Louisville Originals and OpenTable.com

[Robin Garr]

I agree with the "It makes a statement" portion of your comment. Just so I understand, are you both saying that you are willing to come to Oldham County or for that matter go to say...Bullit County to try a Louisville Original restaurant? That an owner shows that commitment warrents your going to them.

Neal, to be honest, I think of Oldham - particularly the Prospect, Crestwood, Pewee Valley and Buckner area - as being an extension of eastern Louisville. I'm less likely to go to Bullitt County because of what I perceive as demographic differences, but if I heard about a really good taqueria there, say, I wouldn't be concerned about distance. I go to Southern Indiana to dine frequently. I go to Westport General Store now and then ... I'm overdo to go sample the wares of Will's new chef.

Question: Will Louisville Originals accept a Crestwood eatery? I don't know if that's a deal-breaker or not.

I agree with the "It makes a statement" portion of your comment. Just so I understand, are you both saying that you are willing to come to Oldham County or for that matter go to say...Bullit County to try a Louisville Original restaurant? That an owner shows that commitment warrents your going to them.

Neal, to be honest, I think of Oldham - particularly the Prospect, Crestwood, Pewee Valley and Buckner area - as being an extension of eastern Louisville. I'm less likely to go to Bullitt County because of what I perceive as demographic differences, but if I heard about a really good taqueria there, say, I wouldn't be concerned about distance. I go to Southern Indiana to dine frequently. I go to Westport General Store now and then ... I'm overdo to go sample the wares of Will's new chef.

Question: Will Louisville Originals accept a Crestwood eatery? I don't know if that's a deal-breaker or not.

LO's site says within 15 miles of downtown.

Question: Will Louisville Originals accept a Crestwood eatery? I don't know if that's a deal-breaker or not.

Robin -

Presuming you are talking about location, I have spoken with Andrew Hutto in the past and he indcated that Louisville Originals would allow my Crestwood restaurant, just 14 miles from the center of Louisville. After all, Irish Rover 2 in LaGrange is a member and they are 22 miles from the center of Louisville.

I actually see the 2 as complimentary products. LO is obviously a marketing tool that identifies you as being a local independent restaurant. OT on the other hand is a tool to book customers into your restaurant. While we almost exclusively dine at independent restaurants (many of them LO members) we definitely prefer to make reservations using OT because it shows us what restaurants have seating available when we're planning on eating. If I was to encourage a restaurant to join one or the other I think joining OT first would be the better move. Another advantage is people from outside of the area may know about and use OT but they wouldn't know about LO.

Louisville Originals - yes
Open Table - would not sway me one way or the other

I actually see the 2 as complimentary products. LO is obviously a marketing tool that identifies you as being a local independent restaurant. OT on the other hand is a tool to book customers into your restaurant. While we almost exclusively dine at independent restaurants (many of them LO members) we definitely prefer to make reservations using OT because it shows us what restaurants have seating available when we're planning on eating. If I was to encourage a restaurant to join one or the other I think joining OT first would be the better move. Another advantage is people from outside of the area may know about and use OT but they wouldn't know about LO.

Mark -

I agree that they are complimentary in nature. We feel that OT users are primarily in Jefferson County and most likely hold a LO rewards card now or will in the future. We would be the first OT location beyond Jefferson County and quite frankly question whether OT users will travel beyond Jefferson County.

I agree that they are complimentary in nature. We feel that OT users are primarily in Jefferson County and most likely hold a LO rewards card now or will in the future. We would be the first OT location beyond Jefferson County and quite frankly question whether OT users will travel beyond Jefferson County.

OT is a Nationwide reservation system, not just Louisville/Jefferson county. They have restaurants in almost every major American City. We've used it quite often when visiting another city to look at the selection of restaurants. Many people who travel regularly also use it where as LO is just a local thing and people traveling to Louisville won't know about it. Ever be interesting to see if each one would provide you with the number of members (users) in the Louisville area.

Neither sway me. Discussion here on this forum will however.

I use OpenTable for reservations when we travel and I've run into a couple of places that no longer accept the LO card. I forget to use it...and so forth.

hey all.
just wanted to provide a few numbers in regard to the louisville originals rewards program. most of us mail in our registration cards, so there are some unregistered people in transit, but the other numbers are current through yesterday. the program started "softly" on march 1st.
l.o rewards card sign-ups 9434
cardholder visits to l.o.s 46241
$$$ spent by reward card holders $1,896,493.00

at baxter station, we have signed up 1250 rewards card holders
rewards card holders have visited us 4850 times
rewards card holders have spent $149,434.00 at my restaurant
i have redeemed $2,433.62 worth of points or 1.6% of my rewards card sales

at a 40% cost of goods, it cost me roughly $973.00 to bring in $150,000.00 in business.

i see the value in the card and really push it. to me, it's a no-brainer. my cost is in honoring the redemption. the louisville originals organization pays the monthly maintenance fee for all of our members. that fee is $100.00 a month, for each l.o. member.

you can also get points added to your card when you visit originals restaurants in st. louis, kansas city, the twin cities, etc.

just wanted to provide some numbers for you guys.
andrew

at a 40% cost of goods, it cost me roughly $973.00 to bring in $150,000.00 in business.

But how much of that $150,000 ($90,000 after food cost) would have been there without the rewards card? I have a rewards card and it doesn't really sway my decision on where to dine. I would much rather try a new restaurant, original or not, than go to the same places over and over. There are only 35 "originals" and it doesn't take long to eat your way through 35 places.

I'm just suprised the rewards card is doing so well in "bringing in business".

Neither sway me. Discussion here on this forum will however.

I use OpenTable for reservations when we travel and I've run into a couple of places that no longer accept the LO card. I forget to use it...and so forth.

Agreed. I don't use either program - although I have been gifted LO giftcards in the past - but would be very interested in an establishment reviewed favorably by a forum participant. I rarely, if ever, make reservations (too much planning in advance!), so OT does nothing for me. In regards to LO, I've just never looked into it.

Here at Lilly's we are very proud to be part of the Louisville Originals program.

As for Open Table, we have recently changed to a new online reservation system. Economically speaking, Open Table just wasn't worth the money. After reviewing the number of online reservations through OT, we found that we were receiving more traffic through our website. We now use the Blue Skies Online Reservation system (through Sante magazine) for HALF the cost of OT. Blue Skies actually has more to offer, in our opinion, and can be utilized to make reservations on social networking sites (Face Book, etc.) without being redirected to another website.

Brad

ANDREW HUTTO----I love the break down, you went to alot of trouble for this forum.
I for one will be looking into LO. We (Home Run Burgers) are a fast casual restaurant, I hope it will work as well for us.

We now use the Blue Skies Online Reservation system (through Sante magazine) for HALF the cost of OT. Blue Skies actually has more to offer, in our opinion, and can be utilized to make reservations on social networking sites (Face Book, etc.) without being redirected to another website.

Brad,
Do you have a link to the customer signed of the Blue Skies reservation system? It sounds interesting and I'd like to look at it.

http://www.blueskieshms.com

I've worked with Adam (one of the creators) at Blue Skies. He has been extraordinarily helpful.