two of each type of upscale restaurants. The surveys addressed establishments in
the German, French and in the Italian part as well as dining places which do not use any ORS.
In addition, the systems existing on the Swiss market were inspected and assessed according
to the needs mentioned by the experts questioned.
Fast casual restaurants are not very keen on ORS. They indicated that they either do not use
any or that they do not receive a big amount of bookings through them. The fast casual
restaurants on the country side mentioned that if they use a booking its characteristics should
be that it contains a simple booking process. Fees should be imposed per booking. The
moderate city and country restaurants are also not very interested in ORS. On the contrary,
the moderate country dining places mentioned several characteristics a system should possess,
including the visual attraction, the integration with the offline system, the possibility to
3
announce special events and the usage as marketing tool. Compared to other types of
restaurants the upscale ones receive a higher amount of online bookings. The pricing is not of
high importance to them. They demand a high support standard, collaboration with Social
Media, a good billboard effect, a web-based usage and marketing opportunities.
Providers of online table reservation systems should hence focus on upscale restaurants, but
also provide more price sensitive solutions for the other dining places. Upscale restaurants can
be targeted with systems focusing on good marketing opportunities and a good service. For
the cost-sensitive restaurants simple and cost effective “light” versions with fees per booking
are recommended.
1. Introduction
Gastronomy has always been an industry with prosperity. Recent years have witnessed
evaluation and modernization in the gastronomy industry. For instance, implementations of
online reservation systems (ORSs) are a great example of this advancement. If applied
effectively, table reservation systems can help to increase revenue by improving the capacity
used (Kimes, 2011, Heo, Lee, Mattila and Hu, 2013; Hwang, Gao and Jang, 2010 and Prewitt,
2005). However, there is little detailed up to date research which takes on a systemic
approach to compare different online reservation systems (Kimes and Beard, 2013).
Due to the diversified characteristics of the tools functions, it is worth studying the
advantages and disadvantages of each type of table reservation system, as well as their
suitability to different categories of restaurant. Thus, the purpose of the project is to identify
the most usful online table reservation systems for the most common restaurant types in
Switzerland.
There are three sub-objectives of this paper which helped to reach this purpose. The first
target is the creation of a criteria catalogue. This directory is then used to compare different
restaurant reservation systems. The criteria are examined by considering the needs of the
restaurants toward the online table reservation systems. The second objective is to benchmark
the systems existing on the market based on an analysis of their advantages and
disadvantages. Finally, a synthesis on the level of suitability of the ORS for each type of
restaurant is derived based on the criteria and characteristics identified beforehand.
This paper is divided into three consecutive parts: the criteria generation part, the system
analysis part and the matching part of the systems and the categorized restaurants. The first
4
two parts will both consist of a literature review and an empirical analysis. The last part will
then provide results and recommendations as a decision making aid for academia and industry
participations. This paper explores the needs of restaurants in Switzerland. Therefore it
focuses on systems available in Switzerland.
2. Literature Review
2.01 Table Reservation Systems
Online Reservation Systems (ORS) entered the market in the late 1990s. Their acceptance and
development have witnessed dramatic growth in the last twenty years (Kimes, 2011).
Classification of Table Reservation Systems. Generally speaking, restaurant reservation
systems can be classified into two categories: Telephone Reservation System (TRS) and
Online Reservation System (ORS). Among these two categories, there are four different
distribution channels: (1) the traditional telephone method, (2) call centres, (3) online or
mobile through the restaurant’s website or application or (4) online or mobile through general
third-party reservation sites or applications (Kimes, 2011). Kimes (2011) has provided
detailed literature content on the classifications and comparisons of these distribution
channels. He compared these four ways of distribution from the following perspectives: hours
of operation, consistency, cost, marketing opportunities, personal connection, customer
convenience, restaurant control, accuracy, ancillary services and record-keeping accuracy.
Table 1 highlights both the advantages and disadvantages of each distribution channel
according to each of the above perspectives.
5
Table 1 Comparison of distribution channels by Kimes (2011)
However, besides these four distribution channels, there are many other platforms and
suppliers which can be used to book restaurant tables, such as Internet sites of airlines, hotels,
credit card companies, consumer magazines, city tourist bureaus or Web browsers (Prewitt,
2005, p.6).
Advantages and disadvantages of ORS. Compared to traditional telephone reservation
systems, online reservation systems are different in many ways. In the following a summary
of advantages and disadvantages of ORS compared to traditional TRS is given (Kimes, 2011;
Kimes, 2009; Kimes and Beard 2013, p. 465 and Prewitt, 2005, p.6).
Advantages:
-
An ORS is able to take a large number of reservations at the same time, which is
especially helpful at busy times
-
Restaurants can take reservations 24/7
-
The right type of reservation system can result into better cost efficiency for
restaurants due to reduced labour cost
-
ORS help restaurant to offer a better and more consistent service quality
-
ORS help restaurants to manage coupon and promotions based on allocations of table
inventories
-
ORS often offer additional services which are beneficial for restaurants, such as
electronic reservation books, guest history systems and table management systems
6
-
ORS help restaurants control customer time and better capacity use which generates
more revenue. It enables forecasts for better capacity allocations
-
ORS help restaurants to select the most profitable customers
-
Restaurants get customer’s contact data and can analyze their preferences
Disadvantages:
-
ORS reduce personal connections with customers before dining
-
Online reservations are not perceived as reliable as TRS
-
ORS are easier accepted by online users; however, people who are not used to online
booking and purchasing find it more difficult to accept ORS
-
Unsuitable ORS can be ineffective and money-wasting.
Aspects to consider before adopting an ORS. There are many factors to consider, when
adopting an ORS. These aspects alos depend on the specific needs and business model of a
restaurant. Kimes (2011) suggests three elements to consider before adopting an ORS. These
aspects are summarized in table 2 below.
Table 2 Three aspects to consider before adopting an ORS
Customer
Customers need time to accept and integrate ORS into their purchasing
preferences
behaviour. At the moment, ORS is considered to be more convenient, faster
and flexible, overall by online users. However, not everyone is using the
web to reserve a table. Around one-third of all American adults denied
using ORS due to the lower service orientation compared with TRS (Kimes,
2009; Miller and Washington, 2012, p. 239).
Customers who had made online reservation and who are used to online
booking tools are most likely to continue using ORS in the future (Dixon,
Kimes and Verma, 2009).
Incrementality
Incrementality refers to the extra amount of customers which book a table
of the business
due to the ORS. These tables would not have been reserved without the
booking tools. If customers who use the ORS were going to come to the
restaurant anyway, the investment to adopt and implement the ORS may not
be worthy (Miller and Washington, 2012; Kimes, 2011).
Other ancillary Third-party reservation systems can compensate the cost of usage by
service
additional services. Typical services are electronic reservation books, guest
history systems and table management systems. Electronic reservation
7
books update bookings from all channels simultaneously, which accurately
keep track of reservations and availabilities. Guest history systems
personalize customer service by keeping track of clients’ preferences. Table
management systems inform the availability of table by time slots, which
decreases empty tables (Kimes, 2011). Kimes (2009) also claimed that
whether to choose a third-party reservation system or to build up an own
website system, depends on which is the most straightforward electronic
process for customers to use (p. 5).
Adapt best practices and methods from other industries for further improvements. As
Kimes (2011) pointed out, the situation of the emergence of restaurant ORS and the problems
faced by restaurants are similar to those of the hotel industry at the time when online travel
agencies started to step into the market. Besides, online restaurant reservation systems have
many consequences in the restaurant industry. It is not only a new way of distribution for
table inventory, but also causes new revenue management issues (Kimes, 2011, p. 189). To
maximise income and the functions of ORS, there are a lot of things restaurant ORS can learn
from hotel ORS, airline ORS, and even online shopping systems. Many specific features,
functions and practices from these industries can be adapted and implemented (Prewitt, 2005,
p.6; Kimes, 2011). Four sophisticated revenue management methods can be mentioned as
examples.
1. Disposing of high-traffic table inventory: this strategy directs customers from hightraffic periods to low-traffic periods. For example, DinnerBroker.com gives customers
a percentage discount for restaurant-designated low periods. PriceYourMeal.com
offers customers the opportunity to price their own meal, in which restaurants can
essentially auction off meals during off-peak periods (Kimes, Enz, Siguaw, Verma and
Walsh, 2010).
2. Allocation by distribution channel: based on the cost and demand of each distribution
channel, restaurants can allocate table inventories to the most profit generating
channels and minimize the high-cost and less-effective channels. For example, if the
ORS is more effective than telephone reservation system, then the marketing efforts
and table inventory will be allocated more to the ORS.
3. Discount coupon allocation: Online coupon or discount providers are growing in
numbers. Typical examples are Groupon, OpenTable, Spotlight and Dealon. These
8
coupon services can generate additional customers if the promotions are well
managed.
4. Minimum party size restrictions: sometimes third-party sites help restaurants to
specify minimum party size, which maximize revenue by matching party size mix and
table size mix (Kimes, 2011).
In addition, it is important to combine the ORS data with the point of sales data in order to
analyze which reservations leaded to the most revenue. This enables to optimize capacity in
the reservation system. For example, if late bookers turn out to be higher spenders, some
capacity can be saved for late bookings (Kimes, 2013, p. 465).
The trends and futures. As a part of the fast changing information technology industry,
ORS have already experienced dramatic changes over the past twenty years. However, the
trends of table reservation system are still constantly changing and there are many factors that
influence their development. In the following section five emerging trends mentioned by
Kimes (2011) are described.
1. Growth of mobile reservation applications: as the adoption of smart phones and the
popularity of mobile apps is growing, major ORS offer mobile versions of their
websites. The impacts of this trend can be expected to be significant in the futre
2. Continued growth of third-party reservation sites: as the convenience and diversified
choices offered by ORS are realized by an increasing number of customers, more
third-party reservation sites can be expected to enter the market
3. Possible commoditization of restaurants: as the popularity and adoption of third-party
reservation sites grow, customers might be more used to and loyal to the third-party
reservation sites as a result of redeemable rewarding points. This might cause
customers to look for restaurants with availability
4. The emergence of customer relationship management: as customer relationship
management gains on importance, the trend is to combine ORS with other customer
management systems, such as Point of Sale systems or Kitchen Display systems. The
integration of different customer management systems is aimed at better
understanding and subsequent serving customers, which will maximise profits.
5. The emergence of computerized restaurant revenue management: the integration of
restaurant online reservation systems and highly advanced restaurant IT systems will
ultimately enable a comprehensive Revenue Management (RM) in the restaurant
industry.
9
Customer perspective analysis. It is also important to analysis the impacts of ORS on
customers and present the advantages and disadvantages of this technological development
from the customer’s point of view (Kim, 2009; Kimes, 2011; Kimes and Beard 2013, p. 465
and Prewitt, 2005, p.6):
-
Customers may prefer the ORS due to the flexibility with regards to the booking hours
-
For customers it can be more cost effective to book online
-
ORS provide more accessibility and more information to customers than telephone
reservations
-
During busy hours, TBS are problematic, as it might be difficult to contact the
restaurant
-
ORS offer a consistent service quality with mostly instant confirmations
-
In certain cases, customers can view menus, see pictures of the dining room, read the
chefs bibliography, inform the kitchen about allergies, and read restaurant reviews,
which gives an added value to the customers
Relevant factors for customers for the intention to book online derived from the hotel industry
are the ease of information search, transaction function (simple and clear possibility to book),
convenience, price and safety (Kim and Kim, 2004).
In addition, for customers it is important to explain general policies. Policies about the
honouring of the reservation and the provision of credit card details to guarantee the
reservation are mainly accepted by customers. The limitation of duration is perceived more
critically (Kim and Kim, 2004).
2.02 Criteria for Table Reservation Systems
The possibility of online restaurant reservations is not yet widely known by the general
public, nor is it well defined in literature (Mozeik, Beldona, Cobanoglu, Poorani, 2009, p.
250). Currently little research exists about restaurants’ ORS criteria. Thus, the following
section is mainly based on hotel booking reservation systems in combination with restaurant
booking systems.
Morosan and Jeong (2008) state that electronic distribution and adaptation of new information
technologies gives hotels benefits, such as the possibility of low cost distribution channels and
the opportunity of mass advertisements. Most of the researches on reservation systems
analyze benefits of online reservation systems, describing such systems as a technology that
10
can be used for researching the appropriate strategy for hoteliers (Lin and Lee, 2009). Mozeik,
Beldona, Cobanoglu and Poorani (2009) believe that as more people become accustomed to
booking flights and hotel rooms on the Internet, more restaurants will enable guests to make
direct bookings online. Kim and Kim (2004) mention the following main criteria restaurant
reservation systems should consider:
1. convenience
2. ease of information search
3. ease in usage
4. credibility of information
5. price
6. safety
Price – is one of the most vital criteria for restaurants to adapt or abandon an ORS (Lin and
Lee, 2009; Chen and Higa, n.d.; Kim and Kim, 2004). Jairam (n.d.) divides the price criterion
into subtypes: total cost to purchase the system, annual fee, and fee per reservation (p.7). If
restaurants use a third-party vendor for their online reservations, they have to pay certain fees
for those reservations (Kimes, 2009).
Credibility of information or Reliability is also discussed by academics (Kimes, 2009; Jairam,
n.d.) with the focus on reliable information and security of services. Security itself represents
a separate criterion, which refers to the assured booking and network security (Chen and
Higa, n.d.), reliable and accurate information about the restaurant and the booking process
(Kimes, 2009).
Availability is another criterion influencing the restaurants’ decision of which ORS to choose.
Due to development cost, some ORS only exist in limited areas like for the use on web pages,
tablets, mobiles or for limited geographical areas (Kooser, 2012, pp. 14–15). Availability can
also be looked at from another perspective. Through ORS a bigger number of restaurants and
free tables can be checked simultaneously (Mozeik, Beldona, Cobanoglu and Poorani, 2009).
This however, applies mainly to markets with a big number of restaurants and visitors.
Another important element of availability is that the systems are available at any time and
therefore are not depending on the working hours of the restaurant (Jairam, n.d.).
Several studies (Bradley, 1992; Zipf and Malaka, 2000; Jairam, n.d.; Smith, 2011) show that
simplicity of use is a crucial criterion for online reservation systems. Simplicity of use refers
to the intelligent integration of information and different data sources from various
11
information types, such as geographical information and multi-media data. This leads to
interactive platforms with an intelligent user interface and effective visualization, which
makes it easy for customers to find information and to make bookings.
Another important criterion for restaurant reservation systems is the spreading of the platform
on mobile devices. The potential impact of wireless applications is already enormous and
rapidly growing. This makes mobile applications a viable, convenient, and cost-effective
proposition for restaurants (Mozeik et al, 2009, p. 248). “The era of m-commerce” (Wang and
Wang, 2010) enlarges the accessibility enormously, as with mobile means like wireless
Internet, mobile phone-ID location, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), geographic
information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) users are able to find the
closest restaurant at any time (Wang and Wang, 2010; Bled, 2004; Kooser, 2012).
The possibility to post restaurant reviews on the platforms of reservation system is a particular
important criterion since the reviews either drive or detract customers from visiting a
business. Such reviews are considered as “the most obvious, direct, and effective form of
public relation” (Davis, 2009, p.1). Moreover, what customers think about a restaurant and the
offered food is largely influenced by what customers read about the restaurants in
professional reviews, personal reviews and ratings (Smith, 2011). Furthermore, knowledge
about the dining places and their offers belongs to an urban lifestyle and cultural capital,
especially in big cities. Restaurant reviews facilitate cross-cultural food exploration.
Europeans or Americans will use reviews to explore Japanese or Chinese restaurants for
cross-cultural food experiences (Davis, 2009). Last but not least, in the hotel industry, there is
a positive correlation between online ratings and customer loyalty (Ramanathan, 2011;
Choua, Melchera and Pearsona, 2010).
Further criteria playing an important role in choosing ORS for restaurants are:
-
Web design and architecture (Sigala, 2003; Morosan and Jeong, 2008)
-
Redirection to the hotel/restaurant’s web site (Morosan and Jeong, 2008; Mozeik,
Beldona, Cobanoglu and Poorani, 2009)
-
Speed and response time (Wang and Wang, 2010; Kimes, 2009)
-
Personalized interface and control of customers’ data for restaurants (Jairam, n.d.)
-
Effective integration with search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing (Zipf and
Malaka, 2000; Mozeik et al, 2009)
12
-
Amount of restaurants on the platform (Handly, 2012). Consumers request a variety of
choice. If this is not given they might not be interested in using the tool
-
Online advertisement (Morosan and Jeong, 2008; Kimes, 2009)
There are also some negative features of ORS for restaurants such as the loss of control and
lack of personal connection with the customers, the risk of no-shows or late shows, limits
with regards to the internet access (Kimes, 2009), over-reliance and overpaying to the third
party (Morosan and Jeong, 2008); lack of economic measurement after adaptation (Prewitt,
2005, p. 6); the need of improved capacity management as this is connected to service quality
and customer satisfaction (Hwang, 2005), lack of standard prices (Lin and Lee, 2009, p. 84),
and possible errors while processing a reservation (Jairam, n.d.).
2.03 Typology of Restaurants
In order to find out which reservation system is most suitable for which restaurant type,
different types of restaurants need to be distinguished. There is no common standard of
restaurant typologies (Almanza, Canziani and McKeig, 2010, Demen Meier, 2005). The
Swiss restaurant association GastroSuisse distinguishes between geographical areas the
restaurants are situated in (GastroSuisse, 2013):
-
city area
-
country area
-
touristic region
A commonly used typology for restaurant is the typology from Muller and Woods (1994)
(Almanza, Canziani and McKeig, 2010; Demen Meier, 2005). Muller and Woods distinguish
between three main types: “quick service”, “midscale” and “upscale”. In addition, they
recommend the use of “moderate upscale” and “business dining”. These types with
corresponding attributes are shown in the following table 3.
13
Table 3 Typologies of restaurants in line with Muller and Woods (1994)
Type
Quick Service
Midscale
Moderate Upscale
Upscale
Business Dining
Attributes
- Low price
- Speed and time savings
- Consistency
- Menu mix and choice
- Value (price and portion size)
- Comfort
- Table and counter service
- Fashion statement
- Ambience
- Flexibility of use by key customer groups
- Style
- Ambiance
- Service
- Dining Experience
- Location
- No menu fatigue
- Price and value
- Ease of purchase decision
Quick service restaurants offer a limited menu choice and target price-conscious customers
(Muller and Woods, 1994). They can be seen as part of the “limited-service eating places”,
where the food is picked up by the customer and paid before eating (U.S. Census Bureau,
2014).
Midscale restaurants offer a broad menu choice but focus on low-costs in a comfortable
ambiance. High traffic is of importance for generating revenue for both, quick service and
midscale restaurants.
Moderate upscale restaurants also offer a broad but differentiating menu with a higher price
and service level. They focus on specific themes customers can identify with.
Upscale restaurants offer a unique fine-dining identity with the highest service level.
Differentiating factors are personalization, special style of service and food as well as pacing
of the service (Muller and Woods, 1994).
Similar typologies for the above mentioned forms are “quick-service/fast-food”, “fast casual”,
“midscale”, “moderate/casual”, and “upscale” as used by the United States National
Restaurant Association (NRA). “Quick-service/fast-food”, “moderate/casual”, and “upscale”
are the most commonly used typologies, whereof “midscale” and “fast casual” are least used
(Almanza, Canziani and McKeig, 2010).
14
In addition to the above enumerated types, Muller and Woods (1994) mention “business
dining”, which can be compared to “fast casual” used by the NRA. This includes corporate
offers like employee restaurants. They offer daily menus to attract the same customer several
times a week and are located in business areas (Muller and Woods, 1994). These can be
community restaurants for offices, schools or hospitals (Demen Meier, p. 4, 2005).
As the regional distinction of GastroSuisse is overlapping with the above mentioned
typologies, a matrix will be used to clearly define each type of restaurant. This paper focuses
on the main geographic characteristics “city” and “country” and on the common typology,
“moderate/casual” and “upscale”. “Quick-service/fast-food” will not be considered for this
paper as this type of restaurant is assumed not to require table reservations. Instead, “fast
casual/business dining” will be used as a third category (see table 4).
Table 4 Matrix to classify restaurants
city
country
fast casual / business dining
moderate / casual
upscale
2.04 Existing Systems on the Market
This chapter describes the online table reservation systems currently existing on the market.
The goal is to classify the systems according to the criteria catalogue presented above. This
will be used for making suggestions about which type of restaurant should use which system.
As the data collection is focusing on restaurants in Switzerland the systems analysed are, with
