Chop Steakhouse & Bar, known for serving sustainably sourced Canadian beef at its contemporary steakhouses, needed to grow its guest count and reestablish guest confidence in dining out. During the pandemic, they not only went above and beyond implementing and communicating their safety protocols, but also leveraged OpenTable boost campaigns. Using Promoted Results, they drove incremental dine-in sales and reached over 80% first-time guests.

Communicating their commitment to health and safety

While rapidly adapting to the ebbs and flows of the pandemic, Chop leveraged email, social media, video, and their website to communicate their commitment to protect guests with their PureClean initiative.

They also leaned into OpenTable tools. “One of the cool things about OpenTable is all the pathways we can communicate with guests to reinforce our protocols and let them know what’s expected,” says Marcel Blais, President, Chop Steakhouse & Bar. They communicated their safety precautions and booking policies, sent SMS booking confirmations, and offered an online waitlist.

Driving up guest count with Promoted Results

While benefiting from OpenTable’s Open Door pricing relief program, Chop also invested some of their savings in OpenTable digital marketing. “During COVID, OpenTable really stepped up to help restaurateurs. By receiving a temporary reduction in fees, we had the opportunity to try OpenTable boost campaigns, which we were always interested in,” says Blais. They offset the reduction in their business traveler segment and reached a new customer base using Promoted Results, which boosts restaurants to premium placements in OpenTable search results.

“Promoted Results gave us so many new guests and incremental sales that we wouldn’t have otherwise had,” says Blais. “It was worth the acquisition cost. We couldn’t believe the positive results. It’s been the single most successful campaign at getting our seats filled.”

The incremental guests from the campaigns accounted for over 10% of their total sales. Additionally, 80% of these guests were first-time diners who booked through OpenTable. “This was huge for us,” says Blais. “With Promoted Results, we were able to build new guest count by tapping into a whole new segment we would not have otherwise reached,” Blais says.

Moreover, the results are black and white. “OpenTable is among the most effective digital marketing options we use. It’s one of the easiest to digest as a restaurateur.” Each week, Chop immediately saw the number of people who converted and the acquisition cost, while only paying for those who dine-in, making it easy to quantify ROI.

Customizing for their national strategy

Seeing the campaigns’ success made them realize they had a shot at recovery even through the toughest days. Chop now customizes Promoted Results campaigns for every location as part of their national strategy. They also continue to fully utilize OpenTable tools to listen to their guests, earn their trust, and deliver on their promise.