You know that scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — the three of them in a Mexican standoff at the cemetery, guns drawn, waiting to see who pulls the trigger first?
Yeah. That's exactly what's happening in the restaurant reservation market in the United States right now. And the guns are worth billions.
The battlefield
On one side, Resy, bankrolled by American Express — credit card of the foodie elite. On the other, OpenTable, a war veteran since 1998, now supercharged by Visa and Chase. And kicking in the back door with a $1.2 billion flamethrower, DoorDash, which bought the SevenRooms platform to turn its delivery app into a full-blown dining experience hub.
Three giant companies. Very well funded. All wanting the same thing: to control the moment you decide where to eat.
Ben Leventhal, founder of Resy and Eater, put it bluntly: "These are three massive, ambitious, well-resourced companies fighting over the same piece of turf — high-demand restaurants."
Translation from corporate-speak: this fight isn't over the pizza joint around the corner. It's over the Michelin-starred restaurant where you wait three months for a table.
The story nobody's telling you
This war didn't just start. For over a decade, OpenTable has dominated the game with roughly 60,000 restaurants on its platform. The original model was simple and ruthless: charge restaurants a monthly fee AND a per-cover fee for every customer seated. Double extortion, Taleb would say.
Resy came in back in 2014 and did what every smart disruptor does: charged a flat monthly fee only. Cheaper, simpler, more attractive. It won over the hip restaurants in New York and earned what the market calls the "cool factor."
But cool doesn't pay the bills by itself.
Today Resy has around 25,000 restaurants (counting the 5,000 that will migrate from Tock, bought by AmEx for $400 million in 2024). Less than half of OpenTable.
And here's where the real trick comes in — or rather, the credit card trick.
Skin in the game with a Platinum card
American Express turned Resy into an extension of its Platinum card: exclusive access to VIP tables and a $400-per-year dining credit at partner restaurants. Resy's CEO, Pablo Rivero, dropped a stat that would make any shareholder drool: "People who use the Resy credit on their AmEx card spend 25% more on restaurant transactions."
Damn. 25% more. That's pure gold for any credit card company.
On the other side, Visa and Chase did the same thing with OpenTable. Exclusive reservations for premium cardholders.
The reservation war turned into a credit card war. The restaurant isn't just a restaurant anymore. It's a perk — a sweetener — to justify that annual card fee that stings your wallet.
And DoorDash? That's the wild card
DoorDash dropped $1.2 billion buying SevenRooms, a platform focused on direct reservations through the restaurant's own website. The play is genius in theory: you already order food through the app, now you'll book a table through the same app.
It's the "super-app" model China has been using for years with WeChat. One platform for everything.
UberEats didn't sit around either — it partnered with OpenTable to integrate reservations directly into the Uber app. Because, of course, if you already called the car, why not book the table on the way?
What this means for investors
Pay attention to the tickers: DASH, UBER, BKNG (Booking Holdings, which owns OpenTable), AXP (American Express).
When three giants throw billions into the same arena, two things happen: margins get squeezed and whoever doesn't have the cash dies. Classic commoditization.
The question you should be asking isn't "who's going to win the reservation war."
The right question is: who's going to bleed the most before the market consolidates? And more importantly — which of these companies has the stomach (and the balance sheet) to survive the bleeding?
Because at this table, my friend, not everyone's going to get a seat.