the exception of Zagat, all present on the Swiss market. Zagat was included in the analysis as
it is one of the biggest providers of online booking tools (Liddle, 2009; Milliot, 2004, p. 13).
Bookatable. More than 9000 restaurants worldwide are offering their tables on Bookatable.
The company attracts clients through a business and customer channel (Handley, 2012).
Restaurants can be searched by type, review as well as by price level or by their location on a
city plan (Bookatable, 2014). Restaurants can offer their tables online on the platform. Once a
table is booked guests are provided with a confirmation E-mail. The booking tool can also be
integrated into the website of the restaurant. Bookatable has collaborations with TripAdvisor,
Facebook, Twitter and BCD Travel. With regards to the criteria the system can be
characterized as following (based on Bookatable.ch and the Interviews of round one and
round two): The platform offers different packages which can be chosen. The “light package”
is free of charge. However, the restaurants are charged by reservation. There are two further
15
options which can be chosen. These options cost between EUR 99 and EUR 149 per month.
Accordingly, Bookatable offers different additional value propositions for the restaurant. The
premium (EUR 149) option includes for example marketing material (Bookatable, n.d.).
Prices for the Swiss market are not openly available.
MyTable. MyTable is an external online table reservation platform based in Switzerland. The
company was found in 2011. The platform offers a booking possibility for over 2,000
restaurants in Europe. Restaurants can be searched by type, reviews, as well as by price level
or on city plans. Features offered to their clients are: the possibility to book tables online, a
mobile application, five different languages interfaces, and e-mail or telephone confirmation.
However, the main page of MyTable is solely available in English. Restaurant can be
integrated in the Facebook account of MyTable. MyTable.ch does cross-selling by providing
the restaurants with opportunities to buy an area in the newsletter or in the restaurant of the
week section. The company offers a free option which solely lists the restaurant on MyTable.
However, restaurants can choose a package to join the online reservation tool. This package
costs 60 EUR per month. There are no extra charges for bookings. Restaurants are informed
about bookings by e-mail or phone (MyTable, 2013a; 2013b).
Besttable. Besttable is a Swiss based online reservation system for restaurants in several
countries. The company was founded in 2007. Restaurants can be booked on the platform
besttable.net or directly on the restaurants’ webpage. Guests receive an automatic booking
confirmation. Restaurants can be found by different criteria or location. The platform includes
information about opening times, contact information, directions, ratings and a link to the
restaurant’s webpage. Restaurants have the possibility to upload menu cards and pictures with
their personal login. The system generates a list of all guests, which can be used for marketing
activities. The reservations are accessible online. This allows several employees to look at the
reservations simultaneously. In addition, the data can be integrated in the point of sales
system in the restaurant (Besttable, 2014). There is a one-time participation fee of CHF 300 as
well as costs of CHF 3 per booking or free bookings with a monthly fee of CHF 99
(Besttable, n.d.).
Freetable.ch. Freetable.ch is Swiss based company which belongs to Cobold Net Service
founded in 2000. At the moment the platform only lists few restaurants. Both, restaurants and
guests have to create a profile on the webpage. The booking tool is free of charge. The
company is gaining income through advertisement on their website. Reservations are
confirmed to guests and restaurants via E-mail or SMS. The company provides statistics on
16
the consumers. In addition, Freetable.ch provides a loyalty program for guests (Freetable.ch,
n.d.a; n.d.b).
Localina. Localina belongs to the company Local.ch founded in 2005 and having the
company Swisscom as the major share holder (Gygi, 2014, April 25). The platform lists
restaurants in Switzerland. It offers two fee options depending on the package chosen. The
package “light” charges per reservation. The package “premium” is paid on a monthly basis.
The online reservations can be done via the website of the restaurant or via local.ch. The
company offers a web-support for both packages. With the premium option the restaurants
profit additionally from an online data protection program, telephone support, a guest data
base and an iPad application (Localina.ch, 2012a; 2012b).
Lunchgate. Lunchgate is a Swiss based company established in 2009. The platform allows
looking for restaurants in Switzerland on a map or according to criteria. The restaurants can
upload information, specialities, daily menus and 360° panoramic views of their facilities. In
addition, guests can upload ratings about the restaurants. Many restaurants can be reserved
online via the system of Foratable. Depending on the chosen service, the system charges an
annual fee of CHF 360 to CHF 1,200. The most expensive solution includes a service to send
newsletters about the daily menu to guests in the surroundings as well as an automatic upload
of the daily menu on the restaurant’s website. The offers are also displayed on partner web
pages, social media platforms and can be seen via a smart phone application (Lunchgate,
2013).
iTaste. iTaste identifies itself as a community website for food lovers. The platform was
found in 2008. It is designed for two groups of people: those who want to find a restaurant
and those who want to share experiences and reviews of a restaurant. Those who want to find
a restaurant can simply enter the type of food and preferred location into the iTaste form and a
list of restaurant will be shown. Users can also filter the restaurants according to their own
criteria. For customers who want to share their experience, they can search the restaurant via
iTaste and then rate it and write a review on it. In return, customers will earn contribution
points (iTaste, 2014). The platform has around 160,000 users and lists more than 80,000
restaurants in Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium. Against an annual fee, restaurants
can directly contact the users. The annual fee is CHF 1,000 without and CHF 2,000 with
support. In addition, the platform offers a reservation service for restaurants. The company
calls the restaurants to do reservations for users (Schüssler, 2011, August 29).
17
Zagat. Zagat is an American based company that started 1979. Zagat acts as online info
source provider for gastronomy in 18 cities in America and 10 international cities. On one
side, customers rate restaurants via Zagat on a 30-point scale and write reviews about them.
On the other side, customers can find detailed information about the main aspects of every
restaurant, such as ratings for food, service, average cost, exact location with map, pictures of
food and restaurant, plus a summary of reviews as well as three recommendations of similar
restaurants. The website interface is easy to use and visually pleasant. Zagat also implements
mobile applications, website and a full integration with Google Maps and Google Search. The
platform also links to Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube and Google Chrome.
For bookings however, most of the cases, Zagat leads users to the restaurant homepage and
users can only reserve via the restaurant’s homepage (Zagat, 2014).
OpenTable. OpenTable is the largest third-party online reservation service provider in the
U.S, founded in 1998. OpenTable claims to be trusted by 31,000 restaurants and 620 million
customers. The company covers the whole area of the U.S. and 18 international countries,
including Switzerland. The webpage interface is clearly structured and free from
advertisements. For the American domestic market the restaurants are classified into four
categories: best restaurants, new restaurants, available tonight and 1,000-point tables. For
each recommended restaurant a rating is given out of a five-star scale, information about the
restaurant including pictures, menu information, reviews, location, and a reservation form is
provided. The website links to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus (OpenTable, 2014). The
costs consist of a USD 1,200 installation fee and a USD 200 monthly fee, plus a USD 1 fee
for each reservation (Miller and Washington, 2012, p. 240; Prewitt, 2005). For example,
Aquitaine Group in the area of Boston, owning seven restaurants, has to pay a USD 12,000
monthly bill for using Open Table.com. This high amount of fees is what made Aquitaine
Group and other restaurants stop using OpenTable (Kooser, 2012, p. 14; Prewitt, 2005).
Consequently, other ORS such as UReserv, CityEats and Rezbook are competing with
OpenTable on price in the U.S. market (Kooser, 2012, p. 14).
Gastro-tipp.ch (via reservation form). Gastro-tipp.ch is a platform of the Swiss based
company Innoma. The company has 12 years of experience in e-commerce. Gastro-tipp.ch
allows searching for restaurants in Switzerland on a map or according to criteria. The
company only lists restaurants in Switzerland. Each restaurant receives its own login to
upload data like menu offers, directions, opening hours, pictures and videos. There is a direct
link to the restaurants’ webpage. The platform also offers guests an application for smart
18
phones. To be on the platform an annual fee of CHF 490 is required. Reservations are only
possible via a reservation contact form (Innoma, 2014).
tourismus-schweiz.ch (via reservation form). Tourismus-schweiz.ch is a Swiss based
company founded in 2001 displaying around150 restaurants in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The restaurants can be found by criteria or on a map. Restaurants can upload general
information and pictures. The platform shows a direct link to the restaurant’s webpage. Table
reservations can only be done via a reservation contact form and need to be confirmed by the
restaurant.
Table 5 summarises the characteristics of the table reservation systems according to the
criteria based on the literature research and the first round of interviews (see chapter 2.02 and
5.01).
Criterion 1 time of existence of the system on the market applies if the system exists longer
than four years. For the Swiss based systems the foundation date was chosen according to the
commercial register (Federal administration, 2014). Criterion 16 popular in local areas
(people are aware of this system and use it) applies when the system is present in
Switzerland. Criterion 17 advertisement done by the system and Public Relations is about the
advertisement the system does for the participating restaurants (e.g. the possibility to show
banners). Criterion 24 number of restaurants participating on the platform applies if at least
1,000 restaurants participate on the platform.
Criteria 8 trustworthy provider and criteria 19 reliability were not considered for the analysis
of existing systems, as these two criteria are subjective. Nevertheless, they can be an
important criterion for restaurants when choosing a system (see chapter 5.02).
Table 5 Summary of table reservation systems according to criteria
Bookatable
MyTable
Besttable
Freetable
Localina
Lunchgate
Zagat
OpenTable
iTaste
Gastro-tipp
tourismusschweiz
1 2 3
x x x
x
x x x
x x x
x x x
x x
x x x
x x
x x
x x x
x x
4 5 6
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x x x
x
x
x
7 9 10
x x
x x
x
x
x x
x x
x
11
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
12
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
13
x
x
x
x
14
x
x
x
x
x
x
15
x
x
x
x
x
x
16
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
17
x
x
x
18
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
20
x
x
x
x
21
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
22
x
x
x
23
X
x
X
x
X
24
x
x
25
X
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
19
4. Methodology
4.01 Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a continuous procedure which helps to identify improvement possibilities.
With the support of benchmarking standards can be established. It also shows how an entity
performs compared to the competition or other counterparts. Most of the companies perform
internal benchmarking. If organizations compare themselves to the competitors, the
benchmarking is called competitive benchmarking. The goal of such external benchmarking is
to identify best practices. Benchmarking can be done through process and through resultbased research (Wöber, 2002, pp. 2–6; Carpinetti and Melo, 2002, pp. 246–248). It can show
a company how to better meet customer’s needs as well as needs for improvement.
Benchmarking helps to highlight the strength and weaknesses of an organization (Kozak &
Rimmington, 1998, p. 184). Corporate organizations can use such benchmarking approaches
in order to choose an appropriate booking tool for their needs (Harris, 2009). Accordingly,
this paper is adapting this approach to the choice of ORS for restaurants.
As mentioned, this study benchmarks different table reservation systems available in
Switzerland. It focuses on the result-based benchmarking method as it is disclosing the
performance of the online table reservation systems. A vast amount of literature can be found
on the topic of benchmarking. Some of the approaches differ from each other. However, all
suggested execution models share a big amount of similarities. Most approaches are in one or
another way influenced by a study conducted by Xerox. The next section will report the steps
to be taken. At the same time it will also show how the theoretical models were put into
action (Anand and Kodali, 2011; Carpinetti and Melo, 2002; Harris, 2009; Jetmarová, 2011;
Kozak and Rimmingtion, 1998).
The first step incorporates the planning phase. In this stage the subject which is going to be
benchmarked has to be identified. This is an essential part of the benchmarking process. It
should be preceded by an analysis of the current situation. At the same time managers should
identify objectives of the benchmark. Additionally, the data collection methods should be
determined in step one (Anand and Kodali, 2008, pp. 269–270; Carpinetti and Melo, 2002, p.
248; Jetamarová, 2011, p. 86). As a subject the present paper is analysing the online table
reservation systems in Switzerland. The objective is to identify which systems fit the needs of
restaurants but also to identify best practice examples depending on the type of restaurant.
The data collection process is further discussed in chapter 4.02.
20
In a second step, the benchmark process continues with the actual data collection. Various
sources should be considered for this step, ranging from interviews, to reports and research
(Anand and Kodali, 2008, p.271; Carpinetti and Melo, 2002, p. 248; Jetamarová, 2011, p. 86).
In order to evaluate the online table reservation systems in Switzerland, different data sources
were considered. On one hand, the authors conducted interviews with restaurants in the
market. On the other hand, reports and online information were considered to assess the
different systems.
In a last step, the data is analyzed. This part should include an identification of the gaps found
during the analysis. This step of the research focuses on the comparison of the different
performances (Anand and Kodali, 2008, p. 270; Jetamarová, 2011, p. 86). With regards to this
paper the features of the systems were compared to the criteria mentioned as important for the
choice of the ORS by restaurant managers / owners. The aim of this approach was to identify
the needs of each restaurant typology and at the same time identify which systems are the
most appropriate ones for each group of restaurants.
Figure 1 The three steps of benchmarking
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
• Identify the subject
• Identify the objectives
• Define the data collection process
• Collect data
• Analyse the data
• Compare the performance and find out gaps
4.02 Research Design
As Betton (2005) stated, tourism and likewise gastronomy is such a broad-ranging, complex
field that there is no singular pertinent research modality. The only way to achieve the desired
outcomes of research is to use mixed methods conjointly. Thus, the present study combined a
variety of methods including literature review and online research as part of desk research as
well as narrative expert interviews and semi-structured expert interviews as part of primary
research (via telephone, e-mail and in person). Accordingly, and due to the little research
21
existing, which compares different online table reservation systems, the study applies an
explorative approach with qualitative data collection and analysis (Bell and Bryman, 2011, p.
410; Cooper and Schindler, 2006, p. 139 & 141; Creswell and Plano, 2011).
First of all, a thorough literature review was carried out in order to analyze related topics,
terminologies, key words, and theories. The literature review is primarily based on secondary
resource such as books, journals, and online research on academic and other relevant
resources like web pages. The objectives of the literature review are as following:
-
To analyze existing research on table reservation systems and related studies.
-
To analyze criteria for choosing online reservation systems.
-
To explore the characteristics of different restaurant reservation systems.
-
To identify different typology of restaurants and decide the suitable one to apply.
-
To discover theories and frameworks for benchmarking.
Secondly, desk research was used to identify potential participants for restaurant interviews.
Restaurants had been analyzed to fit in the chosen typology (see chapter 2.03). This desk
research was the preparation step for the interview phase.
Thirdly, narrative expert interviews and semi-structured expert interviews were carried out
with several restaurants of each typology (Bell and Bryman, 2011, p. 467). The following
narrative interview question was created for the first round of interviews: “What criteria did
you use when choosing your restaurant online reservation system?”. The experts were
identified based on the chosen restaurants. For each type of restaurant at least two restaurants
which use online table reservation systems were chosen. In order to conduct this interview
effectively, different ways of contacting methods have been combined (telephone, e-mail, in
person). As a result of this exploratory interview, a list of criteria was generated.
In a next step, semi-structured interviews were applied for further data collection and data
analysis. These semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts who agreed to
participate in the second round of interview. For each restaurant type at least two semistructured expert interviews were carried out. All chosen restaurants are on online table
reservation systems. In addition, one restaurant which is not on a table reservation system was
chosen, in order to derive reasons for not choosing a system. The experts were asked specific
questions regarding the following factors: restaurant typology, restaurant reservation systems
criteria, and benchmarking of systems based on identified criteria. The experts were asked to
22
rate the importance of each criteria from the criteria catalogue (most important, very
important, important, less important, not important) and to state the reasons for their
judgments (see Appendix A for the questionnaire).
The results generated from these interviews were analyzed in a qualitative way. The answers
were synthesized into a table to compare the needs of the different types of restaurant. In
addition, in a discussion part the interview results were compared to literature. In a last step,
the characteristics of each system were benchmarked in a table according to the criteria
resulting from literature research and the first round of interviews. This enabled to benchmark
the characteristics of the systems with the needs of each group of restaurants in order to derive
the ideal systems for each type of restaurant.
The following framework illustrates the methodology in order to assist a better understanding
of the methodology and its steps of procedures.
Figure 2 Methodology
Literature Research / Desk Research
Reservation Systems
Criteria
Typology
Existing Systems
Interviews / Primary Research
Interviews Round I
Criteria Catalogue
Interviews Round II
Benchmarking of Systems and Needs / Conclusion /
Recommendations
23
5. Findings
5.01 First Round Interview Results – Criteria Catalogue
In the first round of interviews 25 restaurants were contacted (Appendix A); the following
criteria were mentioned by the restaurants as having influenced the decision-making process
to choose an online table reservation system:
-
Time of existence of the system on the market
-
Existence of an independent platform to address new customers
-
Possibility to upload information about special events / individual text creation
-
Possibility to change the page directly on your own (direct access e.g. via login)
-
Possibility of panorama pictures
-
Easy booking process avoiding mistakes while booking
-
Attractiveness of the platform (advertising on site, design)
-
Trustworthiness of provider
-
Collaboration with TripAdvisor, Google+ Local Page
-
Integration with the own system used in the restaurant and mobile, PC, I-pad systems
-
Degree of system brand awareness in Europe (attracting tourists)
-
Simplicity of usage
-
Option to create a client database
-
Automatic confirmation of bookings for both sides
-
Provision of statistics
-
Popularity in local areas in order that people are aware of this system
-
Advertisement and PR
-
Service support via phone and e-mail
-
Reliability
-
Redirection to the restaurant’s website
-
Price for inscription fees
-
Price for periodical fees
-
Price per reservation
-
Number of restaurants participating on the platform
Most of the criteria mentioned by the restaurants were also studied in the literature research.
Therefore, it is possible to say that the requirements of Swiss restaurants do reflect in the
literature (see chapter 2.02). Criteria such as booking security, simplicity and reliability are
24
discussed by Lin and Lee (2009), Chen and Higa (n.d.) and Smith (2011). Website design and
possibility to advertise are covered by Morosan and Jeong (2008) and Kimes (2009).
However, there were criteria mentioned by the restaurants during the interviews which were
not found in the literature such as time of existence of the system on the market, possibility of
panorama pictures, automatic confirmation of the booking for both sides, popularity in the
local area (as most of Swiss restaurants target the local visitors which is shown in chapter 5)
and collaboration with partners like TripAdvisor and Google+. Although, Zipf and Malaka
(2000) as well as Mozeik et al (2009) speak about an integration of booking systems with
popular search engines like Google or Yahoo.
Thus, the list of criteria is based on the results of the restaurants from the first round of
interviews (Appendix A) as well as on literature research. The literature research has shown
that many academics (Lin and Lee, 2009; Chen and Higa, n.d.; Kimes, 2009; Jairam, n.d.;
Smith, 2011; Sigala, 2003) mentioned such criteria as having an influence on the decision
making process to choose a reservation system (see chapter 2.02). These criteria formed the
basis for the questionnaire for the second round of interviews.
5.02 Second Round Interview Results – System Analysis
For the second round of interviews the restaurants were chosen according to the typology
presented in chapter 3.02. Each type of restaurant was investigated via at least two qualitative,
semi-structured expert interviews. All chosen restaurants are on at least one booking platform.
In addition, one restaurant which is not present on a booking platform was chosen to elaborate
the reasons for that. Since there are six restaurant types as classified in the literature review
part, the results are also classified into six groups corresponding to each type of restaurant.
In the following section, there is a brief description of the interviewed restaurants which is
followed by the key findings from the interviews with them.
Type 1. City – fast casual / business dining
(1) As a first restaurant in this category the LY’s restaurant was chosen. LY’s is an Asian
take away restaurant, in Zurich Hardbrücke. The restaurant targets on surrounding
business companies’ employees. It provides fast lunch dining in a buffet style. LY’s is
on booking platforms like MyTable and local.ch LY’s, May 12, 2014 – see Appendix
C01).
25
(2) In addition, a canteen in Zurich Oerlikon called Kantine Noerd was interviewed. At
lunch, the canteen is open to the public and offers daily changing menus. Its main
customer groups are business people from the surrounding businesses. The canteen is
bookable on the platform of Best of Swiss Gastro or on the restaurant’s website via the
local.ch online table reservation system (Best of Swiss Gastro, 2014).
(3) Another canteen contacted is situated in Bern. At lunch, the canteen offers daily
changing menus. The canteen is bookable on the platform MyTable (Schulrestaurant
la CULTina, 2014).
Key findings from city – fast casual / business dining restaurants:

