A farm-to-table restaurant in Portland pays OpenTable $1.25 per seated diner from their platform — that's $2,500/month just in cover fees. Plus a $449/month subscription. Plus they don't own their customer data — OpenTable does. When a loyal customer books through OpenTable, the restaurant can't email them directly about a special tasting menu. OpenTable can market competing restaurants to that same customer. The restaurant is paying to build someone else's customer base.
Restaurant reservation platforms are extractive by design. OpenTable ($39-449/mo + $0.25-1.25 per cover) and Resy ($249-899/mo) charge restaurants for the privilege of converting their own customers into platform users. Restaurants don't own the relationship — the platform does. For a restaurant doing 5,000 covers per month through OpenTable, that's $6,000+ annually in fees that could fund staff raises.
The opportunity is reservation ownership software at $79-149/mo flat (no per-cover fees): restaurant-branded booking on their own website, full customer data ownership, integrated waitlist, SMS confirmations, and basic CRM for regulars. Not trying to be a discovery platform — restaurants acquire customers through Instagram, word of mouth, and food critics. They just need a booking system that doesn't tax every reservation. Target independent restaurants doing 100-500 covers/day who resent OpenTable's model.
📊 Market Evidence
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| OpenTable | $39-449/mo + per-cover fees | Market leader, expensive |
| Resy | $249-899/mo | Premium restaurants, American Express |
| Yelp Reservations | $99-299/mo | Built into Yelp ecosystem |
| Tock | $199-699/mo | Prepaid reservations, fine dining |
| Tablein | €45-160/mo | European, no cover fees |
Market leader, expensive
Premium restaurants, American Express
Built into Yelp ecosystem
Prepaid reservations, fine dining
European, no cover fees
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
🚀 Start Building
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Build a SaaS product called "Restaurant Reservation Ownership". ## Product Overview Booking system that prioritizes guest data control ## Problem Booking system that prioritizes guest data control ## Solution Build Restaurant Reservation Ownership ## Target Audience indie hackers, small businesses, and solopreneurs ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors OpenTable, Resy, Yelp Reservations, Tock, Tablein ## Key Risks to Address Standard market entry risks ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.