Why You Can't Get a Restaurant Reservation

newyorker.com

12 points·Anon84··5 comments

At a restaurant that the wife and I recently went to, we were greeted with a QR code at the entrance. Scan that, get logged into a website where you grab your spot in line and get given an estimated wait time.

This kind of makes sense! If you live nearby, you can just keep that URL handy and grab your spot in line from your house, and head out when it comes up. This restaurant doesn't even take reservations - it doesn't need to. For brunch, anyway (that's what we were there for).

The only problem is that the wait times are estimated. Given a 45 minute estimate, we went for a walk. We were a kilometer away when suddenly we went from third in line to "you're up" all in the space of a few minutes, I guess because several parties left close together. We had to hustle to get back.

At least this system isn't scalpable. I didn't get around to asking how many minutes you can be late before your turn is lost.

Why is it not scalpable? Like you said, once you know the URL, you can check in from anywhere. Just check in with a bunch of different pieces of information, and then you can let your buyers have the one that’s next up when they get to the restaurant. Unless they match an ID up to the check in, it still seems possible. They restaurant could use one-time codes, but then regulars couldn’t check in on their way.

The estimates are always too high, I think that's exactly the reason - people go on the list but then get tired of waiting and leave. I think they estimate conservatively because people would rather be pleasantly surprised than waiting longer than expected, but I think the estimates could be better.

At one level, I guess there are market efficiencies somewhere but it's depressing that this sub-industry even exists.

https://archive.ph/jvBLJ

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