The restaurant manager of the Asian restaurant believes that it is a waste of money to
engage in an online reservation system. According to the manager the restaurant does
not need another platform to attract customers. The reason stated is that the customers
from this area all know the restaurant from its location (LY’s, May 12, 2014 – see
Appendix C01).

For the Asian restaurant, instead of online reservation systems, location and prices are
more important. Another important criterion for take away food is the short waiting
time.

The canteen in Zurich did not receive any reservations through the reservation system
within the last two years. In average they receive two reservations per week. Such
reservations are done in person. The restaurant manager does not think it is necessary
to have more reservations (interview, June 19, 2014 – see Appendix C02).

The canteen in Bern has never received any bookings through the reservation
platform. They agreed to participate on the platform MyTable, as it was offered to
them for free. The manager does not perceive a table reservation booking system as
necessary (e-mail communication, April 3, 2014 – see Appendix C03).
Type 2. Country – fast casual / business dining
(1) The first restaurant interviewed in this category is situated in the Bernese countryside,
called Gasthof zum Brunnen. The Gasthof zum Brunnen offers five daily menus and
used to offer a business lunch. The restaurants’ main customer group at lunch are
workmen. The Gasthof zum Brunnen offers traditional Swiss food in a casual /
26
moderate surrounding. Nevertheless, the restaurant has several accreditations like 14
Gault Millau Points. The restaurant is on the platform MyTable (Gasthof zum
Brunnen, n.d.).
(2) The second restaurant interviewed is the Landhotel Hirschen situated in the
countryside of Aarau. At lunch, the restaurant offers daily menus. At this time the
Landhotel Hirschen’s main customer groups are business people. The restaurant offers
an upscale cuisine (Landhotel Hirschen, 2014). It is present on several platforms like
Lunchgate or MyTable.
Key findings from country – fast casual / business dining restaurants:

The restaurant managers of the restaurant in the Bernese countryside are not aware
that their restaurant is on the platform MyTable. They do not perceive a table
reservation system as necessary. The reasons stated are that the restaurant is in the
countryside and that most of their customers do not perceive it as necessary to make
reservations.

The ratio from bookings to non-bookings is about 20 to 80%. Most of these bookings
are done by telephone. Only around two bookings per week are done by e-mail
(interview, June 18, 2014 – see Appendix C04).

The restaurant Landhotel Hirschen in the countryside of Aarau only receives around
one percent of bookings through the platforms.

For the Landhotel Hirschen the most important criterion is that the systems are easy to
handle. Reservations should be confirmed automatically, they should be integrated in
other systems and it has to be easy to update menus.

Due to the small amount of bookings, the manager considers table booking systems
more important for marketing than for bookings. Therefore, other important criteria
are that the systems have a good position in the market, do good marketing and
collaborate with rating systems.

The price is less relevant for the Landhotel Hirschen as long as the desired criteria are
given. Due to the low amount of bookings, costs per booking instead of regular fees
are desired (interview, June 19, 2014 – see Appendix C05).
27
Type 3. City – moderate / casual
(1) As a moderate / casual restaurant in the city the Italian Restaurant Pizzeria Treff in
Bern was chosen. The restaurant is centrally located and offers a simple service with a
wide range of Italian dishes at moderate prices. Its main customer group is tourists.
The restaurant is bookable on platforms like MyTable, Bookatable and gastro-tipp.ch.
Additionally, it can be booked on the following platforms using the system of
Bookatable
system:
swiss-restaurants.com,
tripadvisor.com,
gonnado.com,
hellepage.ch, dinnerbirds.com, themobilefoodguide.com, kulturpur.ch as well as on its
own webpage. In addition, it is listed on several platforms like Lunchgate.ch, local.ch,
cylex.ch. However, online bookings are only minimal (Pizzeria Treff, 2012).
(2) Gourmindia was chosen as another moderate / casual restaurant in the city.
Gourmindia is an Indian restaurant in the city of Lucerne just outside of the city
centre. The restaurant targets on families, couples and tourists, especially groups and
organized individual travellers. The services are offered in the restaurant or as a
catering service (Gourmindia, May 17, 2014 – see Appendix C07).
(3) Another interviewed moderate / casual restaurant Frtschi is situated in the old town of
Lucerne. It serves traditional Swiss food and targets mainly tourists and city visitors.
The restaurant is not present on any online reservation system and neither makes
reservations on the phone. However, it cooperates with tour guides who bring big
groups for dining. In such cases the restaurant books tables for the groups (interview,
May 12, 2014– see Appendix C07a).
Key findings from city – moderate / casual restaurants:

For the Italian Restaurant Pizzeria Treff online bookings are minimal. The share of
bookings via the table reservation systems are around 0.1% (interview, May 8, 2014 –
see Appendix C06).

For the Italian restaurant the most important criterion is the participation fee. As the
restaurant only gets very little bookings through its table reservation systems, the costs
are higher than the generated benefits. Therefore, the restaurant plans to cancel all
contracts with systems which require a participation fee. The manager emphasizes the
importance that only a commission has to be paid, when a booking is done. In this
way, the restaurant is sure to get guests and is therefore willing to pay a commission.
At the moment this is only the case for Bookatable, for which the pizzeria has to pay
CHF 1.50 per booking (interview, May 8, 2014 – see Appendix C06).
28

Table reservation systems have multiple functions. Customers not only can make
reservation for tables but they can also order take away, especially for restaurant
homepage reservation platform or telephone reservations. This is different to the hotel
industry, where the system only has a single function, which is to enable customers to
reserve room or beds (Gourmindia, May 17, 2014 – see Appendix C07).

The Indian restaurant combines online reservation systems with telephone reservation
systems. The calling reservation ratio to the online reservation ratio is about 5:1.
Together, they account for 60% of all customers coming to the restaurant, whereas
40% are walk-in customers (Gourmindia, May 17, 2014 – see Appendix C07).

MyTable does the reservation for Gourmindia without any charges. However, there
are only five to ten reservations for a period of one and a half years.

The Indian restaurant first thinks about the value the reservation system can give to the
restaurant, before adapting an online reservation system.

Difficulties of online reservation systems are seen in their vulnerability and sensitivity
to mistakes (for example, if reservation dates are misplaced). Sometimes the
reservations go into email spam and the restaurant is not prepared for the reservation
when customers arrive (Gourmindia, May 17, 2014 – see Appendix C07).

The restaurant’s manager of the restaurant Fritsch rejected to participate in the
interview after reviewing the questionnaire. The reason mentioned is due to “lack of
sense”, as they are not interested in any of the criteria listed in the questionnaire. The
restaurant used MyTable before, but decided to reject it, as the restaurant’s target
group (tourists) does not use it at all. One of the most important criteria for the
restaurant is time. However, if they used a table reservation system, they would need
to keep a table for certain time. Consequently, they are afraid to lose other tourists
passing by in the meantime.
Type 4. Country – moderate / casual
(1) One of the interviewed moderate / casual restaurants in this category is called
Restaurant de l’Aigle and is situated in the village Couvet in the canton of Neuchatel.
This region belongs to the French speaking part of Switzerland. The restaurant is
registered on itaste.com. However, they are very interested in developing their online
booking possibilities and plan to register on other online platforms. The restaurant is a
part of a hotel. Therefore, the main target groups are tourists and hotel guests. They
also welcome groups for parties and celebrations and offer group menus.
29
(2) Another moderate / casual restaurant in the country named Al Nibbio offers Italian,
Greek and Spanish/Basque and Vegetarian food. It is situated in Paradiso, in the
countryside of Lugano in the canton of Ticino. The restaurant targets local visitors,
domestic and international tourists as well as groups. It is present on MyTable
(interview June 17, 2014 – see Appendix C10).
(3) A third restaurant interviewed in this category called is situated in Kandersteg, a
tourism resort in the Bernese Oberland. The most important customer groups are
holiday apartment owners and people travelling through the area as well as guests who
specifically come for the restaurant (interview, June 13, 2014 – see Appendix C08).
(4) Furthermore, one restaurant in the countryside of Lucerne as well as three restaurants
in the countryside of Bern were contacted. Even though all four restaurants are on
table reservation systems like MyTable, they do not consider such systems as
necessary. Reasons mentioned are that bookings are done by phone or e-mail anyway
as well as that without booking systems tables can be arranged spontaneously, which
gives them more flexibility. In addition, the restaurant in the country side of Lucerne
mentioned the problem, that they are not able to check reservations all the time
(personal communication, April 4 & 23, 2014).
Key findings of country – moderate / casual restaurants:

The restaurant in the Bernese Oberland is on the platform MyTable. However, it has
never received any reservations via this platform. Nevertheless, around 70% of all
guests are making reservations. All reservations are done by phone or by e-mail.

The manager of the restaurant thinks that table reservation systems are not required by
restaurants in the countryside or in tourism resorts as long as the restaurant has a
certain degree of popularity. Guests either come as they see it or they choose it
because they know it. In the latter case, they book a table by phone or e-mail.
According to the manager, reservations by phone or e-mail are easier for customers
(interview, June 13, 2014 – see Appendix C08).

The Restaurant de l’Aigle receives less than one percent of reservations through the
booking system. The restaurant has its own system as it is a part of the hotel.
Collaboration with Trip advisor, Google and local pages is one of the most important
criteria as this is expected to attract new visitors. Additionally, the system should be
popular in the local area as the main target group is local visitors. The possibility of
client data bases creation is not considered as important The manager believes that
30
such data bases are hardly possible due to the fact that people mostly use their
nicknames and do not provide a lot of information.

In addition, the Restaurant de l’Aigle recommends a collaboration with “trust you” – a
tool through which restaurants can manage bookings and comments.

The Restaurant de l’Aigle chooses the platform depending on the visual attractiveness,
the possibility to leave comments and to manage the information displayed on a
platform as well as the simplicity of use. The participation on the platform iTaste was
not planned – it was customer-driven: one of the customers posted the restaurant’s
picture on the platform. Later the administration of the restaurant continued to be on
the platform. But the restaurant does not use the professional account as this account is
expensive (CHF 125 per month). At the moment they are not planning to go on other
platforms as for them it is too costly and difficult to manage.

The Restaurant de l’Aigle would prefer if the system was connected to the system of
the restaurant. In this case the staff would not need to introduce all the information
manually. In addition, the restaurant is not satisfied with the service of the system as
the help desk needs two to three weeks to reply to letters and to provide support.

The Al Nibbio Restaurant receives about two to three percent of reservations through
the system MyTable. For them it is important to post the announcements of upcoming
events which they organise in the restaurant. In this matter, the reservation system
serves as an additional advertisement tool.

Easy and accurate booking processes as well as customer satisfaction play very
important roles in the perception of the restaurant Al Nibbio, since people are not
willing to use the system if it is complicated.

Collaboration with partners like TripAdvisor, Google Plus can attract new visitors and
tourists due to the popularity of these sites.

In terms of costs the restaurant requires lower fees for the platform, since due to the
small number of bookings, the restaurant cannot cover its costs.
Type 5. City – upscale
(1) The first city upscale restaurant interviewed is situated in the office district in Zurich.
It targets varying groups during the day. For lunch, the restaurant focuses on business
customers, on meetings and special events. In the evening the restaurant targets on
gourmets. Currently they are listed on the platform of Bookatable. The restaurant is
situated at a location with city view. They allocate to the system a specific amount of
31
tables for a specific time. Beyond this time, clients can do reservations by e-mail or
online by phone (interview with the general manager of the city restaurant one – see
Appendix C12; webpage of city restaurant one).
(2) The second upscale city restaurants is present on several ORS like MyTable or
Bookatable). In addition, it integrated a reservation mask provided by Bookatable on
the restaurant’s webpage. This tool is also integrated in several other web-pages. Their
main target group are dinner guests. There is a daily changing menu. However, lunch
is the second biggest customer segment (interview with the general manager of the
city restaurant two – see Appendix C13; webpage of city restaurant two).
Key findings from city – upscale restaurants:

The first city/upscale restaurant interviewed said that high quality online support was a
crucial aspect once they chose a booking tool. They have been using an Australian
tool before, which was not able to guarantee support all the time, due to the different
time zones. Panorama pictures were not important at all despite of their location. The
possibility to adjust information on their own as well as the reliability of the system
was also very important for them. The collaboration with Social Media and
TripAdvisor did not influence their decision to work together with a specific tool. The
manager interviewed (Appendix C12) mentioned that Social Media and review
platforms were not very popular at the time they decided to work together with a ORS.
Additionally, it was reported that the web-based usage is relevant for them as the
restaurant is situated on five floors and all the staff needs to be able to access the upto-date data simultaneously.

The second city/upscale restaurant was mentioning the high quality of the support as
well as being a crucial impact factor on the decision to join a certain provider. The
billboard effect was also listed as being important. Pricing issues were not considered
as influencing the decision. Once the support is right, price seems not to matter. This
restaurant mentioned that the collaboration with TripAdvisor was important during the
decision making phase. However, they decided to join an ORS much later than the city
upscale restaurant number one did. Other as very important or most important are the
billboard effect, the possibility to upload information, the possibility to change the
page alone, the easy booking process, a trustworthy provider, the offline integration,
the simplicity of the usage and the reception of an automatic confirmation were rated
32
Type 6. Country – upscale
(1) The first interviewed country/upscale restaurant is located in the canton of Zug. They
generate about ten percent of their reservations through an ORS. The restaurant
mainly uses Bookatable and Lunchgate. Bookatable was the first tool they utilized.
The amount of bookings differs throughout the year. The restaurant’s main season
lasts from May until September. This is also the time when most online table
reservations are done (interview with the manager of the country restaurant one – see
Appendix C14; webpage of country restaurant one).
(2) The second country restaurant is located at the lake of Konstanz. The amount of online
reservations is very small. The manager interviewed said that it was less than one
percent. This restaurant is present on the platform Lunchgate (interview with the
manager of the country restaurant two – see Appendix 15; webpage of country
restaurant two).
Key findings from country – upscale restaurants:

Country upscale restaurant number one says that the possibility of changing content on
their own, without contacting the system is crucial. The panorama pictures are very
important. The manager mentioned that they joined Lunchgate solely because of the
panorama pictures. She said that an automatic integration with the offline system
would be a benefit for a system. With regards to the pricing this restaurant prefers a
charge per reservation.

For the country upscale restaurant number two, marketing effects are very crucial.
They do not generate a big amount of bookings. The possibility to change the content
themselves was reported as an important feature.

Both restaurants interviewed mentioned the importance of the 360° panorama picture
as an important tool of the online table reservation systems. This might be due to their
location at the lakes. Price was important in the sense of that both restaurants
mentioned they would not choose a provider who charges inscription fees. Periodical
fees were preferred by country/upscale restaurant two while the other one did not like
the idea. For the country restaurant one price was much more important than to the
other one. Country restaurant two was putting much more emphasis on marketing
possibilities. Both mentioned the possibility to upload the information on their own as
essential.
33
The following table 6 reports criteria which were either rated as very important or most
important for choosing a specific ORS. Some restaurants which do not consider an ORS as
necessary did not rate the criteria. Therefore, they are not included in this table.
Table 6
Summary of required criteria by restaurant type
t restau- 1 2 3 4 5
y rants
p
e
1 fast
x
casual
business
dining
city 1
2 fast
x x
casual
business
dining
country 1
3 moder
ate
casual
city 1
3 moder
x x
ate
casual
city 2
4 modex
x x
rate
casual
country 1
4 moder
x x x
ate
casual
country 2
5 upsca- x
x
le city
1
5 upx x x
scale
city 2
6 upx x x
scale
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
x
x x x
x
x
x x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
X
x
x
x
x
X
x
x
x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x x x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
X
x
x
x
X
x
x
x
X
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
34
country 1
6 upscale
country 2
x x x x
x
x
x
x
x
5.03 Discussion Based on Interview Key Findings
This chapter analyses the findings of the interviews in order to explore and derive the needs of
the restaurants and to provide discussions on the implications of these needs. In addition, this
section connects the findings with the literature by identifying the most commonly chosen
criteria of each type of restaurant. Lastly, this section specifies what system providers should
do to target and satisfy the needs of each type of restaurant.
Type 1. City – fast casual / business dining
None of the three sampled restaurants claimed the need for an ORS. All three cooperate with
an ORS. However, they have never received any reservation via these platforms within the
last two years. It can be assumed that for such restaurants rather than ORS, location is the
most important element. It is the geographical advantage and the diversity of menus that
attract these business people to come for lunch. It can be assumed that this customer type does
not need online reservation systems.
Type 2. Country – fast casual / business dining
One out of these two interviewed restaurants is actively using ORS. Even though the
restaurant is present on multiple platforms, the contribution from the ORS is negligible. The
other one expressed a lack of interest in investing ORS, being in the countryside where their
customers do not adopt online booking as common practice. Besides, telephone reservation
seems more effective for them. It has also been pointed out that instead of being a distribution
channel; restaurants perceive ORS as a marketing tool. Thus, reservation systems should try
to satisfy the need to be promoted. Due to the low amount of bookings these restaurants prefer
fees per bookings.
Type 3. City – moderate / casual
There are three interviewed restaurants under this category. The first one has extensive
cooperation with ORS on third-party platforms and on their own website. However, the
bookings generated by ORS are minimal. For the restaurant on multiple platforms, the main
35
concern is the membership fee for the systems, given the fact that the ORS are not bringing
much value to the restaurant. The second restaurant only uses its own website as booking
channel. The third restaurant does not adopt any reservation system and the most argued
reason for not using any system is the opportunity cost for “late arrivals” and “no show”
bookings. This criterion is mentioned in the literature, but not found as a particular concern
for restaurants when adopting an ORS. However, systems should consider this side effect
more seriously. Furthermore, the restaurants mentioned that telephone reservation generate a
much higher percentage than online reservations. Like the country fast casual restaurants,
systems who charge commission per reservation are perceived as the most preferred systems.
Type 4. Country – moderate / casual
Seven restaurants were contacted under this category, but five of them said they do not
require an ORS. However, they use other forms of reservations, such as telephone reservation
or e-mail reservation, which also belong to the reservation systems according to the literature
review. One out of seven restaurants expressed special interest in further developing ORS.
Even though the current users of ORS claim to have only one to three percent of reservations
done through third-party ORS, they gave their reasons for their most valued criteria which
are:

Collaboration with TripAdvisor, Google+ Local Page and possibility to upload
information about special events

Individual text creation as they use ORS as marketing strategy to attract new
customers

Popularity in local areas since they target on locals

Possibility to change the page on your own because they want to manage bookings
and comments on their own

Simple usage, easy booking process avoiding mistakes while booking and automatic
confirmation of the booking for both sides because of reduced labour costs, and

All price related criteria are rated as important
It can be concluded that many factors are taken into consideration when adopting and
choosing an ORS. Even though the direct benefits are limited, the billboard effect might
contribute to immeasurable indirect benefits.
36
Type 5. City – upscale
This type of restaurant seems to adopt ORS to a great extent. These restaurants target
customers who are looking for fine-dining, especially for dinner. This type of restaurant is
less price-sensitive. Both restaurants put a high emphasis on the support provided. They both
suggested that the price is not of high importance as long as the support is given. As upscale
restaurants in the city, they are most capable of adapting ORS from a financial perspective.
Moreover, both interviewed restaurants realized the billboard effect from third-party ORS.
The common valued criteria for both restaurants are:

Possibility to change the page on your own (personal login), backend interface

Easy booking process avoiding mistakes while booking

Trustworthy provider

Simple usage

Automatic confirmation of the booking for both sides

Service support via phone and e-mail
It can be concluded that upscale city restaurant is the most suitable type of restaurants system
providers should target on for promoting ORS.
Type 6. Country – upscale
Between the two sample restaurants, the reservations generated by ORS vary greatly (10% vs.
1%). The first sample restaurant benefits a lot from Bookatable and Lunchgate. This
restaurant puts importance on panorama pictures on the ORS. The second sample restaurant
sees the billboard effect and marketing effect as the main benefit from ORS. Both restaurants
rated the following criteria as important:

