Earlier this week OpenTable announced that they are introducing a tool for restaurants to build free, mobile-friendly sites to help restauranteurs capitalize on the shift to mobile.
Powered by DudaMobile, the service makes it easy to set up a simple mobile website based on the restaurant’s desktop branding.
“More than ever diners are seeking information about restaurants and booking reservations on the go, yet the vast majority of restaurant websites are not designed for mobile use,” said Matt Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of OpenTable. “Our goal is to make it easier for restaurants to reap the benefits from the shift toward mobile by removing the friction associated with creating and hosting mobile-friendly sites.”
While 100 million people in the U.S. own smartphones, Open Table estimates that only about 10% of reservation-taking restaurants have mobile-optimized sites. That’s bad news, considering that over half of mobile users say that a bad mobile experience makes them less likely to engage with a company.
Current OpenTable customers can claim their mobile site through the OpenTable Restaurant Center before February 1, 2013.
