While some college students work in the campus canteen or at the neighborhood coffee shop, Rhode Island native Alex Eisler, a sophomore at Brown University, books dinner reservations at some of the trendiest restaurants in New York City.
He accomplishes this by means of an app called Appointment Trader, which allows users to pay for a table at some of the trendiest restaurants in the city, such as 4 Charles, Don Angie, or Carbone. Over the course of the last 19 months, this practice has earned Eisler $100,000 and angered some of the top eateries.
Getting such highly sought-after seats is practically impossible for regular New Yorkers and tourists, which makes popular and free websites like Resy a major hub for booking reservations. Although it is compatible with over 16,000 restaurants worldwide, reservations for the trendiest restaurants in New York vanish moments after they are made.
Then there are websites such as Appointment Trader, where users can pay extra to secure a seat in addition to their food and beverages, which at New York prices can easily run into hundreds of dollars.
The platform operates as follows: The best reservations are selected by its 15,000 sellers and posted on Appointment Trader, where users can bid on them. The ultimate price tag increases with increased demand.
“If you make things accessible, people will pay money for them,” stated Jonas Frey, the man behind Appointment Trader, who traced the concept back to a tense day spent at the DMV.
“I was wondering how it’s possible that I can’t pay to get an appointment because there was a long line,” he said. “This needs to be in demand.”
In 2021, following several months of coding, Frey introduced Appointment Trader. Demand surged rapidly, but not for DMV appointments, as he observed. for bookings at restaurants.
According to Frey, it turns out that a lot of people are willing to pay to gain access to a fine dining experience. According to him, Appointment Trader sold $5.7 million worth of reservations in the previous year, with clients purchasing $20,000 worth of reservations every day on average in the previous few weeks.
According to Frey, the website keeps between 20% and 30% of the sales, with the majority going to the sellers like Eisler.
Top platform seller Eisler learned about Appointment Trader a few years ago while searching for a reservation on a trip to New York.
I came to the realization, ‘Why can’t I sell it if someone else can? He remarked, “I have nothing to lose. When I finally got started, I would simply get up at nine or ten in the morning, check Resy on my phone, and make the reservations as soon as they become available.
“And from there, it just kind of spiraled out of control.”
To keep his business afloat, he said he attempts to strike a balance between his class schedule and his work.
“I personally have Tuesdays off this semester—no classes,” he remarked. “It seems like Tuesdays are my reservation day.”
He claimed that when he makes phone calls to restaurants, he switches between dozens of Resy accounts, emails, automated bots, and even voices.
He claimed, “I use my phone’s alarms to remind me to take Resy.” Additionally, I receive a notification that a reservation has been canceled and becomes available. I can then choose to do it myself or use a bot to get it for me automatically.
However, he needs to be vigilant in the event that a reservation is canceled or if Resy or a restaurant objects to the resale of their reservations.
He remarked, “I’ve had a lot of accounts closed.”
The terms and conditions of Resy state that “You shall not resell or give away, or attempt to sell or distribute, any Reservations.” However, Resy representatives did not reply to requests for comment.
When Frey initially launched Appointment Trader, “we got a bunch of cease-and-desist letters,” he said.
He remarked, “There weren’t as many arms wide open.” “They were more agitated.”
However, as the website gained popularity, a few eateries collaborated with it, consenting to complete bids on Appointment Trader in exchange for a profit share.
However, according to Siria Alvarez, restaurant manager of Tatiana, which The New York Times ranked as the best place to eat in New York City for two years running, the practice makes previously exclusive options even more out of reach.
According to Alvarez, “It’s very upsetting for guests who try to get a reservation on the fairway.” “What matters most in the buying and selling of reservations is what you have, not who you know.”
According to Frey, charging for reservations lets more people experience the world of upscale dining.
“There are some restaurants in the world, which are really exclusive to the elite; they are incredibly oversold,” he stated.
Alvarez stated that she doesn’t find it shocking that patrons are resorting to purchasing reservations at establishments such as Tatiana, where chef Kwame Onwuachi, a former member of “Top Chef” and winner of the James Beard “Rising Star” award, blends his Afro-Caribbean roots with his upbringing in New York City on the menu.
“I can understand why it would be that rate, having a waitlist of more than 1,200 people every day,” she remarked.
Reservations, which go up on Resy 20 days in advance at 12 p.m. ET and are gone in less than 30 seconds, are not sold by Tatiana, according to Alvarez.
“Those who have endured lengthy waits—months, years, hours spent waiting in line outside—always express that the wait was worthwhile,” the speaker stated.
In response, Frey said, “Waiting is a terrible thing in general.” If there were only a cost involved rather than wait times, that would be the perfect situation, in my opinion.