Possibility to change the page on your own (personal login), backend interface

Possibility of panorama pictures of restaurants

Price for inscription fees
It can be concluded that even though the country upscale type is slightly more price-sensitive
than the city upscale type of restaurant, they are still the ideal target for ORS service
providers compared to the rest of the restaurant types.
37
5.04 Synthesis of Systems and Restaurant Types
Having analysed both, systems and restaurants, it is possible to derive which systems best suit
which restaurants basing on criteria that systems provide and restaurants search for (see table
7).
Table 6 Synthesis of Systems and Restaurant Types
Restaurant type
Matching systems
Systems to consider
additionally
1. City – fast casual /
business dining
Bookatable (light package), Localina
(light package),
Zagat, tourismus-schweiz,
Freetable
2. Country – fast casual /
business dining
Bookatable (light package), Localina
(light package),
Zagat, Freetable
3. City – moderate / casual
Bookable, Localina, Zagat
Freetable
4. Country – moderate / Bookable, Localina, Zagat
Freetable, tourismus-schweiz
casual
5. City – upscale
6. Country – upscale
Bookatable, Besttable, Lunchgate,
Localina
Bookatable, Besttable, Lunchgate,
Localina
Freetable, iTaste, OpenTable
Freetable, OpenTable, iTaste,
Type 1. City – fast casual / business dining
For the city-fast casual restaurants the participation on a platform is not common since the
main criteria do not coincide. The restaurants have to provide a quick service. They rely on
repeat customers who know them due to the restaurant’s popular location. The participation
on a booking platform can only be considered under the condition that services are provided
for free.
Bookatable (light package) and Localina (light package) are recommended to be addressed by
the restaurants due to their “light packages”, i.e. no inscription and no regular fees. Fees incur
only for individual reservations. Alternative platforms, such as Zagat, tourismus-schweiz and
freetable can be used additionally since they have similar schemes of fees. However they do
not meet all of the other requirements set in the interviews.
38
Type 2. Country – fast casual / business dining
This type of restaurants does either not express the willingness to use reservation systems or
requires platforms with simple structure, automatic confirmation, ratings, and costs per
booking instead of regular fees to meet their needs.
Bookatable (light package) and Localina (light package) answer the price requirements and
most of the other criteria indicated in the interviews.
Type 3. City – moderate / casual
This type of restaurants does not use the platforms very often. A crucial factor is the lack of
participation fees. Only a commission should be required, when a booking is done. These and
additional criteria, such as multiple functions and accurate processing were found to be
offered by Bookatable (light package), Localina (light package) and Zagat. Additional ORS to
be addressed are Freetable, since it does not require any fee (however other criteria are not
met) and MyTable, since it is very popular on the local market.
Type 4. Country – moderate / casual
Crucial factors for this restaurant type are costs, marketing opportunities, popularity in the
local area (as the main target is the local visitors), visual attractiveness, information
management and easy usage. Most of the restaurants are only interested in a platform with
minimal fees or which requires payment only per reservation. The best suited platforms might
be Bookable, Localina (light package) and Zagat for their pricing policy; and Freetable (price
reason), MyTable (popularity), and tourismus-schweiz (other required criteria) as potential
ORS.
Type 5. City – upscale
City – upscale restaurants need high quality online support whereas the price is a less
important criterion compared with other types of restaurants. Other important aspects are a
personalized interface, reliability, and the billboard effect. Many other important criteria can
be combined into the requirement of a general marketing tool through which visitors may be
attracted.
Therefore, Bookatable (premium package) and Lunchgate are recommended as they provide
marketing materials and tools. Also Localina (premium package) and Besttable offer extra
services and respond to most of the criteria indicated.
39
Type 6. Country – upscale
As Country – upscale restaurants are usually situated in very picturesque areas, the possibility
to upload panorama pictures is very important. Moreover, ORS should provide marketing
possibilities and allow personalized interface and integration with the offline system.
Thus, Lunchgate will suit this type since it allows panorama pictures 360° and provides
marketing tools. Bookatable and Localina offer a price range which may be suitable to the
needs of this type of restaurants.
6. Conclusion and Recommendations
In general, ORS have not been effectively adopted by the majority of restaurants so far. ORS
accounts to a very small percentage of bookings for restaurants, from less than 1 to 10%.
Telephone reservation and e-mail reservation are more used methods than third-party online
booking systems.
A big proportion of restaurants do not see the need to adopt a third-party ORS. Many
restaurants expressed lack of interest or willingness to cancel the current contracts.
Nevertheless, ORS have been perceived by some restaurants as a marketing tool to promote
themselves in the market. But because the reservations generated by ORS are minimal, most
restaurants who use third-party ORS find out that the additional value cannot match the costs,
especially for the systems that charge a fixed membership fee. Thus, most restaurants prefer a
fee per reservation.
The best target marekt which has potential in promoting ORS are upscale restaurants, both in
the city and in the countryside. The reasons are: (1) they use more ORS than other types, (2)
the percentage of reservation made by ORS is bigger for them, (3) they are less pricesensitive, and (4) they recognize the billboard effect more than others. Midscale restaurants
are interested in the systems, which are also perceived as marketing tools, but they are more
price sensitive. Low scale restaurants are not interested due to the cost reasons and differences
in the target group of customers.
Based on the ananlyses and conclusion the following reccomendations for providers of online
table reservation systems can be derived: system providers should focus on upscale
restaurants, both city and country. Moreover, ORS should also provide more price sensitive
solutions for the moderate and lowscale restaurants. For example, moderate restaurants can be
targeted by systems that have optimal marketing functions. For these cost-sensitive
40
restaurants, simple fees are recommended, such as a commission per booking. Furthermore,
ORS should develop criteria as:
-
Cooperation with partners like TripAdvisor, Google+Local Pages: only 4 out of 11
restaurants have cooperations of this kind, whereas almost all restaurants from the
midscale and lowscale groups indicated this criterion as a very important one
-
Possibility of panorama pictures: only one platform (Lunchgate) offers this criterion,
which is important for upscale and midscale restaurants
-
Integration with offline systems and mobile applications: mobile-commerce becomes
increasingly important and restaurants of all types (except midscale city) expect such
integration options from the booking systems. However, only 4 out of 11 systems use
this criterion
-
Advertisement and PR: If ORS target low or midscale restaurants they should invest
and develop more in this criterion
-
Service and technical support: this appears to be very crucial for most of the
restaurants, especially for upscale city restaurants. As the main recommendation for
ORS is to target upscale restaurants technical support, automatization of the systems
and their modernisation needs to be developed
As the analysis showed, business dining and fast casual restaurants do not need an ORS. The
extra value ORS generates for them is neglectable. Thus it is strategically wise to switch
investment from them. Last but not least, to optimize ORS system promotion, communication
with moderate and upscale restaurants on an individual basis is necessary, as each restaurant
has its unique strategy.
7. Limitations
The core of discussion and synthesis is based on restaurant interviews. All the information
and data collected from interviews are qualitative data. Qualitative data can be subjective and
biased (Flick, 2009). These problems can occur not only because interviewees perceive the
questions differently but also due to different language competence.
Another limitation is the limited sample size due to the explorative approach. The analyses
could go more in detail for each type of restaurant. For this research each type of restaurant
has two to three representatives as expert interviewees. However, there are many more service
providers in the Swiss gastronomy market. Compared to the existing restaurants in the whole
41
market the chosen sample is not a sufficient data base. Therefore, further quantitative studies
are needed for a better justification of the results.
42
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46
Appendices
Appendix A – Contacted Restaurants for Interview Round One
 Restaurant Zunfthaus zur Waage (city, upscale)
 Thai Station (city, fast casual / business dining)
 Tessin Grotto: (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Anthony’s kitchen (city, upscale)
 Weisses Rössli (country, upscale)
 Restaurant Waldheim: (country, upscale)
 Clouds, Zurich (city, upscale)
 LaSalle, Zurich (city, upscale)
 Movie, Zurich (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Zeughauskeller, Zurich (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Schulrestaurant la CULTina, Bern (city, fast casual / business dining)
 Unterlachenhof, Lucerne (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Restaurant zum Löwen, Grosshöchstetten (country, casual / moderate upscale)
 Restaurant Attisholz, Solothurn region (country, upscale)
 Restaurant Bahnhöfli. Entlebuch (country, casual / moderate upscale)
 Restaurant Anker, Bern (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Gourmindia, Lucerne (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Li Tai Pe China, Lucerne (city, upscale)
 Portotino Restaurant, Lucerne (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Zum weissen Kreuz-Pizzeria Hotel, Lucerne (city, casual / moderate upscale)
 Hotel des Balances, Lucerne (city, upscale)
 Barbatti, Lucerne (city, upscale)
 Aubergine, Horw (country, upscale)
 Restaurant Schwanen “Café de Ville”, Lucerne (city, upscale)
 Hotel Schweizerhof (city, upscale)
47
Appendix B – Expert Interview Questionnaire
Name of the restaurant:
Interviewer:
Name of the expert:
Place:
Position of expert:
Date:
Brief Introduction:



