◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek May 4, 202018
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARLOS CHAVARRIA FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK. *SEASONALLY ADJUSTED. DATA: U.S. CENSUS BUREAUWhen social distancing orders shuttered
restaurants around the world, the industry
banded together to survive what it hoped would
be a temporary crisis. A newly formed Independent
Restaurant Coalition lobbied the government for
bailout funds; restaurant workers suggested on
social media that people buy gift certificates to local
eateries; and 20 of New York City’s top restaurants
asked officials to ban takeout orders to protect their
employees’ health.
Nick Kokonas didn’t play along. The co-owner
of the Alinea Group, five high-end restaurants in
Chicago, took to Twitter to warn that gift certificates
were akin to taking on debt without a revenue plan.
He was bracing for a long shutdown, followed by an
even longer period when restaurants would be filled
to only half capacity. To survive, Kokonas advocated
takeout. “Why not try this?” he says he thought.
“The restaurant is sitting there. You have a bunch
of people who are eager to work.” He persuaded
Alinea’s chef and co-owner, Grant Achatz, to switch
from offering a $250 prix fixe meal for 125 people a
night to a $35 dinner to go. On most weekend eve-
nings, Alinea now sells 1,250 dinners consisting of
set items such as duck cassoulet, osso bucco, and
braised short-rib Wellington, plus add-ons like wine
and cookbooks, lifting the group’s flagship restau-
rant to about 75% of its previous revenue.
Kokonas, 52, who made his first fortune as a
derivatives trader, founded the online reservation
app Tock in 2015. A smaller competitor to reserva-
tion systems such as OpenTable, Yelp, and Resy,
Tock did things a little differently. It sold prepaid
tickets for seating at exclusive restaurants, with
dynamic pricing depending on the reservation
time, to eliminate cancellations. And it serviced
restaurants, managing their reservations and pro-
viding details about customers they could use to
target advertising on Instagram or Google. In early
March, looking at the bookings from Tock’s 3,
clients in 28 countries, Kokonas says he feared
many would soon close their doors: “I watched
clients in Hong Kong go from busy to zero.” That’s
when he got the idea for Tock to Go.● Helping restaurants pivot from linen to paper napkins, the app may keep kitchens openTock to Go Brings Fine Dining
To the Socially Distant
In six days, Tock’s engineers reinvented the app—
instead of taking reservations for tables, it would
schedule takeout orders. OpenTable and Tock’s
other competitors had lost all their revenue and
resorted to linking clients to delivery services such
as GrubHub and Uber Eats. But Tock to Go was
able to offer its restaurants a solution. Sticking to
its roots in reservations, the app helps restaurants
schedule pickup and delivery times to avoid a rush▼ The Harbor House’s
lasagna; employees
bag Tock to Go orders