Food Network Launching OpenTable Rival
As if the Food Network isn't big enough already, parent company Scripps Network has launched a reservation web site to rival OpenTable, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The new site, called CityEats, is already up and running in Washington and Philadelphia, with about 130 restaurants so far. Scripps plans to launch the site in New York and San Francisco by the end of the year.
Their marketing strategy, other than branding everything with the Food Network logo, involves lower prices for restaurants, charging the restaurants $0.75 per reservation, and $175 to $200 a month for its table management feature, which lets restaurants see what tables are available and when.
This is in contrast to OpenTable's $200 to $700 enrollment fee, $1 per reservation fee, and a monthly $199. Pretty steep.
And of course, any Food Network site wouldn't be complete without videos, so Scripps is planning on offering video and photography profiles of restaurants wiling to part with a little more dough.