This questionnaire and interview is for the purpose of an academic project, namely
[Evaluation of Table Reservation Systems for Restaurants].
For the purpose of doing interview transcripts, is it OK if the interview is recorded?
Do you agree if we mention your restaurant and your name or would you like it to be
anonymous?
Questions:
1. Here is a brief description of our investigation on your restaurant. Could you please confirm
the information?
 Your target customers are:
 The services you offer are:
2. Looking at the given list of restaurant typologies, we classified you as type XXX, do you
agree?
Typology
City
Country
Fast casual / business dining
Casual / moderate upscale
Upscale
Description and examples of each type of restaurant are explained in the following table:
Type
Fast casual / business dining
Casual / moderate upscale
Upscale
Description
This includes corporate offers like
employee restaurants. They offer
daily menus to attract the same
customer several times a week and
are mostly located in business
areas.
These types of restaurants offer a
broad menu choice in a comfortable
or specifically themed ambiance.
Upscale restaurants offer a unique
fine-dining identity with the highest
service level. Differentiating factors
are personalization, special style of
service and food as well as pacing
of the service.
Example (city, country)
Community restaurants for offices,
schools or hospitals.
Mostly country specific cuisine like
Swiss cuisine, Chinese cuisine,
Indian cuisine, or traditional
restaurants in the country.
Restaurants offering exclusive
cuisine, often rewarded by
influential restaurant guides like
Gault Millau.
3. How do you handle the bookings done through the systems in your restaurant?
48
Answer:
4. What share of all table reservations is done through the systems?
Answer:
5. From the present list of criteria could you evaluate them according to their importance in
choosing a table reservation system to cooperate with:
Criteria
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Most
important
Very
important
Important
Less
important
Not
important
Time of existence of the system on
the market
Independent platform (new
customers can be addressed,
billboard effect)
Possibility to upload information
about special events, individual
text creation
Possibility to change the page on
your own (personal login),
backend interface
Possibility of panorama pictures of
restaurants
Easy booking process avoiding
mistakes while booking
Attractiveness of platform
(advertising on the site, design)
Trustworthy provider
Collaboration with TripAdvisor,
Google+ Local Page (also contains
ratings) or similar systems
Integration with the offline system
/ the own system used in the
restaurant and mobile, pc, I-pad
systems
Well known in Europe (attracting
tourists)
Simple usage
Option to create a client database
Automatic confirmation of the
booking for both sides
Provision of statistics
Popular in local areas (people are
aware of this system and use it)
Advertisement done by the system
and Public Relations
Service support via phone and email
49
19. Reliability
20. Redirection to the restaurant’s
website
21. Price for Inscription fees
22. Price for periodical fees
23. Price charged per reservation
24. Number of restaurants
participating on the platform
25. Additional own criteria (please
specify)
6. Could you please comment on the most important and very important criteria from your
choice?
Answer:
7. Did you have different options when choosing the online reservation system? If you did, how
did you make your decision on the current system?
Answer:
8.
What are difficulties you encounter with table reservation systems / what would you like to
have improved?
Answer:
Thank you very much!
50
Appendix C – Transcriptions
C01. Fast casual / business dining - country
LY’s
Interviewer: Xi Zhang
Place: Hardbrüke
Datum: May 12, 2014
Xi: OK, so as I said I noticed that the customers are business people, right? And then they come here
for lunch for a fast dinning.
LY’s restaurant manager: Right.
Xi: And then (what about) the service you offer? Because in this category we think it is more like a
buffet, you have different type of food, and then they choose by themselves. But today I actually
noticed you something, for example noodles and soups which are not in the …
LY’s restaurant manager: we have the midtag (noon) menu, the food of the day, but also they can
choose alle (from) card.
Xi: OK.
LY’s restaurant manager: soups are in the card.
Xi: So, (what you offer ) is fast Thai food, right?
LY’s restaurant manager: not only Thai food, also Chinese food, and Japanese food, Malaysian also.
Xi: OK. But the service you have is more like a buffet, right?
LY’s restaurant manager: Yeah, in the middle of the day, it is like a buffet, but in the evening, it is
from cards.
Xi: oh, it is different.
LY’s restaurant manager: Yes, we don't have buffet, they have to choose from the menu.
Xi: in the evening, you don't have the (food choices) in the window anymore?
LY’s restaurant manager: no.
Xi: question 2 we said it is fast casual and business dinning. And then question three is about how do
you handle the booking through the reservation system, but as we said our restaurant doesn’t have a
reservation system.
51
LY’s restaurant manager: we don't have a reservation system. We don't have this option.
Xi: so this is no applicable. Ok, then question four is about the share of table reservation does not
apply again.
LY’s restaurant manager: but they can order, they can call and they can order. And they can pick up
their orders.
Xi: is that a big proportion of your sales?
LY’s restaurant manager: no, no, no.
Xi: like 10%, 5%?
LY’s restaurant manager: 10%.
Xi: OK. But they call to take away, but they don't call to reserve, right?
LY’s restaurant manager: no! They call here to the restaurant because this is the same number, and
then we take the order, and then they come to eat here in the table area. (This restaurant has two areas,
one serves as a fast casual business dining hall, another one serves as normal restaurant with tables and
online reservation system. From this statement, the telephone reservation for take away is also for the
normal restaurant section, not for the business dining hall section. )
Xi: for the next question you have to do it yourself, but I can explain it to you. You have this paper,
you can write on it, this is about criteria, if you have an online reservation system. Because we don't
have one, but we can assume that if we will adapt an online reservation system, then what would be
the criteria you think is very important. If you start to choose one.
(Then the interviewer explains and read out the criteria to enable the interviewee to compete the
following table)
Criteria
1. Time of existence of the
system on the market
2. Independent platform (new
customers can be addressed,
billboard effect)
3. Possibility to upload
information about special
events, individual text creation
4. Possibility to change the page
on your own (personal login),
backend interface
5. Possibility of panorama
Most
important
Very
important
Important
Less
important
√
Not
important
√
√
√
√
52
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
pictures of restaurants
Easy booking process avoiding
mistakes while booking
Attractiveness of platform
(advertising on the site, design)
Trustworthy provider
Collaboration with
TripAdvisor, Google+ Local
Page (also contains ratings) or
similar systems
Integration with the offline
system / the own system used
in the restaurant and mobile,
pc, I-pad systems
Well known in Europe
(attracting tourists)
Simple usage
Option to create a client
database
Automatic confirmation of the
booking for both sides
Provision of statistics
Popular in local areas (people
are aware of this system and
use it)
Advertisement done by the
system and Public Relations
Service support via phone and
e-mail
Reliability
Redirection to the restaurant’s
website
Price for Inscription fees
Price for periodical fees
Price charged per reservation
Number of restaurants
participating on the platform
Additional own criteria (please
specify)
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Xi: for the last additional own criteria, do you have any criteria which is not covered by the list?
LY’s restaurant manager: no, no. we have enough. Maybe we can do something extra, maybe email,
but not all of them. We don't have. We don't have an online reservation system. Our business does not
need one.
Xi: Yeah, yeah, I see. So maybe for your business it does not matter if it has an online reservation
system or not. Maybe it is more important of the location or maybe the price of the food and so on, but
we don't have additional criteria, right?
LY’s restaurant manager: No.
53
Xi: The sixth question is about for the ones you chose to be most important; can you explain for each
one briefly why they are the most important? We can start with this one.
LY’s restaurant manager: from here I don't find the most important, I think the most important for
take away food is fast, the person who takes the order has to do it right and fast.
Xi: but the question is more like (this), we chose the importance level, and some of these (criteria) we
have the level of most important. So the question is can you explain for each of these ones you chose
as most important, why are they most important for you.
LY’s restaurant manager: because if you have your database, you can know how many persons will
come, per day how many more you have also, you can contact the customers in the future, whenever
you want,
Xi: and then provision of statistics, why is that important?
LY’s restaurant manager: yeah, with that you know which month you have more work, and less work.
You can also organize holidays for the personal.
Xi: yeah, like seasonal demand, right?
LY’s restaurant manager: Yes.
Xi: then for the popular in the local area (criterion) why is that important?
LY’s restaurant manager: yeah, because now, because all have that people use all the system s for
choosing some restaurant for choosing some food, and something like this.
Xi: OK, so second last one, redirection to the reservation website, like this reservation website
contacts customers to our own website, why is that important?
LY’s restaurant manager: for us? Yeah, because we can know how we are paying but I think so….if
the restaurant work with some firm or some company, we lose (waste) money because it is very easy
to do it alone.
Xi: yeah, yeah, that is true.
LY’s restaurant manager: you know, that for me is important. It is not like we have to pay something;
(actually) we don't have to pay nothing, because the money is like thrown, the money. I think so, it is
not like this, but it depends how much (it) is, sometimes you can find another or more customer…but I
think it is too much (to pay anything). Because I know this area, the people are from here and they
know us.
54
Xi: yeah, ok. What you mean is you don't need to invest in (online reservation system).
LY’s restaurant manager: Yeah, (no need to invest or pay) another firm. I think so. We need to invest
in the same website here. But not to pay for another firm or company to bring customers, yeah, you
can bring how much to compare with what we have to pay?
Xi: OK, OK.
LY’s restaurant manager: I have to leave.
Xi: OK, OK. So…
LY’s restaurant manager: tomorrow I will be here.
Xi: no, just two sentence, two more sentence.
LY’s restaurant manager: OK.
Xi: because question 7 and question 8 all apply to the restaurants that actually have an online
reservation system, so we don't have to answer them. Yeah, that is true. So we finished our interview.
LY’s restaurant manager: OK, thank you! Ciao!
Xi: Bye bye, thank you!
C02. Fast casual / business dining - city
Canteen (S)
Interviewer: Diego Anderegg (A)
Place: Zurich Oerlikon
Datum: June 19, 2014
S: Wir haben kein spezielles Reservationssystem. 00:01:18-3
A: Ich habe gesehen, dass Sie auf local.ch online reservierbar sind. 00:01:27-7
S: Ja, aber ich meine sonst hier. Ich will auch keine Reservationen hier. 00:01:40-0
A: Haben Sie also noch keine Reservationen erhalten? 00:01:40-0
S: Nein, seit zwei Jahren nicht. 00:01:42-2
A: Keine einzige seit zwei Jahren? 00:01:42-1
S: Nein. Es passiert nichts. Reservationen hat das Haus intern mal zwei in der Woche. That's it.
00:02:03-1
55
A: Also per Telefon? 00:02:08-5
S: Nein, nein, da kommt jemand aus dem Büro, der den Auftrag bekommen hat. Die Sekretärin.
00:02:13-1
A: Und Sie haben nicht das Gefühl, dass Sie in Tischreservationssystem brauchen? 00:02:13-4
S: Nein. Da ist der Bedarf nicht so gross. 00:02:32-5
A: Gut, dann besten Dank für die Auskunft.
C03. Fast casual / business dining - city
Von: la CULTina [[email protected]]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. April 2014 09:50
An: Anderegg Diego W.MSCBA.1201
Betreff: Re: Kriterien Tischreservationssystem
Sehr geehrter Herr Anderegg
Ich kann Ihnen nicht viel darüber sagen, weil wir bis Heute noch keine Reservation über MyTable
gekriegt haben.
Für uns ist das Reservationssystem nicht unbedingt nötig. Wir wurden für die Aufnahme in den „Pool"
von MyTable angefragt, und weil es kostenlos war haben wir zugestimmt. Vielleicht wird sich in
Zukunft die eine oder andere Person über diese Plattform bei uns melden und reservieren.
Wir haben auf unserer Website einen eigenen Link zum reservieren, deshalb gehe ich davon aus, dass
unsere Gäste direkt über unsere Plattform reservieren.
Freundliche Grüsse
Marc Wehrli Liechti
Geschäftsführer, Schulrestaurant la CULTina
C04. Fast casual / business dining - country
Gasthof (R)
Interviewer: Diego Anderegg (A)
Place: Fraubrunnen
Datum: June 18, 2014
A: Ich habe gesehen, dass Sie auf MyTable sind. 00:01:27-5
R: Ich? Das weiss ich gar nicht. 00:01:42-8
A: Sind Sie denn sonst noch auf Tischreservationssystemen? 00:01:43-7
R: Wir haben überhaupt nichts. 00:02:43-7
A: Darf ich fragen wieso? Was sind die Gründe? 00:02:55-6
R: Wir haben uns da gar nie gross Gedanken darüber gemacht, weil bei uns die meisten Leute anrufen
oder vorbeikommen. Deshalb haben wir das noch gar nie als nötig oder wichtig empfunden. 00:03:3256
9
A: Und Sie haben nicht das Gefühl, dass Sie mit einem Tischreservationssystem mehr Gäste
generieren könnten? 00:03:41-6
R: Ich glaube nicht unbedingt. Die, welche auf die Homepage schauen gehen, die machen einfach über
Kontakte ein Mail oder rufen an. 00:03:51-0
A: In dem Fall liegt es auch nicht an den Kosten? Oder was wären die Kriterien, dass sie dies nicht
wählen? 00:04:00-4
R: Wir haben uns noch gar nie mit dem befasst. Da haben wir auch gar keine Ahnung der Kosten.
00:04:10-8
A: Sie bieten ja Tagesmenüs an und einen Business Lunch. Ist das richtig? 00:04:26-9
R: Fünf Tagesmenüs in der Regel. Dazwischen hatten wir mal einen Business Lunch. Aber mehr so als
Versuch. Das hat sich aber nicht bewährt. 00:04:41-1
A: Was sind am Mittag Ihre Hauptgäste? Also Ihre Hauptzielgruppe? Sind das Geschäftstätige?
00:04:56-1
R: Nein, eher Handwerker. Und in der Gaststube geben wir nur das Tagesmenü über Mittag, weil das
schnell geht und ja die Leute nicht sehr viel Zeit haben. Häufig sind die Leute dann nach
Dreiviertelstunden wieder weg. 00:05:50-2
A: Und wie ist der Anteil der Reservationen zu den Nicht-Reservationen? 00:05:53-3
R: Reserviert ist vielleicht 20% und 80% kommt einfach. 00:06:03-9
A: Also am Mittag? 00:06:04-9
R: Ja. 00:06:22-1
A: Aber die Leute reservieren entweder per E-Mail oder per Telefon? 00:06:22-1
R: Ja. Mehr per Telefon. Per E-Mail haben wir vielleicht zwei Reservationen pro Monat. Das meiste
geht bei uns über das Telefon. 00:06:55-3
A: Aber im Generellen haben Sie nicht das Gefühl, dass Sie ein Tischreservationssystem benötigen?
00:06:54-2
R: Ja, wir sind ja hier auf dem Land draussen. Dann muss man ja schon mal extra hinkommen. Und
das ist schon noch anders, als wenn man in der Stadt ist und schnell gezielt irgendwo hin will, wo halt
dann auch mehr Passanten sind. Aber dann reserviert man auch eher. Die Leute haben bei uns das
Gefühl, wir sind ja auf dem Land und da ist es nicht so wichtig, ob man reserviert oder nicht.
00:07:44-6
A: Und auch nicht am Mittag? 00:07:45-6
R: Ja. 00:07:50-5
A: Gut, dann besten Dank für die Auskunft.
C05. Fast casual / business dining - country
57
Landhotel (V)
Interviewer: Diego Anderegg (A)
Place: Erlinsbach
Datum: June 19, 2014
A: Sie bieten ja Tagesmenüs an über Mittag? 00:01:24-2
V: Ja. 00:01:26-9
A: Was sind dort Ihre wichtigsten Gästegruppen? Sind das Geschäftstätige? 00:01:30-1
V: Ja bei uns sind es Geschäftsleute, ja. 00:01:33-0
A: Bekommen Sie da auch Reservationen über Tischreservationssysteme? Ich habe gesehen, Sie sind
auf Lunchgate oder MyTable. 00:01:42-0
V: Ja, genau. Also wenig, sehr wenig noch. 00:01:44-8
A: Was ist denn der Anteil, welcher Ihr über Tischreservationen bekommt? 00:01:47-8
V: Also höchstens ein Prozent im Moment. 00:01:53-5
A: Und wie handhaben Sie diese Buchungen, welche über das System reinkommen? Wie ist da der
Ablauf? Bekommen Sie da ein Bestätigungs E-Mail? 00:02:03-4
V: Ja, genau. Da bekomme ich ein Bestätigungs E-Mail oder auch über das Telefon. 00:02:11-8
A: Das ist dann für den Gast bereits bestätigt? 00:02:13-8
V: Genau. Wenn wir Kontingente rausgeben, dann ist das bestätigt. 00:02:20-4
A: Jetzt habe ich 24 Kriterien betreffend Tischreservationssysteme. Jetzt wäre ich froh, wenn Sie mir
sagen können, ob das für Sie wichtig, sehr wichtig, weniger wichtig oder weniger wichtig ist.
00:02:28-1
V: Mhm. 00:02:28-7
A: Die Anzahl Jahr seit denen es das System gibt? 00:02:36-4
V: Also wie gut, dass es auf dem Markt schon integriert sind? 00:02:39-3
A: Ja. 00:02:39-3
V: Das ist wichtig ja. 00:02:41-6
A: Dass es eine Unabhängige Plattform ist? Dass es ein Werbeefekt ist, dass man neue Kunden...?
00:02:48-1
V: Ist wichtig, ja. 00:02:49-9
A: Und auch, dass Sie die Möglichkeit haben Informationen hoch zu laden über spezielle
Veranstaltungen oder eine individuelle Textgestaltung zu machen? 00:02:58-6
V: Finde ich sehr wichtig. 00:03:00-0
58
A: Dass Sie die Möglichkeit haben, sich selbst einzuloggen und dann den Text gleich selber hochladen
können? 00:03:07-1
V: Sehr wichtig. 00:03:07-1
A: Dass Sie Panoramabilder des Restaurants hochladen können? 00:03:10-9
V: Wichtig. 00:03:15-9
A: Und dass der Reservationsprozess einfach ist? Dass da keine Fehler passieren beim Reservieren?
00:03:19-1
V: Ja sehr wichtig. 00:03:19-1
A: Die Attraktivität der Plattform? Das Design, dass sie werbefrei ist? 00:03:24-7
V: (..) wichtig. 00:03:27-8
A: Und dass es ein vertrauensvoller Anbieter ist? 00:03:32-4
V: Sehr wichtig. 00:03:33-9
A: Und dass sie auch mit TripAdvisor, Google Plus oder ähnlichen Bewertungsportalen zusammen
arbeiten? 00:03:42-7
V: Das ist immer gut. Also das finde ich eigentlich sehr wichtig. 00:03:44-7
A: Dass man es in Ihre eigenen Restaurantsysteme integrieren kann? Also offline oder über I-pad,
Natel? 00:03:54-7
V: Ja, finde ich auch sehr wichtig. 00:03:54-7
A: Und dass die Bekanntheit des Systems in Europa hoch ist? So dass man auch Touristen anlocken
könnte? 00:04:01-0
V: Für mich nicht wichtig. 00:04:03-2
A: Die einfache Handhabung des Systems für Sie? 00:04:07-3
V: Sehr wichtig. 00:04:12-2
A: Die Möglichkeit, dass man ein Datenprofil der Gäste anlegen könnte über dieses System?
00:04:15-1
V: Pff, finde ich nicht so wichtig. 00:04:18-6
A: Und dass eben die Reservationen automatisch bestätigt werden? 00:04:25-9
V: Finde ich sehr wichtig. 00:04:26-6
A: Und dass man auch Auswertungen der Reservationen, welche über das System getätigt werden?
00:04:31-4
V: Finde ich wichtig. 00:04:31-4
A: Dass es weit verbreitet ist in der lokalen Umgebung? Dass es bekannt ist und genutzt wird?
59
00:04:38-2
V: Finde ich sehr wichtig. 00:04:38-7
A: Die Werbung, welche das System macht, also Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Marketing? 00:04:47-2
V: Finde ich auch sehr wichtig, damit man dann möglichst viele Leute erreichen kann. 00:04:51-8
A: Der Kundenservice für Sie? Dass man das System erreichen könnte per Telefon oder E-Mail?
00:04:55-3
V: Sehr wichtig. 00:04:55-8
A: Die Verlässlichkeit des Systems? 00:05:02-0
V: Auch sehr wichtig. 00:05:02-0
A: Dass man direkt auf die Restaurant Webseite gelangt, also dass der Link direkt auf dem System ist?
00:05:11-7
V: Finde ich auch sehr wichtig. 00:05:12-1
A: Und betreffend Preise. Der Preis für Einschreibegebühren, ist das für Sie ein wichtiges
Entscheidungskriterium? 00:05:22-5
V: Ja, es ist halt ziemlich wertvoll. Also ist auch, sagen wir, wenn alles stimmt, dann ist der Preis
weniger wichtig. 00:05:33-4
A: Und auch Preise für periodische Gebühren oder Preise pro Reservation? Was ist Ihnen da lieber?
00:05:40-0
V: Tja, im Moment lieber pro Reservation, weil wir so wenig haben (lacht). 00:05:48-3
A. Und die Anzahl Restaurants, welche auf der Plattform teilnehmen? 00:05:51-5
V: (....) jä, ja es müssen vielleicht vor allem qualitative Restaurants sein und nicht irgendwelche Queti
und Bleti. So würde ich das beschreiben. 00:06:07-8
A: Also in dem Falle mehr qualitativ? 00:06:12-3
V: Ja, nicht dass da noch so ein Döner, also nichts gegen diese aber die sollen auf ihre eigene
Plattform (lacht). Aber nicht dass da Queti und Bleti drin ist, weil das bringt es ja auch nicht.
00:06:22-4
A: Haben Sie sonst noch Kriterien, welche für Sie wichtig wären, wenn Sie ein
Tischreservationssystem auswählen? 00:06:28-0
V: Dass es eben einfach im Handling ist. Das ist für mich das wichtigste. Dass wir da nicht
stundenlang eingeben, machen und tun müssen. Sondern, dass es einfach und schnell bedienbar ist.
Und Updates auf die aktuellen Menüs und alles zusammen machen lassen. 00:06:50-1
A: Also eigentlich der Zugriff mit persönlichem Login, dass man gleich Menüs hochladen kann?
00:06:54-7
V: Ja genau. Dass das einfach möglichst einfach ist. 00:07:03-3
60
A: Und vielleicht auch, dass man Updates bei Reservationen machen kann? Oder wie ist dies, wenn
Sie per Telefon Reservationen bekommen. Möchten Sie diese gerne auch auf diesem System
eintragen, damit Sie alles am gleichen Ort haben? 00:07:15-4
V: Ah nein, nein, das muss nicht sein. Nein also, ich sehe das nicht so, dass in Zukunft alles nur noch
über die Platformen läuft. Also im Moment nicht. Es mach ja sicher eine weitere Entwicklung statt
finden, wo vielleicht dann alles gekoppelt ist mit dem Reservationssystem bei uns und so weiter, wenn
wir mal eines haben. Aber im Moment ist es gut so, wie es ist. Ich sehe dies eher als ein Zusatz
Marketingmittel im Moment. 00:07:47-9
A: Also mehr im Sinne von Marketing? 00:07:50-1
V: Ja, damit die Leute sehen, dass wir dabei sind. Aber es wird im Verhältnis für uns jetzt relativ
wenig noch gebraucht wird. 00:07:58-2
A: Und damals, als Sie die Tischreservationssysteme ausgewählt haben. Was waren denn damals Ihre
Entscheidungskriterien? 00:08:02-5
V: Alles, was ich jetzt eigentlich beantwortet habe. Dass es einfach ist, dass es schnell geht, dass sie
gut platziert sind, dass sie schon etwas Erfahrung haben. 00:08:20-3
A: Haben Sie sonst noch Schwierigkeiten, welche Sie bekunden in Bezug auf
Tischreservationssysteme oder etwas, was Sie verbessert haben möchten? 00:08:29-1
V: Nein. Es ist einfach immer wieder die ganze Umstellung von den Mitarbeitern, dass sie wissen wie
es funktioniert. Immer wieder, wenn etwas Neues kommt. Das ist halt einfach immer einen gewissen
Prozess, welcher sie in Anspruch nimmt, sei es psychisch, wie auch zeitlich und das Ganze. Aber das
ist etwas Normales. Das ist nichts aussergewöhnliches finde ich. 00:08:52-8
A: Also auch wieder, dass es möglichste einfach ist in dem Sinne? 00:08:54-5
V: Ja, ja. 00:08:57-6
A: Gut, dann bedanke ich mich herzlich für die Auskunft. 00:09:13-2
C06.Informal / moderate upscale - city
Pizzeria (E)
Interviewer: Diego Anderegg (A)
Place: Bern
Datum: May 08, 2014
A: Ihr Restaurant bietet einen einfachen Service und eine breite Auswahl an italienischen
Spezialitäten. Ist dies so korrekt? 00:00:05-0
E: Genau. 00:00:05-0
A: Und welches sind ihre wichtigsten Gästegruppen? 00:00:05-0
E: Bei mir kommen mehrheitlich Leute, welche vorbei laufen. Viel Laufkundschaft und viele
Touristen, welche zum Bärengraben gehen. 00:00:05-0
A: Dann kommen wir zu den Fragen betreffend Tischreservationssystemen. Wie handhaben Sie die
Buchungen, welche über das Reservationssystem getätigt werden? 00:00:05-0
61
E: Also per Telefon? 00:00:05-0
A: Nein, ich habe gesehen, dass sie bei Bookatable und bei MyTable präsent sind. 00:00:05-0
