You'll Soon Be Able To Reserve Tables At Applebee's, Olive Garden, And Other Major Chains Through OpenTable

It's never been especially easy to snag a table during prime time at major chain restaurants like Chili's and the Cheesecake Factory, mainly because they don't take reservations; you put your name in and wait until your table is ready. But that might all be changing soon: Thanks to a just-announced partnership between two massive technology platforms, some of America's largest chain restaurants will soon allow you to reserve your table in advance.

According to Fortune, restaurant booking behemoth OpenTable has announced a partnership with QSRAutomations, which manages seating and orders for nearly 80 percent of America's largest restaurant groups, including Chili's, the Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, Applebee's, California Pizza Kitchen, and Olive Garden. The partnership would allow diners to make reservations at these chains just like they would for any other restaurant on OpenTable's platform.

OpenTable books more than 22 million diners every month, but many of the 42,000 participating restaurants are independent, and skewed toward fine dining. OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles told Fortune that this will help the company break into the casual dining industry, adding: "It's a new and different supply of restaurants for us."

The partnership might also allow customers to add their names to reservation wait lists if no preferred dining times are available.