SevenRooms Channel – When restaurants manage reservations across multiple apps, hosts often end up juggling devices at the door. SevenRooms, acquired by DoorDash last year, says its new free tool Channel Connect—launched June 16—automatically syncs reservation data from multiple s
On busy nights, the problem doesn’t start with diners—it starts with the host stand. Joel Montaniel. cofounder and CEO of SevenRooms. describes what he has seen firsthand: restaurants where a single entry desk may need “two or three iPads at the host stand” just to figure out who is coming and whether there’s room for walk-ins.
That kind of setup reflects a bigger industry mismatch. Competing reservation platforms, Montaniel says, typically don’t interoperate. Unlike the airline and hotel industries—where competing online travel agencies connect to central systems that let companies see and manage the same inventory—restaurant reservation providers usually keep their own databases of seatings. The result is operational strain: restaurant staff may have to juggle multiple apps—or even multiple devices—to look up reservations and manage availability.
SevenRooms is trying to reduce that burden with a new tool it launched on June 16. Channel Connect. the company says. is free and automatically syncs reservation data from multiple sources to a restaurant’s preferred platform. Montaniel emphasizes that the destination doesn’t have to be SevenRooms. The software, he says, is also available to restaurateurs that don’t use SevenRooms’ other services.
The company also insists it’s designed around restaurant control. SevenRooms says it doesn’t store data that restaurants haven’t explicitly configured to be transferred into SevenRooms systems. Montaniel argues that even if success makes SevenRooms more visible. the tool isn’t built as a direct marketing funnel for new paid business.
“We decided that it doesn’t matter if you use SevenRooms or not,” Montaniel says. “What matters is that restaurants should get to choose and control which places they want to meet their consumers, and they should get to choose and control which system they want to use.”
Channel Connect depends on features restaurants already rely on—export functionality and existing credentials—because reservation platforms typically don’t offer standardized APIs. Montaniel says the tool uses those export options to pull data that restaurants already use for tasks such as extracting contact information from reservations into marketing databases.
Competitors could, in theory, try to block the software. Montaniel says he’s hopeful they won’t, pointing to the same motive he says has driven restaurants toward simplification: the ability to run fewer systems at the same time.
“We, of course, hope that the other systems out there that the restaurant wants to use will be considerate of the restaurant’s choice,” he says.
The push comes as restaurants lean more heavily on third-party platforms for functions that go far beyond seating. SevenRooms says restaurants increasingly use external technology for reservations, ordering, reviews, credit card processing, and delivery. Those tools can expand options for restaurants—like taking reservations during off hours or offering delivery without hiring their own drivers—but they also add another layer of complexity to an industry known for thin margins and tight time constraints.
Roni Mazumdar. CEO of restaurant group Unapologetic Foods. puts it bluntly: each new technology has added complexity without delivering a single. clear fix. “Each time a new technology has entered. it has added to complexity. but nothing has really taken away or created a solution for us to optimize what that experience is like. ” Mazumdar says.
Still, he also makes the case that using multiple reservation platforms isn’t just chaos—it can be a strategy. Mazumdar says he has seen the reality of spreading demand across apps. and why operators keep doing it even when it strains staff. “I’ve personally seen what it was to run multiple platforms. and hope that five people from here or three people from the other one show up. ” says Mazumdar. who is also a member of the National Restaurant Association’s board of directors.
SevenRooms argues Channel Connect addresses that tension by streamlining reservation management and freeing hosts from switching between devices. allowing them to spend more time on hospitality. The company points to a DoorDash survey saying nearly 83% of restaurant operators believed better-connected systems would boost profitability. It also cites early user results showing a dramatic decline in the time spent managing reservations. along with a similar reduction in overbooking mishaps.
SevenRooms says it continues to communicate with restaurants around the world about their needs, including which reservation platforms they use. Montaniel also expects the tool to evolve as the industry changes, including with the potential growth of AI bookings.
“If we take where the world was five years ago versus where it is now, as one simple example, no one was talking about AI, no one was talking about agents,” Montaniel says.
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