E: Ah, ja ich bin auf Lunchgate, ich weiss nicht mehr was alles. Das von HotellerieSuisse. Wie heisst
das? Lunch? 00:00:21-6
A: Lunchgate? 00:00:25-7
E: Ja, Lunchgate und bei local.ch und bei search.ch. 00:00:31-0
A: Welchen Anteil von Tischreservatinen bekommen Sie über // Das ist minimal!// Also in Prozenten
ausgedrückt? 00:00:40-7
E: In Prozente? Das ist nicht mal kostendeckend. Bei livebooking ja. Bei Livebooking zahle ich CHF
1.50 pro Gast, der reserviert. 00:00:51-0
A: Ok, aber prozentual um 5%? 00:00:55-3
E: Uhh! //noch weniger?// Ein Promille so. 00:01:02-4
A: Jetzt ein paar Kriterien, von welchen ich möchte, dass Sie mir sagen, ob diese für Sie am
wichtigsten, sehr wichtig, wichtig, weniger wichtig oder nicht wichtig sind in Bezug auf
Tischreservationssysteme. Jetzt, die Anzahl Jahre, seitdem das System auf dem Markt ist, also seitdem
es das System gibt? 00:01:39-5
E: Das ist weniger wichtig. 00:01:43-1
A: Und dass es eine Unabhängige Plattform ist, dass es in dem Sinne ein Werbeefekt für die Gäste
sein könnte, dass die Gäste auf euer Restaurant aufmerksam werden? 00:01:54-7
E: Also bei mir ist das Restaurant an einem Ort, wo viele Passanten kommen. Aber die Leute kommen
nicht gezielt in mein Lokal wegen dem oder. Wenn 10,000 laufen auf der Strassen, essen vielleicht 50
bei mir oder. Aber nicht weil die extra zu mir kommen, sondern weil die die Altstadt besuchen und
beim Laufen sehen Sie die Pizzeria und da nehmen sie Platz. 00:02:31-0
A: Also in dem Sinn nicht sehr wichtig in Bezug auf das Tischreservationssystem? 00:02:31-0
E: Ja, sehr wenig. 00:02:39-0 00:02:34-4
A: Und wie wichtig ist Ihnen die Möglichkeit, dass Informationen hochgeladen werden können über
Veranstaltungen oder spezielle Textgestaltung? 00:02:40-8
E: Pfh, (.....) 00:02:48-5
A: Also in dem Sinne auch nicht sehr wichtig? 00:02:54-1
E: (...) 00:02:55-1
A: Und dass Sie die Seite selber gestalten können, wäre Ihnen dies wichtig? Dass Sie sich einloggen
können, um Textanpassungen vorzunehmen, Events hochzuladen oder. 00:03:03-6
E: Ja, wie gesagt, das kann ich nicht wissen (...). 00:03:08-6
A: Also das würden Sie in dem Sinne auch nicht benutzen? 00:03:13-5
62
E: Nein. 00:03:12-6
A: Ok. Und die Möglichkeit, dass man schöne Bilder hochladen kann wie Panoramabilder? 00:03:21-0
E: Das kann ich bei local.ch und bei search.ch. 00:03:26-1
A: Und erachten Sie dies als wichtig? 00:03:24-8
E: Am Anfang habe ich dies gemacht und gesehen, dass das alle haben. Da habe ich gedacht das sei
wichtig aber pfh, von den Reservationen her, das ist, ich glaub, das muss ich langsam kündigen. Ich
habe das damals vor drei Jahren gemacht, vor zweienhalb Jahren und das ist ein Dreijahresvertrag oder
//mhm//. Und ich glaube ich werde nicht mehr erneuern. 00:03:51-7
A: Und wie wichtig ist Ihnen der Reservationsprozess, dass dieser einfach ist für die Gäste? 00:03:550
E: Der Reservationsprozess ist eh, ich glaube wenn jemand eine Pizzeria sucht, dann sucht er die
Telefonnummer und dann fragt er. 00:04:07-1
A: Ok. Und die Attraktivität der Plattform, also ob diese Werbung hat oder wie das Design ist?
00:04:15-0
E: Pfh, (..), wie gesagt, ich glaube die Leute landen hier unbewusst. 00:04:21-1
A: Und dass es ein vertrauensvoller Anbieter ist, ist Ihnen dies wichtig? 00:04:23-3
E: Mmeh (.....). 00:04:30-9
A: Auch eher weniger wichtig? 00:04:34-2
E: Ja. 00:04:33-6
A: Ok. Und dass das Tischreservationssystem mit eh, Bewertungsportalen zusammen arbeitet wie
TripAdvisor oder Google Plus. Erachten Sie dies als wichtig? 00:04:52-9
E: Das kenne ich nicht. 00:04:54-3
A: Also dass man Bewertungen kann abgeben auf der Seite? 00:05:00-6
E: Ah, um Gottes Willen, das kann ich nicht beurteilen. Ich glaube nicht, dass ich jemals eine Pizza
essen komme und da reserviere und Bewertungen anschauen, dass (lacht). 00:05:12-1
A: Ok. Und das man das Reservationssystem in Ihre eigenen Reservationssysteme integrieren kann?
Erachten Sie dies als wichtig? 00:05:18-0
E: (..). Auch nicht. Wie gesagt, wenn etwas Spezielles daran wäre, könnte ich vielleicht das Richtige
beurteilen. Aber, wie gesagt, für eine Pizzeria nicht unbedingt. 00:05:30-8
A: Ok. Und die Bekanntheit des Systems in Europa, dass sich Touristen anlocken lassen, welche
dadurch auf euer Restaurant aufmerksam werden? 00:05:45-3
E: Pfh, für das bin ich schon zu alt. Ich bin 100 Jahre zu alt geworden für das. Ich reserviere da, wie
die Zeit ohne Internet, ja. 00:06:01-0
A: Und die einfache Handhabung, ist diese auch weniger wichtig? Also grundsätzlich, weil Sie es gar
nicht brauchen? 00:06:10-9
63
E: Mhm. 00:06:13-4
A: Wäre es denn für Sie wichtig, dass Sie ein Datenprofil anlegen könnten, dass man schauen könnte,
was für Gäste Reservationen vornehmen. 00:06:18-4
E: Eh, (...), ja, ein junge Publikum, mehr nicht. 00:06:30-0
A: Also in dem Sinne eher wichtig für ein junges Publikum? 00:06:37-1
E: (....). 00:06:43-4
A: Und wie sieht es aus für eine automatische Bestätigung der Buchung. Ist Ihnen dies wichtig?
00:06:48-3
E: Das habe ich bei Lunchgate, glaube ich //ok//. Dass wenn ein Gast am Telefonautomat spricht,
muss ich das nur klicken und dann ist das bestätigt. Aber das kommt einmal pro Monat vor. 00:07:106
A: Aber erachten Sie dies als wichtig, dass dies eben so? 00:07:12-3
E: Also für micht wichtig, für den Gast. Aber wenn man denkt wie viel das kostet, dass ist Verlust für
mich. 00:07:21-3
A: Und eine statistische Auswertung der Reservationen, wäre Ihnen dies wichtig? Dass Sie schauen
können wer wie viele Buchungen und was für Leute diese sind? 00:07:29-6
E: Nein, für mich nicht. 00:07:31-8
A: Und dass das System weit verbreitet ist? Also bekannt und von vielen Leuten benutzt wird? Also
vor allem, dass die lokalen Gäste dies kennen? 00:07:42-2
E: Also die Leute, die das Restaurant besuchen kommen, die kommen nur einmal und nachher
kommen sie vielleicht nie mehr, oder ja. 00:07:57-4
A: Und die Werbung, welche das System macht. Dass es bekannt ist in dem Sinne? 00:08:03-0
E: Pfh (....). 00:08:09-3
A: Oder der Kundenservice, ist das wichtig für Sie, dass wenn Sie Probleme haben, dass Sie anrufen
können oder ein E-Mail schreiben können. 00:08:18-3
E: Ja, ich habe schon ein paar Mal so Antworten gegeben aber ich verliere keine Zeit für das.
00:08:24-0
A: Und dass das System verlässlich ist, ist Ihnen dies wichtig? 00:08:30-6
E: (...) pfh. 00:08:41-0
A: Oder dass das System direkt auf die Restaurantseite weiterleitet, dass man dann direkt auf Ihrer
Seite Informationen lesen kann. 00:08:46-3
E: Nein, das ist für mich nicht wichtig. 00:08:48-8
A: Nun betreffend Preisen. Also Preise betreffend Einschreibegebühren. Wie viel es kostet, dass man
teilnehmen kann bei einem solchen System. 00:09:04-4
64
E: Bei mir kann ich das niemals decken! Wie local.ch, search.ch und alle, Bookatable. Die einzige,
welche interessant ist oder wo ich sehe wie viele Gäste ich bekomme ist livebooking. 00:09:20-0
A: Livebooking? 00:09:21-8
E: Ja. Da sehe ich, ich zahle vielleicht pro Gast 1.50. Das heisst wenn ich in einem Monat 10 Gäste
bekomme zahle ich 15 Franken Ende Monats. Aber da sehe ich was kommt von dieser Firma. Und von
den anderen Firmen sehe ich nicht wie viel ich bekomme. 00:09:46-0
A: Und hatten Sie da Einschreibegebühren für das livebooking oder sind das Einfach die Kosten pro
Gast? 00:09:50-0
E: Das sind einfach die Kosten pro Gast. Also bei livebooking gibt es eine Zentrale in Hamburg
glaube ich. Die sehen genau wie viele Leute reserviert haben und schicken eine entsprechende
Rechnung. 00:10:04-5
A: Und das ist Ihnen lieber als periodische Gebühren? 00:10:03-6
E: Ah, das ist mir viel lieber //ok//. Also ich zahle für etwas. Und das war auch gratis, muss ich sagen.
Ich habe mich angemeldet und das kommt via Internet und via Fax auch. 00:10:25-4
A: Ist Ihnen dies lieber via Fax als via E-Mail? 00:10:29-1
E: Ja, lieber via Fax. 00:10:29-6
A: Und ist diese Buchung, wenn sie per Fax kommt bereits bestätigt? 00:10:37-2
E: Ja, bestätigt. Die ist bestätigt. Immer. Wenn das rein kommt ist das schon bestätigt. 00:10:45-3
A: Und ist das für sie wichtig, dass Sie nicht noch ? 00:10:54-3
E: Nein, da soll Hamburg gucken und schauen. 00:10:52-0
A: Und wie wichtig ist Ihnen die Anzahl Restaurants welche auf dieser Plattform teilnehmen?
00:11:05-5
E: Ich weiss nicht. Ich schaue die anderen nicht an. 00:11:08-6
A: Haben Sie sonst noch Kriterien, welche für Sie wichtig sind bei der Auswahl eines
Tischreservationssystems? 00:11:15-4
E: Nein. 00:11:19-1
A: Jezt, als sie die Tischreservationssysteme ausgewählt haben, nach welchen Kriterien haben Sie sich
da entschieden? 00:11:25-5
E: Ja irgendwie haben mir die das vorgeschlagen und da habe ich ja gesagt. Aber, ich weiss halt nicht.
Kriterien ist klar. Man macht dies und hofft, dass Leute kommen. 00:11:40-5
A: Aber sagen wir nun es hat verschiedene Systeme zur Auswahl. Auf Grund von was würden Sie sich
für eines entscheiden? Wenn Sie mehrere Systeme zur Auswahl haben? 00:12:08-6
E: Die welche kein Risiko für mich geben. Wenn sie mir Gäste schicken, dann zahle ich Kommission,
sonst zahle ich nichts. Wie im Hotel via booking oder hotel.de oder alle die Gäste schicken. Man muss
12 Prozent zahlen und fertig. So weiss ich, das kostet Geld aber ich weiss, dass sie mir Gäste schicken.
65
00:12:39-5
A: Nun als Abschlussfrage: Was haben Sie so das Gefühl sind die Schwierigkeiten bei
Tischreservationssystemen oder was möchten Sie verbessert haben? 00:12:48-5
E: (..), eh verbessert, ja, alles telefonisch. Nicht mehr via Internet. Das wäre das Beste für mich.
00:13:01-9
A: Also alle Anfragen telefonisch? 00:13:01-8
E: Telefonisch, alles. Wie vor 30 Jahren. 00:13:15-3
A: Gut, dann bedanke ich mich herzlich für Ihre Auskunft. 00:13:15-7
E: Bitteschön, ja.
C07. Informal / moderate upscale - city
Gourmindia (restaurant manager)
Interviewer: Xi Zhang (Xi)
Place: Lucerne
Datum: June 17, 2014
Xi: so could you please tell us what is your target customer group?
Restaurant manager: my target customers are either families, couples and we also target on the
tourists, especially the groups and FIT.
Xi: could you please also tell us what are the services that you offer?
Restaurant manager: like the, we have different services that we offer in the restaurant and from the
restaurant. It is like in the restaurant we offer direct services and service for groups, and we also cater,
like catering.
Xi: ok, so. Question 2 is about the typology of your restaurant. As we already identified, it belongs to
causal moderate upscale in the city.
Restaurant manager: yeah.
Xi: then we move on to question 3. So we noticed that your restaurant actually has an online
reservation system, right? So how do you handle the bookings which is done through your system?
Restaurant manager: so the reservation system in our restaurant is integrated into our website, and
people have the option to book online and through the website and take the options for timing when
they want to come and the dates and the numbers or if they have any special choice. Once they make
the reservation, then we receive the emails and then we reply them back.
Xi: hmm, I see. So do you reply to every individual email back?
Restaurant manager: Yes.
Xi: do they only book the table or do they also order food?
Restaurant manager: it’s like we have only given two choices, we do not deliver, so this is the reason
that we do not take the food orders. But if the customers want to order in advance, then we have two
66
options which are integrated into our system. One is a reservation and one is a contact form. And then
people can send us the contact form and also their comments. If they have any special choice, they can
write us down.
Xi: so they can order some courses before they even come. But do they also order and take it away?
Restaurant manager: they do. But it mostly happens like with personal services, like they come to us
for personal services.
Xi: you mean they don't have to order online, they just come here and take the order and then leave.
Restaurant manager: yes, yes.
Xi: ok, ok. So question 4 is about the share of table reservations through your system compared to the
totally sales.
Restaurant manager: you mean the total reservations?
Xi: yeah.
Restaurant manager: the share through the system is like 10%. Because the restaurant is considered as
a small business, so people prefer calling.
Xi: Aha!
Restaurant manager: so people usually call to make a reservation.
Xi: so for calling, do you have a percentage?
Restaurant manager: like 90%.
Xi: then it is 100%. But isn’t there any % for people who just come and randomly get in?
Restaurant manager: yes, people definitely they do come without reservation, but like the percentage I
gave you is from the way people make reservations. It is either by online or via the phone. If you want
to put that 100% into three sections like one is online reservation system, another one is telephone and
the third one is people who come without reservation, then I would say 40% people who come without
reservations and 50% call us and 10% they book online.
Xi: question 5 is about rating the criteria of online reservation system.
Restaurant manager: let’s say one by one.
(Then the interviewee read out the criteria and completed the following table with explanations for
choices.)
Criteria
1.
Time of
existence of the
system on the
market
2.
Independe
nt platform (new
customers can be
Most
important
Very
important
Important
Less
important
√
Not
important
Question 6: Reasons from
interviewee
It does not matter if it is a new or
old system. What matters is that
what is the system, how efficient is
the system.
√
67
addressed,
billboard effect)
3.
Possibility
to upload
information about
special events,
individual text
creation
4.
Possibility
to change the
page on your own
(personal login),
backend interface
5.
Possibility
of panorama
pictures of
restaurants
6.
Easy
booking process
avoiding mistakes
while booking
7.
Attractive
ness of platform
(advertising on
the site, design)
√
√
√
√
√
9.
Collaborat √
ion with
TripAdvisor,
Google+ Local
Page (also
contains ratings)
or similar systems
10.
Integratio
n with the offline
system / the own
system used in
the restaurant and
mobile, pc, I-pad
systems
11.
Well
known in Europe
(attracting
tourists)
12.
Simple
√
usage
√
Then you have the feeling that you
can do something with the system,
instead of depending on all the
people who are involved in the
system.
If you do something (with a
system) you definitely have some
pictures (already), it does not
necessary to be a panorama
picture.
Because a small mistake, such as
the date of booking, can give a lot
of trouble.
The platform must be very clear,
not distractive. If there is a lot of
advertisement or the design is too
colourful, or does not fit the theme,
then people will leave the website.
To know if the platform is really
doing something valuable and
serious.
You will get more reviews, not
only helpful for the restaurant and
the service providers but also
individually.
√
8.
Trustwort
hy provider
13.
Option to
create a client
You have control on special
promotion for special events.
Adding innovative events to attract
more customers and increase
competitiveness.
√
√
If the platform is confusing, people
will leave the website. People don't
have patience and they want
efficiency. Otherwise, they will
book via telephone.
You get to know what kind of
customer you have, from where
68
database
14.
Automatic
confirmation of
the booking for
both sides
15.
Provision
of statistics
16.
Popular in √
local areas
(people are aware
of this system and
use it)
17.
Advertise
ment done by the
system and Public
Relations
18.
Service
support via phone
and e-mail
19.
Reliability √
20.
Redirectio √
n to the
restaurant’s
website
21.
Price for
Inscription fees
22.
Price for
periodical fees
23.
Price
charged per
reservation
24.
Number of
restaurants
participating on
the platform
they are coming, and then you can
build up future marketing strategy,
such geographically selected
marketing.
Automatic confirmation does not
have personal emotions and
personal connections to customers.
√
√
Localness and local authority
attract customer volume.
√
√
Both the platform and the
restaurant’s website are important.
√
√
√
√
Important for the restaurant to
continence what value they will
bring to us before we will pay for
the fees. If they can justify that
they will bring extra value, then
restaurants are happy to pay the
fees.
The more restaurants on the
platform, the more attractiveness
due to more options to choose
from for customers. But on the
other hand, the more restaurants on
the platform, the more
competition.
25.
Additional
own criteria
(please specify)
Xi: Question 7 asks did you have different options before you adapted your current online reservation
system. Did you compare different ones, if you did how did you make your decision to use the current
one?
Restaurant manager: as I said the online reservation system is integrated into our website.
Xi: so, do you have a third party website? Like one table which is outside of your website?
69
Restaurant manager: Let’s say one table, it is like a third party, they do take the reservation for us, they
send us the emails and they call us also. That’s the services they provide. But we are not in the
contract for us.
Xi: But they do it for you?
Restaurant manager: yes, they do it for us.
Xi: for free?
Restaurant manager: until now they are for free, I don't know how they are making money, but as I
said what value they can bring to me. They work for us without charges, but I got maybe five or ten
reservations.
Xi: but you have another one besides One Table, right? Is that also a third party reservation system?
Restaurant manager: no that is owned by us.
Xi: OK, in this system is your restaurant the only one in the system?
Restaurant manager: yes, we are the only one.
Xi: so it is like your own website.
Restaurant manager: yes, it is our own website, and the reservation system is integrated into that. It is
all IT staff, I don't know so much about it, but it gives an option to the guest to make a reservation
online if they look at our website.
Xi: yes, so they can reserve the table, they can choose the food.
Restaurant manager: yes, they can have everything.
Xi: so this is the one you chose, and before this one did you have a procedure to choose from One
Table or the one you are using now or anything? Did you choose?
Restaurant manager: I am very selective. For me it is important, if anyone wants to be my partner,
what value they can bring to them and they can bring to me. Very clear.
Xi: so you did not have a dilemma?
Restaurant manager: no, no.
Xi: so last question is about what are the difficulties you encounter with your table reservation system.
Is there any improvement you can see now for the current system?
Restaurant manager: with the reservation system, this is all technology. Any there is any failure in the
technology, sometime it is a disaster. Let’s say you made a reservation for 20 people on the 20th of
May, by failure, it went to the 21st of May or 19th May, there would have this circumstances we have
to suffer.
Xi: Aha, like other technology, it is vulnerable but is one of the difficulties you have now or is this
more like assumption?
Restaurant manager: it is one of the difficulties we did face. But we face another difficulty like people
make reservations and they went into spam, and they came to the restaurant and said they made a
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reservation. If you make a reservation, you must be very well treated, when you enter the restaurant,
you must be given the table and you must be very special if you had booked a table as a guest. As a
guest who made a reservation, when you enter the restaurant, you must be known by the staff that
there is a reservation on your name and this table is reserved for you. But you booked something but
the restaurant does not have the idea because the email went to the spam. For example you come to me
and say you have a reservation for Elizabeth. We look at each other and say sorry madam we did not
get any reservation under the name of Elizabeth. And then we see it in the spam, then we will say oh
my god. This is all involved through emotions.
Xi: yeah, that is true, bad experience.
Restaurant manager: bad experience or good experience definitely is about services or good foods
which can you better experience. But this is also the first impression. If you have booked a table then
you expect your table is there.
Xi: so last one is about do you have anything you would like to improve in your system?
Restaurant manager: if the system can automatically reply with emotions.
Xi: what does that mean?
Restaurant manager: with emotions is like when you make a reservation, then the system replies back.
Xi: oh, yeah, it is automatic, right?
Restaurant manager: no, for the moment, the system cannot. And the system cannot do it the way
human beings do.
Xi: so you customize every email. But you would like it to be…yeh, but this is a little difficult, if you
want it to be customized and automatic, it is a little difficult.
Restaurant manager: very difficult.
Xi: OK thank you very much for the interview. And then I stop the recording now.
C07 (a). Informal / moderate upscale - city
Fritschi (restaurant manager) (F)
Interviewer: Iana Malicosvcaia (I)
Place: Lucerne
Datum: May 12, 2014
F: Sorry, but I cannot answer any of your questions.
I: Do you use any of the ORS?
F: No. Not any more. We used before Mytable, but we left it. There is no sense! We just
waste the money and lose the time. Our main customers are tourists, who come to Lucerne,
walk around and when they are hungry they drop in and have dinner. Our tables in summer
are always occupied. If we will reserve a table for someone – we will need to keep it free, it
means several other people e for someone – we will need to keep it free, it means we will lose
other people and tourists who are just passing by and can enter to us.
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I: Ok, thank you for your information.
C08.Informal / moderate upscale - country
Landgasthof (M)
Interviewer: Diego Anderegg (A)
Place: Kandersteg
Datum: June 13, 2014
A: Sind die wichtigsten Gästegruppen die Gäste vom Hotel? 00:00:47-8
M: Nein, eben nicht. Der Ferienwohnungsbesitzer, der Passant, der welcher speziell im Ruedihus
vorbeikommt und der Durchreisende ins Wallis. 00:01:06-0
A: Und ich habe gesehen, Sie bieten täglich wechselnde Menüs an. Ist das für Business Leute, also
Geschäftstätige, welche täglich zu Ihnen essen kommen? 00:01:20-2
M: Wir sind in einem Saisonort. Wir haben 1200 Einwohner. Wir haben keine Industrie, von Business
Essen können Sie in einem solchen Bergdorf schon gar nicht reden. Das gibt es gar nicht. Wir haben
eine Tourismuskundschaft. Wir haben sieben Tagesteller und x-verschiedene Spezialitäten. Aber die
sieben Tagesteller bleiben länger als nur gerade am Tag zu wechseln. 00:02:43-7
A: Ich habe gesehen, Sie sind auf MyTable? 00:02:56-9
M: Ja. 00:02:59-9
A: Wie handhaben Sie solche Buchungen, welche über Tischreservationssysteme hereinkommen?
00:03:04-2
M: Also über MyTable kam noch nie eine Reservation rein. 00:03:05-8
A: Haben Sie sonst noch Tischreservationssysteme? 00:03:07-1
M: Nein. 00:03:07-8
A: In dem Fall ist der Anteil von Tischreservationen könnte man sagen...? 00:03:16-9
M: Ich glaube, und da bin ich wohl nicht der einzige, dass symptomatisch für Landbetriebe oder
Betriebe in Tourismusorten. Tischreservationssystem sind für in der Stadt, wo ich mir vorstellen kann,
man sitzt im Büro und sagt, wo wollen wir Essen. Dort ist es relevant. Und dann auch um zu schauen,
was ist das Tagesangebot. Aber bei uns ist das absolut nicht relevant. Da wird nach wie vor telefoniert
oder per E-mail ein Tisch bestellt. Die Anzahl der Reservationen zu den Nicht-Reservationen, aber
nicht über ein Tischreservationssystem, ist im Ruedihus sehr hoch, weil das Haus ziemlich ausgebucht
ist. Also bei uns ist um die 70 Prozent reserviert. Vor allem abends und im Winter. Im Sommer geht
man eher die Gefahr ein keinen Tisch mehr zu bekommen, aber da ist das Platzangebot grösser. Im
Winter, das ist ganz klar, da will man nicht ohne Reservation in ein Restaurant. 00:04:47-4
A: Aber da haben Sie nicht das Gefühl, Sie benötigen ein Tischreservationssystem, um Reservationen
per Internet zu machen? 00:04:53-1
M: Könnten Sie mir sagen warum? 00:04:59-2
