OpenTable Acquires Sales Analytics Startup Copilot

OpenTable, the company that helps customers reserve tables at restaurants, announced last week the acquisition of Copilot Labs, a startup founded in 2010 that helps restaurants monitor their performance compared to other restaurants in the area. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it was revealed that the team at Copilot will join OpenTable.

Through using point-of-sales data, Copilot helps restaurants compare business relative to their competitors. Moreover, the company can track occupancy, how long it takes each restaurant to get customers out the door and how much guests are spending on average. The service also puts spending in context by showing restaurant owners the cost of an empty seat at a given time.

OpenTable said that Copilot’s technology will help restaurants “build operational excellence and provide amazing hospitality to their guests”.

“The talented Copilot team, who joined the OpenTable family last month, and the restaurant analytics technology they’ve developed will support this effort by helping us deliver actionable intelligence to our restaurant customers in new and exciting ways.

“We’re excited to begin offering this free service to our restaurant customers in other markets in the near future,” Jocelyn Mangan, senior vice president of product management at OpenTable, wrote.

This is OpenTable’s second acquisition this year – in February, the company purchased restaurant recommendation service Ness for $17.2 million. As VentureBeat report, the recent acquisition of Copilot is a sign of OpenTable’s plan to diversify its portfolio, particularly with mobile services. Earlier this year, the company revealed that initiated a pilot programme that allows customers to pay for their meals through its mobile app.