Coming together like peanut butter and jelly -- on truffle-spiked brioche with a little foie gras on the side -- OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN ) is partnering with Yelp to expand its online dining reservations platform.
Visitors to the community-reviews-driven Yelp website will have the option of booking a table at the more than 13,000 restaurants on the OpenTable platform through Yelp.com itself.
It's a great match. OpenTable welcomes diner reviews on its namesake site, but will never be the hip and sticky Web 2.0 darling that Yelp has become. On the other hand, Yelp gets to team up with OpenTable instead of taking it on as a rival the way that IAC's (Nasdaq: IACI ) Urbanspoon is trying to do with its RezBook platform.
OpenTable has been rocking since going public at $20 last year. The stock has doubled for its IPO buyers, as the Web-based reservation book provider has blown past Wall Street's expectations in every single quarter in its brief public life. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) even bid $500 million for Yelp. But the match didn't happen.
Its latest quarter was another gem. OpenTable's installed based of eateries has surged 23% over the past year. A 43% spurt in seated diners indicates that participating eateries are milking more and more reservations by installing the related electronic reservation book system. OpenTable has soundly beaten the market since I recommended it to Motley Fool Rule Breakers newsletter subscribers.
Is this the beginning for OpenTable? It would certainly seem to be a perfect fit for Chowhound.com, the foodies forum owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS ) . Martha Stewart Living (NYSE: MSO ) is geared more toward seasoned kitchen masters than those angling for a gourmet meal elsewhere, but even the best cooks deserve a few nights off.
OpenTable needs more Yelp-esque partnerships, even if it means eventually acquiring Chowhound.com, Conde Nast's epicurious, or even IAC's Urbanspoon before it becomes a bigger thorn in its side.
Have you ever used OpenTable for a restaurant reservation? Share your experience in the comments box below.
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