A: Damit es praktischer ist für die Gäste und Sie besser auffindbar sind. 00:04:59-0
M: Glauben Sie für die Gäste ist dies praktischer? Ich geschäfte seit 40 Jahren, deshalb erlaube ich
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mir, dies manchmal kritisch zu hinterfragen. Weil ich muss Ihnen sagen, ich persönlich weiss, in
welches Restaurant ich gehen will. Und der, der ins Ruedihus will, der will ins Ruedihus. Der hat dies
vorher mal bei sich registriert im Hinterkopf. Und dann geht der sicher nicht über ein
Reservationssystem schauen, Kandersteg, wo kann ich essen. Da gibt er Ruedihus ein in Google und
dann hat er die Telefonnummer, wenn er sie nicht hat und macht das entweder per Mail oder per
Telefon. Also das kommt bei uns nicht. Da bin ich überzeugt. Auch ich würde es nicht so machen. Ich
rufe an oder schreibe ein persönliches Mail. Ich gehe nie über ein Reservationssystem. 00:06:13-5
A: Dann würden Sie in dem Fall kein Tischreservationssystem wählen? 00:06:25-7
M: Sowieso keines auswählen, da es keinen Sinn macht in dieser Art von Restaurant. Das muss ich
dazu sagen. Die machen keinen Sinn in Kurorten, in Landbeizen. Es macht Sinn in den
Agglomerationen von den Städten. Dort sehe ich dies ein. Der Chef sagt der Sekretärin, buche mir
Plätze in dem und dem Restaurant und dann geht Sie über das Reservationssystem und hat eine
Bestätigung in den Händen und kann es dem Chef vorlegen. Das ist ganz etwas anderes. Da muss man
einfach differenzieren. Vielleicht kommt das. Vielleicht ändert dies bei uns auch. Vielleicht versucht
der Ferienhausgast auf seinem I-phone im Ruedihus zu reservieren. Das habe ich extra bei MyTable
versucht. Aber ich habe Ihnen gesagt, ich habe bis jetzt noch keine einzige Reservation. Und an dem
sehe ich, dass der Markt bei uns noch nicht hier ist. Deshalb würde ich dies nie machen. 00:07:59-3
A: In dem Fall auch unabhängig von was für ein Tischreservationssystem dies ist? 00:08:03-3
M: Ja, ja. Aber diese Meinung ist ja vielleicht in der Meinungsfindung von Gastro Suisse auch
wichtig, dass es eben diese Meinung auch gibt. Sonst plant man wieder etwas an der Basis vorbei. Da
muss man vielleicht auch den Mut haben und sagen, für Restaurants an solchen Orten mit dieser und
dieser Kundschaft macht es wenig Sinn ein System zu haben. Ich will einfach zeigen, dass man diesen
Aspekt nicht vergessen darf, dass nicht immer alles was gerade in ist, dann auch zum Erfolg führt.
Vielleicht sind es bei uns auch mehrere Komponenten. Es ist nicht nur der Gasthof auf dem Land, der
kleine im Tourismusort. Es ist auch der Bekanntheitsgrad. Das Ruedihus hat natürlich hier in der
Region einen solchen Bekanntheitsgrad, dass es gar keine Frage ist, dass ich den auf einer
Suchmaschine suchen gehe. Die Leute, welche ins Ruedihus wollen, gehen ins Ruedihus. Die
reservieren dort und wenn es nicht geht zu reservieren, kommen sie vielleicht drei Tage später. Das ist
ein spezielles Haus mit einem speziellen Konzept. Der, welcher dorthin will, der geht dann nicht
alternativ in ein anderes. Das sind vielleicht die Kriterien dazu. Und wenn Sie mich über das
Gourment Restaurant interviewt hätten, hätte ich Ihnen genau dieselben Antworten gegeben. Dort
macht es auch ganz wenig Sinn so ein System, weil die Leute, welche in ein solch klassifiziertes
Restaurant wollen, die reservieren gleich direkt. 00:11:19-2
A: Sie haben in dem Sinne auch nicht das Gefühl, dass Sie mehr Gäste mit einem
Tischreservationssystem anlocken könnten? 00:11:22-0
M: Das glaube ich auf keinen Fall. Ein Tischreservationssystem ist doch für mich kein
Qualitätskriterium. Das ist nur eine Hilfe für den Kunden, dass er einfacher, wie Sie gemeint haben,
reservieren kann. Ich bezweifle, dass es einfacher ist. Die Reservation direkt über E-mail oder Telefon
ist dreimal einfacher. Ja. Um mehr Gäste zu generieren, das sind andere Wege, wo man nehmen muss.
Im Marketing, wo man den Bekanntheitsgrad besser an die Leute bringen muss. Wo man sagt, das
sind unsere Kriterien und das ist der Grund, weshalb ihr zu uns kommen sollt. Er wird ja kaum,
Kandersteg und dann gibt er ein und dann sind dort vier Restaurants darauf. Und dann bucht er in
einem von denen. Das glaube ich nicht. Er weiss im Voraus wohin er will und was für ein Budget er
hat. In einer Stadt könnte er solche Kriterien eingeben und dann kann er buchen. Dort kann das gehen
aber sonst habe ich absolut nicht das Gefühl. 00:13:02-2
A: Besten Dank für die Auskunft. 00:13:02-5
C09. informal / moderate upscale – country
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Name of the restaurant: Restaurant de l’Aigle
Name of the expert: Odile Roulet
Place: Couvet village, Neuchatel
Interviewer: Iana Malicovscaia
Position of expert: Online reservation manager
Date: 26.05.2014
I: Is it fine if I record it?
O: Yeah, Yeah. No problem.
I: Ok, thank you. So, this is the questionnaire which you received and interview, we have the purpose
for our project, the project which was initiated by Gastro-Suisse – “Evaluation of table reservation
systems” for the restaurants. Do you agree if mention in the report your name and the name of the
restaurant or you want to be anonymous?
O: No, it’s ok. You can mention.
I: Ok, thank you very much. So, let’s start. Everything we could find, the brief description of your
restaurant on the internet, I will read some information and could you say whether it’s true or not?
O: Yes.
I: The customer groups of your restaurant are hotel guests, the employees from nearby organizations,
families, and small and big groups.
O: Yeah, exactly. It’s really true. And I will precise that a lot of groups that we have come with the
tour operator. We work a lot with them.
I: You mean, you have contracts with tour operators and they bring the groups to your restaurant?
O: Exactly.
I: Ok. And services which you offer, these are: lunches, dinners, parties, vegetarian meals, and semipensions.
O: Yeah, exactly. This is true.
I: Ok. Then we also have the list of the qualities, so we tried to evaluate your restaurant as the country
moderate/upscale. Do you agree?
O: I think that’s correct.
I: Do you use booking systems?
O: Yeah, we use them. It’s more or the hotel than for the restaurant actually. For the restaurant we
don’t use that much booking systems, but really rather for the hotel.
I: And how do you handle the bookings done through the systems in your restaurant? How do you
work with them?
O: For example, we are on Itaste, do you know this platform?
I: Yeah.
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O: I think, it’s really only for Switzerland. We are on this platform and then a guest books a table and
then we get the information by e-mail and then we book it. We take all the information and put it in
our own system.
I: Ok, thank you. And what approximate share of all the reservations is done through the systems?
O: Really- really low. I would say less than one percent.
I: Ok. Then, I would like to go to criteria. I would read the criteria for you and you say if it’s most
important criteria for you while choosing the table reservation system, very important, just important,
less important or not important at all.
O: Ok.
I: So: time of existence of the system on the market?
O: You mean the platform?
I: Yes.
O: I would say it is important.
I: Ok. Independent platform, is that important? It means new customers can be addressed, billboard
effect and so on.
O: This is very important for us.
I: Ok. Possibility to upload information about special events, individual text creation?
O: This is important I would say. If I can add something it’s important to have information,
description of the restaurant on the platform and something I would say quite specific, no like a
general one, but rather…. Yeah, something more that goes really directly to the people, but at the same
time we don’t use possibility to design offers. That’s why I would say in the middle.
I: Ok, thank you. Then the next one is: possibility to change the page on your own. You would have
personal login, backend interface and so on.
O: This is the most important.
I: Then number 5: possibility of the panorama pictures of the restaurants.
O: Yeah, this is too – is really-really important, the most important I would say.
I: Ok, thank you. Then, easy booking process, it means avoiding mistakes while booking.
O: This too, I would say – the most important.
I: Attractiveness of platform?
O: … ???
I: It could use advertisement on the site, design of the website of the platform.
O: Ah, this is very important.
I: Ok. Trustworthy provider?
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O: Aha! This is interesting. It’s always a little bit hard to judge how provider is trustworthy or not.
Yeah, it’s very important for us.
I: Number nine: collaboration with Trip advisor, Google, Local pages, or similar systems.
O: This is most important for us.
I: Number ten: integration with offline systems, or the own system used in the restaurant, such as
mobile, PC, Ipad, etc.
O: As we don’t have that many booking for the moment, I would say it’s less important.
I: Next one: well known in Europe. It would attract tourists if the platform is well known.
O: This is important, I would say. But our clients are mostly coming from the region, so it’s not that
important, but still.
I: Ok. Simple usage of the platform?
O: Most important.
I: Next one. Option to create a client’s data base?
O: For us it’s not important. Actually I don’t know if any platform offers this possibility because for
us I have never seen a possibility, because clients always use nickname or something… so, for us it’s
not important, but would be interesting to consider.
I: Ok, then next one goes: automatic confirmation for booking for both sides, for you and the client.
O: This is very important.
I: Provision of statistics?
O: I would say important.
I: Popular in local areas, so people are aware of this system and use it?
O: Most important.
I: Advertisement done by the systems and public relations? They make advertisement of your
restaurant.
O: This is very important.
I: Service support via phone and e-mail? For example, if you have some difficulties or you don’t know
how to use it and they call you or write to you and explain.
O: This is very important as well.
I: Reliability?
O: You mean for us or for the customer?
I: For you. Everything for you. You judge the platform, how reliable the platform is. Is that important
for you?
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O: Yeah, that’s most important.
I: Then, redirection to the restaurant’s website? You know, sometimes on the platform you click and
go directly to the restaurant’s page.
O: For us it’s the most important. If they go to our website directly, that’s best for us.
I: Price for inscription fees?
O: This is very important as well.
I: Price for periodical fees?
O: Yeah, very important as well.
I: Then, price charged for reservation?
O: This is an important criterion for us.
I: Number of restaurants participating on the platform?
O: Yeah, very important!
I: And additional criterion: do you have any of your criteria, something in which you are interested.
O: Actually, yeas, there is something. We use platform ‘trust you’, do you know this platform? And I
always check if the website is connected to “trust you”; i.e. if I can manage the comments and also the
bookings through this “trust you”. This is a really practical tool that we use, so yes – that’s also
criteria.
I: You mean, whether the platform has this tool, right?
O: Yes.
I: Ok, thank you very much. And next question would be: could you comment in short on most
important and very important criteria from your choice.
O: Ok. I just wanted to add that when we select or we decide to be on a platform, we always think
from the customer’s side. We just think: why would a customer go on this platform? Is the platform
attractive visually? Does it have the possibility to display some images? This is also important. And
the possibility to leave comments, I would say this is first and the most important criteria. And then,
do we have the possibility to manage this information that we display on the website? I would say that
these are two the most important criteria for us. And then, of course, if the platform is easy to manage
– this is also very important, because every day I don’t have that much time to go to every platform
and check what’s happening. So, this I very important for my work and for the efficiency of the
management – that the platform is easy to use.
I: Ok, thanks a lot. And the last but one question: did you have different options when choosing the
online reservation system? And if you did, how did you make your decision on Itaste?
O: Actually, we didn’t really decide to be on Itaste, because at first it’s one of our customers that put a
picture on the website, and he created the profile. And then, when we saw that, I think it was two-three
years ago, and I could ask to manage the administration part of the platform, and then I added
information myself. So, it was customer driven I would say. It was not really a choice. But then we
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decided – you know there is a professional account – and we decided not to have it, because it’s quite
expensive, it’s 125 francs a month, and for the moment we thought it’s enough to manage our
customer relationship system the way we do it with letters to our clients, with other means of
promotion I would say. And Itaste is not that important, that’s why we decided not to invest that much.
I: Are you planning to go to other platforms?
O: Not for the moment, because we didn’t find something really attractive for us. And it is something
really-really not easy to manage, and too expensive – that’s also important criteria. Then we would be
interested I think. For example, we are also on Trip Advisor, but you cannot book through Trip
Advisor for the restaurants.
I: Ok, and then the last question: what are the difficulties you encounter with table reservation
systems? And what would you like to have approved?
O: It would be great to have table reservation systems directly connected to our own systems, then we
don’t have to transfer manually all the information. When we have an e-mail and we have to transfer this would be really useful for us. And otherwise, sometimes the help desk what they have, when you
have a question or something, it’s not that efficient, I would say. You always have to wait for 2-3
weeks to get an answer and sometimes something is really urgent. So, that’s also something which is
also hard to manage.
I: Then, that’s all with questions. If you would like anything to add, maybe some information which
was not covered by questions.
O: No, I think you covered pretty much.
I: Then, thank you very much again for giving your time and speaking about the reservation systems.
O: It’s really nice work you do. I really hope you can go further. It was pleasure to answer your
questions. Thank you and good luck!
I: Good luck! Have a nice weekend.
C10. Informal / moderate upscale – country
Il Nibbio Resaurant
Interviewer: Iana Malicovscaia
Place: Paradiso
Datum: June 17, 2014
Q:Okay, I start recording and once again I want to thank you for giving your time and for agreeing
for this interview. And just the first, brief introduction: this questionnaire interview is for the purpose
of an academic project. And namely evaluation of the table reservation system for restaurants. And for
the purpose of doing interview transcript. Is it ok for you to this if this interview is recorded?
A:Yeah, it is good.
Q: And also do you agree if we mention your restaurant and your name, or you would like to be
anonymous?
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A:It is not a problem, you can mention.
Q: Okay, thank you very much. So, before doing the interview i made some small investigation
and here is the brief description of what we found. Your target customers are: tourists, families,
couples, employees of nearby organizations , and probably small groups. Is it correct?
A: Yes, it is.
Q: Okay, and the services you offer are: lunches, dinners, couple menus, and the group menu. Or
sometimes we saw that you also have some special events.
A: Correct, yes, we manage this special events also.
Q: Okay, thank you, and then looking at the given list of the restaurant topologies, we classified
you as the casual or the moderned upscale restaurants in the country. Would you agree with this
classification?
A: Yes, it is correct.
Q: And now please lets go directly to other questions. How do you handle the booking done
through the system in your restaurant?
A: Well, we are we are on the platform MyTable. So actually, when there is a reservation we get a
letter and keep a table for the estimated time. That’s all
Q: Okay, and What are the share of all table reservations which is done through the system?
A: Oh, it is just very little, I would say about 2 or 3 %. You know, people here don’t really use the
system; they either call or just simply come.
Q: Yeah, that is what most of the restaurants are also telling us. Okay, now let’s please go through
the criteria. Time of existence of the system on the market.
A: Less important.
Q: Independent platform (new customers can be addressed, billboard effect)
A: Important
Q: Possibility to upload information about special events, individual text creation
A: Very important.
Q: Possibility to change the page on your own (personal login), backend interface.
A: Very important.
Q: Possibility of panorama pictures of restaurants.
A: Very important.
Q: Easy booking process avoiding mistakes while booking.
A: The most important.
Q: Attractiveness of platform (advertising on the site, design)
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A: Important.
Q: Trustworthy provider.
A: This is the most important.
Q: Collaboration with TripAdvisor, Google+ Local Page (also contains ratings) or similar systems.
A: It’s very important.
Q: Ok, Integration with the offline system / the own system used in the restaurant and mobile, pc,
I-pad systems.
A: Important
Q: Well known in Europe, so it would attract tourists
A: Less important.
Q: Simple usage?
A: The most important.
Q: Option to create a client database.
A: Less important
Q: Automatic confirmation of the booking for both sides.
A: Very important.
Q: Provision of statistics?
A: Less important
Q: Popular in local areas (people are aware of this system and use it)
A: This is important for us.
Q: Advertisement done by the system and Public Relations
A: Yes, it’s very important
Q: Service support via phone and e-mail
A: It’s important
Q: Reliability
A: The most important
Q: Redirection to the restaurant’s website
A: It’s very important
Q: Price for Inscription fees?
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A: Very important
Q: Price for periodical fees
A: Very important
Q: And price charged per reservation?
A: the same - very important.
Q: Number of restaurants participating on the platform.
A: It less important. More important that we are there (laughs).
Q: the last criteria in our list – is additional one. Maybe there is something which was not covered
here.
A: Ok, let’s see. My own criteria, I think, maybe this mobile application thing is more important.
For example I would say to my wife let’s go somewhere out tonight and have some nice dinner and
she would ask “ok, where to go?” and I may open my mobile phone, find mobile application and
choose the closest restaurant or the most sympatic restaurant. I think his is the future. Maybe it’s more
important than I thought.
Q: So you mean you want to change it, this criterion? You said important and you want to change
t to higher?
A: Yes, very important.
Q: Ok, good. I’m changing that. Thank you. Another question: Could you please comment on the
most important and very important criteria from your choice? So, you have chosen several of the
criteria to be the most important and the very important, i will read them one by one, those which for
you got the higher points, and could you comment just the couple of words.
The first one is number 3: possibility to upload information about special events, or individual text
creation. Could you say a couple of words about that? Why it for you it is very important?
A: So for example we organize the events, it would be very nice to publish on this platform.
Q: ok, thank you. Then the next one is: possibility to change the page on your own (personal
login), or backend interface. Can you say anything about that?
A: So i think it would be nice to have the access to this website, and have the control over the
bookings and so on. Yes, it is very important.
Q: Okay, thank you. Then the next one, that you have chosen to be very important, is the
possibility of panorama pictures of the restaurants.
A: So uploading pictures there is important, we spent a lot of money on design. And i would like
to show it, i would like them to see how good design we have. So it is important.
Q: Ok, thank you. Then, you have the most important is easy booking process avoiding mistakes
while booking.
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A: Yes it is the most important, because just imagine if they make some mistakes during this
booking process and they come and we won`t have the table, so, imagine the situation that we cannot
allow this situation.
No, it should be very simple, because just imagine the other situation when they try to book a
table, and the system is too complicated, then they may give up.
Q: Yes, that is true. So you actually already answered about the simplicity, the simple usage
together, because we have the simple usage as well later. Okay, good, thank you. The next one is the
trustworthy provider. For you it is the most important. Why trustworthy provider is important for you?
A: It is like in this situation, just if they come and they won`t have the table as they booked they
will be disappointed then they may never come again, so.
Q: Or create kind of bad image, that is true.
A: Yes.
Q: And another one for you is important is to collaboration with TripAdvisor, Google+ or Local
Page or ratings or reviews and so on. Could you comment on that?
A: You know, when especially tourists are looking for a new place or just for a place, where they
shall search for it? Of course TripAdvisor, or Google+,
or something. It is the most, very imporant. And actually TripAdvisor and google+ are very
popular, so if they can find us, then the tourist will find us.
Q: Okay, thank you. Next one is automatic confirmation of the booking for both sides.
A: So, I believe that we can simply save time with this system. So, this is very imporant because
this way,
our staff won`t waste their time by answering letters.
Q: Okay. I thank you, then the next you answered the advertisement are done by the system and
public relations. Why is that imporant? Like i mean, what can you say about that?
A: Yeah, of course it is important, you know more advertisement means more customers.
Q: Yes, that is true, that usual systems. Next one is reliability, for you it is the most important.
A: Reliability, it is you know, it is like just this trustworthy provider. If the system is not reliable, I
cannot trust in it. So, of course it is the most important.
Q: Okay, next one is the redirection to the restaurant’s website.
A: Yes, yes of course. If they can open directly our website, then they can see our special offers,
that is the best. Or they can get in touch with us directly. That is very important.
Q: Okay, the next one is the prices for the inscription fees.
A: Yes, so the fees. You know since we don`t have many clients from this system, it is very
important to spend less money on this fees.
Q: You mean on all of them? So you mean inscription periodical, and charge for reservation.
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A: Yes, yes. Yeah, you know this 2 or 3%. It is almost nothing, now.
Q: The next question, the next question would be: do you have different option; did you have
different option when choosing the online reservation system? And if you did, how did you make your
decision on the current system?
A: So, actually we chose the system because of the contacts, you know. I mean like people
advised us and because it is quite popular in Switzerland and but actually we didn`t base our decisions
on certain special reasons. So it is kind of popular, you know.
Q: Okay, the last question for you: What are difficulties you encounter with table reservation
