Background
Meraki Greek Bistro, a distinguished restaurant brand with two thriving locations in Downtown Miami and Coconut Grove, takes diners on a journey through the islands of Greece. Specializing in Mediterranean classics, Meraki is known for its homemade gyros, fresh seafood, and moussaka, while also showcasing wines from the region. Bringing it all to life are business partners Alexander Karavias and chef Giannis Kotsos. When their first location in Downtown Miami opened in 2017, they utilized OpenTable as their reservations platform, before switching to Tock in 2021.
Challenge
Karavias was drawn to Tock not only because it aligned with his community-driven values but because the platform offered a restaurant-friendly pricing structure compared to OpenTable. For every guest that booked through OpenTable’s website, app, or affiliate partner, the restaurant platform would charge $1 per booking. And if a guest booked a reservation through the restaurant widget, OpenTable charged the business an additional $0.25. To counter OpenTable’s search ranking optimization, Karavais would continuously optimize his website’s SEO—including recoding his website and researching and implementing keywords—to attract guests who used Google for reservations. His goal was to redirect traffic to his website in order to bypass OpenTable’s cover fee and reclaim his customers.
In addition to the higher cost, OpenTable’s cover fee system lacked the flexibility to account for changes in party size, no-shows, or the presence of children in reservations.
Tock Solution
- Due to Tock’s zero per-cover fees, Meraki was able to save $12,000 a year.
- Reallocated savings to fund incentives for employees and towards social media marketing efforts.
- Tock prioritizes restaurants by optimizing their business pages, including URL structure, title tags, and on-page content, to improve their search engine ranking and ensure that best practices are implemented. Additionally, Tock’s no-cover fee policy means that guests can book reservations through the platform without any charges to the restaurant.
