◼ TECHNOLOGY
19THEBOTTOMLINE Restaurantsbatteredbythepandemicareable
tokeepstaffemployedusingTocktoGo.Thetakeout-deliveryapp
doesn’tdeliver—therestaurants’idledworkersdo.ofordersat6:30p.m.,a commonproblemwith
deliveryappsthatoftenoverwhelmsthekitchen.
Plus,TocktoGotracksinventory,automatically
pulling items off the menu when a restaurant runs
out of, say, banana cream tarts. And the app sorts
local restaurants, making them easy to find. Perhaps
most important is what Tock to Go doesn’t offer: the
actual delivery. That allows it to cap fees to restau-
rants at 3%, significantly lower than the 30% some
delivery services charge. Kokonas says he hoped
people would be willing to come for pickup. And for
those who weren’t, he figured restaurants could dis-
patch their otherwise out-of-work waitstaff to drive
around delivering orders.
The Harbor House Inn, in the northernmost
corner of California wine country, with sweeping
views of the Pacific, used to serve $180 dinners to
20 guests, most of whom were staying at the hotel.
The Inn had already switched from Resy to Tock
in December, so it jumped on Tock to Go, which
helped it build webpage options for add-ons such
as sourdough bread loaves. Now Harbor House is
selling $20 meals of lasagna or Vietnamese noodles
to about 40 locals a night. “We have regulars,” says
Amanda Nemec, the general manager and part-
ner of Matthew Kammerer, the chef. “Who would
have thought this would be happening here?” It’s
enough business to keep their staff employed.
Steve Hafner, CEO of OpenTable and Kayak,
is impressed. “Nick is pivoting, and we applaud
hiseffort,”hesays.OpenTablehas“throwninthe
towelon2020”asit focusesonconvincinggov-
ernmentstoallowrestaurantstoreopen.“I’m
downhereinMiamiBeach,andwe’reready,”
Hafnersays.
TocktoGowaiveditsfeesinApril,andKokonas
wentona flurryofvirtualsalescalls,addingmore
than 800 clientsandhiringanaccountmanager.
It’salsobranchingoutbeyondrestaurantstoplaces
thatsuddenlyhavelinesforming,wherepeople
wanttomakesuretheygetanitembeforeit’sout
ofstock.Kokonashasbeentalkingtogrocerystore
chains.“Someonechecksyouin,likea grocery
storemaîtred’,”hesays.Othernewclientsinclude
a fishmonger,a distillery,andtheNiseiLounge,a
divebarnexttoWrigleyField.AttheendofApril
headdedTockPastureandProduce,whichhelps
farmsandranchesthatselltorestaurantsdeliver
tohomes.Kokonasthinksthatnewbusinesswill
thriveafterthepandemic.“Farmerswillsay,‘Oh,
I candodigitalsalesatretailprices?’” he says.
Likewise, he plans on continuing Alinea’s takeout
options even after the restaurant fully reopens.
So does Seven Reasons, a highly rated Latin
restaurant that seats 90 people a mile-and-a-half
from theWhite House. Afew daysafter the
restaurant broke its sales record, on March 10, it
was ordered to close. It reopened for takeout and
sold 900 dinners in 15 minutes, causing its system
to crash. When co-owner Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger got
a sales call from Tock a week later, he signed up.
Then he informed the restaurant’s handyman that
he’d now be making deliveries.
The restaurant is doing twice as many covers as
it did before the pandemic, Vázquez-Ger says, tak-
ing in $50,000 to $60,000 a week, compared with
nearly $80,000 before. He’s going to keep the new
At Home by Seven Reasons brand around perma-
nently, selling cook-at-home kits. Two of the line
cooks and the pastry chef have created takeout
pop-up restaurants from the kitchen, under his
umbrella. “If there was an award to that person
or company that did the most to help restaurants
during the crisis ... It would be for Tock,” he says.
�Joel Stein▲ A Harbor House order
ready to be picked up▼EstimatedU.S.
monthlysales*
Restaurantsand bars
Grocery$70b60 b50 b40 b
3/2018 3/2020