systems, what would you like to have improved?
A: Okay, I think it is everything more or less fine. Maybe the system needs a bit more
modernization.
Q: Okay, then I thank you very much again for your interview, and I wish you a nice evening.
A: You are welcome; I hope I will see you in our restaurant.
C11. Informal / moderate upscale – country
(Non-registered telephone conversation)
Neuhof Restaurant (N)
Interviewer: Iana Malicovscaia (I)
Place: Kriens
Datum: June 18, 2014
I: Hello. Thank you for agreeing to answer the questions about your restaurant. I represent the group
of students from Hochschule Luzern and the interview is a part our project, which was initiated by
Gastro-Suisse – “Evaluation of table reservation systems” for the restaurants.
N: Hello. I don’t have much time.
I: May you offer me another time then? When can I call or come?
N: OK, but what questions?
I: I will ask you several questions about table reservation systems.
N: We don’t use them.
I: But your restaurant is on the platform MyTable.com
N: We make reservations only by phone.
I: You mean that you do not use the platform?
N: As I said, we make reservations only by phone. I don’t have time, sorry. Good bye
I: Thank you. Good bye.
C12. Upscale – city one
Name of the restaurant: Wants to stay
anonymous, restaurant one, city upscale
Place: Zürich
Interviewer: Tanja Berger
Date: 09.05.2014
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Tanja: So, Besten Dank. Dass Sie sich entschieden haben mitzumachen. Wie bereits erklärt,
untersuchen wir für eine Studie, also von einer Studie von GastroSuisse die Online
Tischreservationssysteme. Es geht dabei vor allem um die Frage welche Kriterien benutzt wurden zu
Auswahl. Ja, danke für Ihre Zeit. Das Interview dauert in etwa 10 Mintuen.
A: ok
T:: Gut, also als erstes haben wir versucht Ihre Zielgruppe zu identifizieren. Sind Sie damit
einverstanden. Wir haben herausgefunden, dass Sie sich auf Business Gäste konzertieren.
A: Ja, nicht ganz. Beim Lunch sind es die 35plus. Wir haben viele Meetings oder Special Events. Die
Lunchgäste sind zum grossen Teil Business Kunden oder „Grund zum Feiern“. Am Abend haben wir
jedoch Leute die gute Küche mögen. Es ist ein sehr gemischtes Publikum.
T: Ok. Wir haben eine Restaurant Typologie erstellt. Also, wir unterscheiden zwischen Stadt/Land,
informell, moderat und gehoben. Wir haben Sie als gehobene Küche und Stadt eingeordnet. Sind Sie
damit einverstanden?
A: Ja. Das ist korrekt.
T: Wie handeln Sie die Buchungen?
A: Bei Online Reservationen werden die Tische direkt in unserem Reservationssystem auf den
Tischen eingebucht. Wir erhalten eine E-Mail mit der Meldung, dass eine Reservation eingegangen ist.
Auf dem Mail sind die Kunden und Reservationsdaten ersichtlich.… Die Reservation wird
kontrolliert, resp. die Kartei überprüft, ob die Schreibweise korrekt ist und unseren Vorgaben der
Eingabe entspricht. Das Onlinetool hat in dem Moment schon automatisch eine Bestätigung an den
Kunden geschickt. Dann müssen wir eventuell Einträge korrigieren, wenn nötig. Die Tischzuteilung
wird überprüft und bei Doubleseating Tischen der Vermerk angebracht (D)[ Ebenso wird bei
Doubleseating Tischen eine Bestätigung versandt die den Vermerk auf eingeschränkte
Aufenthaltsdauer enthält. ]
T: Welchen Anteil Ihrer Tischreservationen werden durch das Tischreservationssystem getätigt?
A: Online stehen dem Gast je 18 Plätze zur Verfügung um 18:30 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 21:30
Somit sind 36 frühe Plätze und 36 späte Plätze online buchbar. Die übrigen Zeiten sind telefonisch
oder per Mail buchbar.
T: Nachfolgende haben wir eine Liste von Kriterien. Diese haben wir durch Interviews
herausgefunden. Ich werde die Kriterien am besten runter lesen. Könne Sie mir sagen ob die Punkte
jeweils am wichtigsten, sehr wichtig, wichtig, weniger wichtig oder nicht wichtig waren. Falls Sie
wichtig waren, können Sie auch aufzeigen wieso?
A: Ok
T: Also, ok, dann fange ich einmal an, Anzahl der Jahre seitdem das System auf dem Markt ist
A: Sehr wichtig. Gute Referenzen und Erfahrung war wichtig.
T: Eine unabhängige Plattform
A: weniger wichtig
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T: Die Möglichkeit Informationen hochzuladen über spezielle Events.
A: Wichtig. Wir können Reminder machen für spezielle Events.
T: Möglichkeit die Seite selbst anzupassen
A: Sehr wichtig. Wir müssen den Tischplan anpassen können und die Seite selbst. Es gibt immer
einmal wieder Änderungen
T: Möglichkeit von Panoramabilder
A: Nicht wichtig
T: Einfacher Reservationsprozess
A: Wichtig
T: Attraktivität der Plattform, Design
A: Nicht wichtig
T: Vertrauensvoller Anbieter
A: Wichtig
T: Zusammenarbeit mit TripAdvisor Google+ Local Page
A: Nicht wichtig. Damals war Social Media noch kein Thema. Aber wenn wir heute einen Anbieter
aussuchen würden, dann wäre die Zusammenarbeit sehr wichtig.
T: Integration in Offline-Systeme, in die eigenen Systeme des Restaurants und Natel
A: weniger wichtig
T: Die Bekanntheit in Europa
A: Wichtig.
T: Möglichkeit ein Datenprofil der Gäste anzulegen
A: sehr wichtig
T: Automatische Bestätigung der Buchung für Sie und die Gäste
A: Sehr wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit von statistischen Auswertungen der Reservationen
A: weniger wichtig. Zuerst mussten wir alles bewältigen. Da haben wir noch nicht an statistische
Auswertungen gedacht.
T: Weit verbreitet in lokaler Umgebung (das System ist bekannt und wird genutzt)
A: am wichtigsten. Wenn es verbreitet ist, ist es sicher. Für beide Seiten
T: Werbung, welche das System macht und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
A: unwichtig
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T: Kundenservice für das Restaurant via Telefon oder E-Mail, also der ganze Support
A: am wichtigsten vor allem der Support und die Hilfe bei Problemen mit dem System. Zum Beispiel
wenn es aussteigt müssen wir auf eine andere Art über die Buchungen informiert werden.
T: Die Verlässlichkeit vom System
A: Sehr wichtig
T: Umleitung auf die Restaurantwebseite. Also das es auf der Page einen Link auf Ihre Seite gibt
A: Weniger wichtig
T: Und jetzt kommen zum Abschluss noch ein paar Preis Fragen. Preis für Einschreibegebühren
A: wichtig
T: Preis für periodische Gebühren
A: wichtig
T: Preis pro Reservation
A: wichtig
T: Anzahl teilnehmender Restaurants auf der Plattform
A: weniger wichtig
T: Haben Sie noch eigene Kriterien, solche welche wir hier nicht erwähnt haben?
A: Da unser Unternehmen im Hochhaus auf 5 verschiedene Etagen verteilt ist, war das wichtigste,
dass das System webbasiert ist, also dass wir übers Internet auf den Tischplan, resp. Die Verfügbarkeit
zugreifen können. Dies um sicherzustellen, dass immer jeder auf dem aktuellsten Stand ist und auch
wenn zeitgleich auf einen Tag oder Tisch zugegriffen wird die Richtigkeit der Angaben gewährleistet
ist.
T: Hatten Sie verschiedene Optionen, als Sie ihr Tischreservationssystem ausgewählt haben? Falls ja,
wie haben Sie sich für das jetzige System entschieden?
A: Aufgrund der Erfahrungen in bisherigen Betrieben guter Support bei Problemen.
T: Welche Schwierigkeiten bekunden Sie mit Tischreservationssystemen / was möchten Sie verbessert
haben?
A: Aktuell läuft alles prima – und durch eine gute Beziehung zum Anbieter werden wir super betreut
bei speziellen Anliegen, Wünschen und Problemen
C13. Upscale – city two
Name des Restaurants: city restaurant two,
Geschäftsführerin
Ort: Zürich
Interviewer: Tanja Berger
Datum: 19.05.2014
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Tanja: Guten Tag. Besten Dank, dass Sie beim Interview mitmachen. Entschuldigen Sie die
Terminverschiebung. Super , dass Sie es sich heute einrichten konnten.
N: Kein Problem. Ich weiss wie es ist, wenn man alleine im Geschäft ist.
T: Wie bereits erwähnt machen wir eine Studie zu den Online Tischreservationssystemen. Das
Interview dauert ca. 10 Minuten. Es geht vor allem um die Kriterien, die Sie benutzt haben, um ein
Tischreservationssystem auszuwählen. Am besten fange ich gerade an.
N: ok
T: Dürfen wir Ihren Namen nennen oder möchten Sie lieber anonym bleiben, im Bericht meine ich.
N: Besser anonym
T: Ok, das werden wir so machen. Als erstes haben wir Ihre Hauptzielgruppe definiert. Sie sind mehr
ein Restaurant für für den Abend. Aber haben auch Business Lunch.
N: Ja, das meiste ist am Abend. Wir haben aber auch Lunch Gäste
T: Als nächstes haben wir eine Typologie für die Restaurants erstellt. Es gibt Restaurants in der Stadt
und solche auf dem Land. Wir unterscheiden auch zwischen formell oder moderat gehoben, informell
und gehobene Küche. Sie haben wir als gehoben und in der Stadt eingeordnet. Sind Sie damit
einverstanden?
N: Ja. Das stimmt. .
T: Können Sie mir sagen, wie Sie die Buchungen handhaben? Also nur die, welche von den Online
Tischreservation Systemen kommen?
N: Also, der Gast bucht, entweder auch der Buchungsseite von den System oder direkt auf unsere
Webpage. Wir haben Bookatable online integriert. Der Gast erhält direkt ein Bestätigungsmail. Wir
auch. Wir erhalten alle Koordinaten per Mail.
T: Können Sie mir sagen welcher Anteil der Reservationen durch diese Online
Tischreservationssysteme gemacht werden??
N: Es sind immer mehr. Ich würde sagen knapp 25%. Es ist aber ganz unterschiedlich. Im Winter sind
es ein bisschen weniger. Aber ab 10 Personen muss man telefonisch reservieren. Im Winter gibt es
mehr Partys. Im Sommer gibt es nicht so viele, dann ist es ruhiger.
T: Wir haben einen Katalog mit Kriterien erarbeitet. Ich werde die Kriterien runter lesen. Können Sie
mir jeweils sagen ob das Kriterium am wichtigste, sehr wichtig, wichtig, weniger wichtig oder nicht
wichtig war für die Wahl eines Tools? Wenn etwas sehr wichtig und am wichtigsten war, können Sie
mir auch sagen wieso?
N: Ok
T: Ok, dann fange ich gerade an, Anzahl der Jahre seitdem das System auf dem Markt ist
N: weniger wichtig. Das gibt es ja seit höchstens 10 Jahren. Wir haben ein System seit 6-7 Jahren.
Früher waren wir bei Bookatable Deutschland.
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T: Eine unabhängige Platform . Also, dass neue Gäste angesprochen werden können. Solche die sonst
nicht so zu ihnen genommen wären.
N: sehr wichtig. Wir zahlen ja viel Geld.
T: Die Möglichkeit Informationen hochzuladen über spezielle Events. Und die individuelle
Textgestaltung
N: Sehr wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit die Seite selbst anzupassen. Also, dass man einen eigenen Administrator Account
hat.
N: Sehr wichtig.
T: Möglichkeit von Panoramabilder
N: Nicht wichtig
T: Einfacher Reservationsprozess. Fehler sollten vermieden werden
N: Sehr wichtig
T: Attraktivität der Plattform, Design und, dass die Plattform werbefrei ist.
N: Nicht wichtig
T: Vertrauensvoller Anbieter
N: Sehr wichtig
T: Zusammenarbeit mit TripAdvisor Google+ Local Page
N: Wichtig
T: Integration in Offline-Systeme, in die eigenen Systeme des Restaurants und Natel
N: sehr wichtig
T: Die Bekanntheit in Europa
N: Wichtig.
T: Die Möglichkeit ein Datenprofil der Gäste anzulegen
N: wichtig
T: Automatische Bestätigung der Buchung für Sie und die Gäste
N: Sehr wichtig
T: Statistische Auswertungen der Reservationen
N: Wichtig
T: Weit verbreitet in lokaler Umgebung. Also, die Bekanntheit vom System. Und auch, dass es benutzt
wird.
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N: Wichtig. Also eigentlich neutral. Solange man eigene Kanäle hat braucht man kein System.
T: Werbung, welche das System macht und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
N: weniger wichtig
T: Kundenservice für das Restaurant via Telefon oder E-Mail, sowie der ganze Support
N: Das ist sehr sehr sehr wichtig. Vor allem der Support.
T: Die Verlässlichkeit vom System
N: Sehr wichtig
T: Umleitung auf die Restaurantwebseite. Also das es auf der Page einen Link auf Ihre Seite gibt
N: wichtig
N: Wir haben das gekoppelt. Wir zahlen monatlich und pro Reservation, also nicht pro Reservation
sondern pro Reservation und pro Person in der Buchung. Das ist nicht so gut. Bei vier Personen zahlen
wir ganz schön viel für die Buchung. Aber es gibt noch kein Konkurrenzprodukt zu Bookatable auf
dem Mark. Nes gibt noch keine wirkliche Alternative.
T: Dann würden Sie sagen, solange es keine Alternative gibt, ist der Preis oder die Art von der
Gebührenerhebung weniger wichtig für Sie?
N: Ja.
T: Haben Sie noch eigene Kriterien, solche welche wir hier nicht erwähnt haben?
N: Nein. Es gibt keine. Sie haben alles erwähnt.
T: Dann noch die letzte Frage. Haben Sie Schwierigkeiten mit Systemen? Gibt es Vorschläge für
Verbesserungen?
N: Vor kurzem gab es einen Serverabsturz. Dann waren die Reservationen nicht mehr abrufbar. Das
ist dann der Horror. Letztes Jahr ist das einmal passiert. Die haben dann gesagt, dass es nicht möglich
ist die Reservationen zu faxen. Dann gibt es natürlich Fehler. Der Support in Deutschland ist sehr
kooperativ. In der Schweiz nicht so. Bookatable bespricht Updates mit uns und geht wirklich auf uns
als Kunde ein. Bei Bookatable geht alles automatisch. MyTable ist da nicht so gut. Man braucht jedes
Mal einen Code.
C14. Upscale – country one
Name of the restaurant: Restaurant Waldheim
Zug
Name of the expert: Andrea Schriber
Place: Restaurant Waldheim Zug
Interviewer: Tanja Berger
Position of expert: Owner
Date: 26.04.2014
T: Also, Ich fange am besten gerade an. Es sind gar nicht so viele Fragen. Es geht um die Kriterien,
allgemein, wieso ein Restaurant ein Tischreservationssystem aussucht. Im ersten Schritt haben wir
eine Typologie von Restaurants gemacht. Die erste Unterscheidung wird zwischen Stadt und Land
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gemacht. Dann haben wir zwischen moderater Küche und gehobener Küche und informell, schnell
unterschieden. Das entspricht Restaurants welche von Leuten über den Mittag besucht werden. Wir
haben Sie als Land und gehoben eingeordnet. Ist das ok für Sie? Würden Sie sich auch hier einordnen?
A: Ja
T: Gut, das wäre das zur Typologie. Bei der nächsten Fragen geht es darum, wie Sie mit ORS
umgehen. Werden diese automatisch ins System gezogen oder müssen Sie die Reservationen noch
abtippen.
A: Äh….Also, wie meinen Sie das jetzt. Für die einzelnen Plattformen
T: Jo genau
A: Diesen müssen wir eintippen
T: Die nächste Frage haben Sie mir bereits das letzte Mal am Telefon erklärt. Sie haben gesagt, dass
etwa 20* Ihrer Buchungen über ORS kommen. Ist das korrekt?
A: I denke es sind weniger. So etwa 10%.
T: Gibt es da saisonale Unterschiede?
A: Äh, bei den Buchungen?
T: Jo
A : Ja, wir sind ein Sasionrestaurant. Mai bis September sind unsere starken Monate.
T : Jetzt kommen wir zu den Kriterien. Wir haben alle zusammengefasst, welche in der ersten Runde
an Interviews erwähnt wurden. Sie haben ja auch schon mitgemacht. Ich werde Ihnen die Kriterien
vorlesen und wäre froh, wenn Sie mir einfach sagen können ob die jeweiligen Kriterien ganz wichtig
gewesen sind für Sie, sehr wichtig, wichtig, weniger wichtig oder gar nicht wichtig. Wenn etwas sehr
wichtig ist, bitte ich Sie gerade zu sagen wieso. Also als erstes die Anzahl Jahre seitdem das System
auf dem Markt ist.
A: Weniger wichtig
T: Dass es eine unabhängige Plattform ist. Und auch der Werbeeffekt, dass Gäste auf die Plattform
gehen und dann per Zufall auf Ihr Restaurant stossen. .
A: wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit, dass man Informationen hochladen kann. Also auch die individuelle Gestaltung
der Seite.
A: Das ist sehr wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit, dass man die Seite selber anpassen kann. Also, dass man das System nicht
kontaktieren muss.
A: Sehr wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit Panorama Bilder hochzuladen?
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A: Sehr wichtig. –Für ein Restaurant wie das unsrige ist es wichtig Panoramabilder hochladen zu
können. Wir sind Lunchgate beigetreten, als es noch kein Reservationssystem war, sondern nur
Panoramabilder
T: Die Attraktivität der Plattform, dass es keine Werbung gibt und das Design
A: wichtig
T: Vertrauensvoller Anbieter
A: Wichtig
T: Denn die Zusammenabreit mit TripAdvisor, oder Google und Social Media
A: Wichtig
T: Die Integration mit dem Offline System aber auch mit Handys
A: Das Handy ist sicher wichtig. Die Offline Systeme weniger. Wir tippen alles selber ab. Es wäre
schon wichtig, dass alles über ein System läuft.
T: und denn der Bekanntheitsgrad in Europa
A: von der Plattform?
T: Ja
A: Jo, das ist auch wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit, dass Gäste ein Datenprofil anlegen können
A: Weniger wichtig
T: Automatische Bestätigung der Buchungen für die Gäste und für Sie
A: Jo, das ist sicher auch wichtig
T: Und dann die statistische Auswertung der Reservationen
A: Ich würde sagen das ist wichtig. Aber nur wenn man genug Reservationen hat. Meisten hat man
hald nicht genug Reservationen
T: Und die Verbreitung lokal, also der der Bekanntheitsgrad nicht in Europa, aber in der Region?
A: Wichtig
T: Die Verlässlichkeit vom System
A: Wichtig
T: Umleitung auf die Restaurant Web Side. Also, dass es einen Link gibt, der auf Ihre Seite geht.
A: Wichtig
T: Und jetzt kommen noch ein paar Fragen zum Preis. Die Höhe der Anmeldegebühren.
A: Weniger wichtig. Finde ich nicht gut.
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T: Periodische Gebühren.
A: auch nicht gut
T: Gebühren welche pro Reservation erhoben werden?
A: Das ist ok
T: Die Anzahl der Restaurants, welche auf der Platform sind?
A: Ja, wichtig, Es sollte aber übersichtlich sein.
T: Haben Sie noch ein eigenes Kriterium, welches wir noch nicht erwähnt haben?
A: Nein, eigentlich nicht. Es kommt mir gerade nichts in den Sinn.
T: Ähm, jetzt noch zwei abschliessende Fragen. Sie sind bei Lunchgate und Bookatable, korrekt?
A: Ja, und das Hotel bei Booking.com
T: Gut. Als Sie das System ausgewählt haben, haben Sie da die Systeme miteinander verglichen oder
haben Sie einfach eines ausgewählt?
A: Bookatable war als erstes auf dem Mark. Aus diesem Grund haben wir es gewählt. Lunchgate kam
später noch dazu.
T: Und jetzt noch eine abschliessende Fragen. Haben Sie Schwierigkeiten mit
Tischreservationssystemen? Falls ja, haben Sie Verbesserungsvorschläge?
A: Nein, haben wir nicht. Wir sind zufrieden.
T: Ok
A: Also das Einzige das stört, dass Bookatable eine Plattform ist, bei der man, wenn man etwas
eigegeben hat, man sich an die Plattform wenden muss. Wenn man zum Beispiel einen Fehler gemacht
hat und frägt ob sie es ändern. Und dann ist das sehr mühsam. Es geht zum Teil relativ lange bis
jemand antwortet. Es wäre gut, wenn man das selber machen könnte.
T: Ok, gut, das wäre schon die zweite Runde der Interviews
A: Au gibt es noch eines ?
T : Nein, nein, das ist die letze Runde. Möchten Sie, dass wir das Interview mit Ihnen anonymisieren
oder ist es ok wenn wir Sie / oder das Restaurant namentlich erwähnen? Wir können auch einfach
schreiben, ländliches Restaurant mit gehobener Küche.
A: Jo lieber so (anonymisiert!)
T: Ok, gut, das wäre dann alles. Vielen Dank für Ihre Zeit
A: Jo bitte
T: Und I schicke Ihnen dann den Report zur Information
A: Jo
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T: Dann wünsche ich Ihnen noch einen schönen Nachmittag. Bei Fragen können Sie mich immer
gerne kontaktieren.
A: Das werde ich machen
C15. Upscale –country two
Name des Restaurants: country restaurant two
Ort: Staad
Interviewer: Tanja Berger
Datum: 08.05.2014
T: (Schaltet Aufnahmegerät ein). So, jetzt funktioniert es. Es geht maximal 10 Minuten. Am Anfang
haben wir eine Typologie gemacht. Damit wir die Restaurants auch einordnen können. Und Ihr
Restaurant haben wir als ländlich und gehobene Küche eingeordnet. Sind Sie damit einverstanden oder
würden Sie sich anders einordnen?
E: Ja, also wir sind ein Restaurant am See. Wir sind ein Seerestaurant. Gibt es das nicht?
T: Nein, wir haben nur Stadt und Land. J
E: Ja, dann stimmt es
T: Gut. Ok. Und wie handhaben Sie die Online Reservationen? Also, werden die direkt in Ihr System
integriert oder bekommen Sie einen Telefonanruf?
E: Meinen Sie beim das jetzt beim Restaurant oder beim Hotel?
T: Entschuldigen Sie. Es geht um das Restaurant.
E: Also das Restaurant
T: Ja, wirklich nur um die Tischreservationen
E: Also, wir reden über Lunchgate?
T: Ja
E: Lunchgate ist nicht ganz günstig aber es gibt viele Vertriebskanäle, welche damit
zusammenhängen. Auch die Maske zum Schreiben, die ist bereits vorgegeben. Natürlich sind die
Panoramabilder sehr wichtig. Aber es geht hier um den Vertrieb und um das Marketing.
T: Und welcher Anteil der Reservationen, also von den Tischen, werden in etwa online gemacht?
E: Weniger als 1%. Also, es kommt immer darauf an. In diesem Monat hatten wir zum Beispiel 0.0%.
T: Jetzt haben wir einen Kriterienkatalog, welchen wir erarbeitet haben aus früheren Interviews, die
wir gemacht haben. Es geht immer um die Auswahl, also war das Kriterium wichtig, dass Sie
Lunchgate ausgesucht haben. Ich werde die Kriterien einfach vorlesen und dann können Sie mir sagen
ob es am wichtigsten war, sehr wichtig, wichtig, weniger wichtig oder nicht wichtig.
E: Ok, das ist gut.
T: Ok, dann beginne ich. Die Anzahl Jahre seitdem das System auf dem Markt ist. Also der
Bekanntheitsgrad
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E: Das ist schon wichtig, ja
T: Die Unabhängigkeit von der Plattform.
E: Auch wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit Informationen hoch zu laden um eigenes Marketing zu machen
E: Das ist auch wichtig ja
T: Die Möglichkeit, dass man die Seite alleine anpassen kann. Also, dass man nicht dem System
schreiben muss, dass etwas angepasst werden muss.
E: Das ist sehr wichtig
T: Die Panoramabilder, welche man hochladen kann?
E: Dieser Teil ist sehr wichtig, doch ganz wichtig. Gerade bei einem Seehotel. Wir können dann unser
Restaurant inklusive Hotel mit Aussicht zeigen
T: Die Einfachheit der Reservationsprozesse
E: Sehr wichtig
T: Die Attraktivität der Plattform
E. Sehr wichtig wahrscheinlich
T: Ein vertrauensvoller Anbieter
E: Ja, schon wichtig
T: Die Zusammenarbeit mit TripAdvisor und Social Media
E: Das ist sehr wichtig denke ich
T: Die Integration ins Offline System. Also, dass die Buchungen einfach ins System gelesen werden
können
E: nicht wichtig
T: Bekanntheit vom System in Europa
E: Schon wichtig
T: Einfache Handhabung
E: Auch wichtig
T: Die Möglichkeit, dass man Datenprofile der Gäste anlegen kann
E: Das ist auch wichtig
T: Die automatische Bestätigung der Buchung
E: Das ist nicht so wichtig
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T: Statistische Auswertung der Reservationen
E: Nicht so wichtig
T: Verbreitung vom System lokal
E: Sehr wichtig
T: Werbung, die das System macht
E: Wichtig
T: Kundenservice, der das System dem Restaurant anbietet
E: Weniger wichtig
T: Verlässlichkeit vom System
E: Wichtig
T: Umleitung auf die Restaurantwebsite
E: wichtig
T: Jetzt kommen noch ein paar Preisfragen. Es geht vor allem wie die Systeme den Preis erheben.
Preis für die erste Anmeldung
E: Wie meinen Sie das?
T: Hat das die Entscheidung beeinflusst Lunchgate beizutreten?
E: Das finde ich nicht so gut
T: Preis pro Reservation
E: Wir zahlen pro Monat. Das ist ok so.
T: Haben Sie noch weiter Kriterien, welche wir jetzt nicht aufgelistet haben?
E: Die Panoramabilder waren sehr ausschlaggebend.
T: Gut
E: Es ist aber schwierig zu sehen ob sich die Investition auszahlt. Wir zahlen ja pro Monat und es
kommt fast keine Buchung rein. Aber es gibt sicher Leute, die unser Restaurant anschauen. Aber eben,
das kann man nicht messen
T: Ja, der Effekt von Marketing ist schwierig zu messen. Haben Sie noch Punkte, welche Sie
anbringen möchten zur Verbesserung der Systeme?
E: Nein, es ist eigentlich alles ok
T: Ja, dann sind wir schon am Ende von der Befragung. Vielen Dank für Ihre Zeit.
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Declaration of Sole Authorship
We hereby declare that this project has been produced independently and only with the help
of third parties designated by Lucerne School o Business, that all the sources and literature
have been referenced, that the project sponsor’s confidentiality has not been violated, and that
the provisions on copyrights held by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have
been respected.
Signature of the authors:
Anderegg Diego
Berger Tanja:
Malicovscaia Iana:
Zhang Xi:
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