Darren72 wrote:The website says

Welcome to the Next ticket center beta.
Only users who previously registered to be notified and have received an email from us may log in at this time.
Our full site will launch to the public by May 1, 2011.

Perhaps it is too much to ask for people to wait until May 1, 2015 --- I mean 2011, two weeks from now --- for their site to launch and for questions to be answered. Why are we entitled to information sooner than that?

?

All that message means is that after May 1, people that did not register for an opportunity to register for the opportunity to get a table will be allowed to register for the opportunity to get a table.

Darren72 wrote:The website says

Welcome to the Next ticket center beta.
Only users who previously registered to be notified and have received an email from us may log in at this time.
Our full site will launch to the public by May 1, 2011.

Perhaps it is too much to ask for people to wait until May 1, 2015 --- I mean 2011, two weeks from now --- for their site to launch and for questions to be answered. Why are we entitled to information sooner than that?

Because we received an e-mail stating that we could buy tickets if only we gave them our credit card information. Typically, when I give somebody my credit card info for their file, I would like a product or service in return.

ews wrote:All that message means is that after May 1, people that did not register for an opportunity to register for the opportunity to get a table will be allowed to register for the opportunity to get a table.

It means that a larger website will be up on May 1. But the point I was trying to make is that a lot of people seem to be in a fit because the website doesn't answer all of their questions. This seems a tad irrational to expect from a website that clearly says it is a beta version and that a full website is coming in a couple of weeks.

Darren72 wrote:

ews wrote:All that message means is that after May 1, people that did not register for an opportunity to register for the opportunity to get a table will be allowed to register for the opportunity to get a table.

It means that a larger website will be up on May 1. But the point I was trying to make is that a lot of people seem to be in a fit because the website doesn't answer all of their questions. This seems a tad irrational to expect from a website that clearly says it is a beta version and that a full website is coming in a couple of weeks.

Maybe they can have a FAQ that begins: "So why have you decided to treat potential customers like collies? Hit the refresh button to see if tables are available, Lassie! Good girl, Lassie, good girl! Now you get a delicious treat!"

DML wrote:

Darren72 wrote:

ews wrote:All that message means is that after May 1, people that did not register for an opportunity to register for the opportunity to get a table will be allowed to register for the opportunity to get a table.

It means that a larger website will be up on May 1. But the point I was trying to make is that a lot of people seem to be in a fit because the website doesn't answer all of their questions. This seems a tad irrational to expect from a website that clearly says it is a beta version and that a full website is coming in a couple of weeks.

Maybe they can have a FAQ that begins: "So why have you decided to treat potential customers like collies? Hit the refresh button to see if tables are available, Lassie! Good girl, Lassie, good girl! Now you get a delicious treat!"

I still don't see how it's any different then calling places like The French Laundry or Minibar on a designated day/time and sitting their hitting redial each time you get a busy signal. Or, how about sending an email to el bulli six months before the season even starts, with your reservation basically dependent on random chance. Tables are scarce, demand is high, it's just a different way to manage the process.

Josh, I've never had that experience with a Chicago (or Paris) restaurant.
Call (or e-mail) and get a table.
Often not the date of my choosing, but one call and a set date.
Others may have had different experiences.

I'd love to try the Paris 1906 menu at Next, but I'm resigned to the overwhelming likelihood that I will not get a Wonka-like Golden Ticket.

IMHO, the system is fundamentally flawed. No one knows when the tables will be released during the day and while this part of the allocation process is fair, many people don't have the luxury of sitting in front of a browser and hitting refresh 7,000 times a day, hoping to get lucky - or hoping to score some money through the secondary market that has inevitably popped up. I wonder when Stubhub will begin reselling Next tickets...

Those that can sit and hit refresh those thousands of times per day have a distinct advantage over those that log in during down time at work or at home. It's the law of large numbers. The people dining at Next right now are either incredibly lucky or resemble the mouse repeatedly pressing the food lever in the experiment detailed in PSYC 110a, aka intermittent reinforcement?

If I call a popular restaurant and get a busy signal at least I know that there's someone there taking reservations, albeit not mine. With the reservation system at least I've made contact and received a bit of information. I've also made reservations at many restaurants and haven't got the date/time I'd wanted - I've even changed my travel plans so I could eat at a few places - but I was eventually able to make contact and make or change plans.

After trying to get tickets and failing, looking at the Next website's message that: "We are currently sold out. Please check back as we will soon be releasing more tables." tells me nothing. The tables might be released in 10 seconds, 10 minutes, 10 hours or they're completely sold out for the Paris 1906 run.

It is utterly frustrating to have zero feedback and no information.

The (good or otherwise) news is that they stated on the facebook page that tickets for the July-September menu will be released all at once sometime in June. So you'll either get it or you won't, the incessant refreshing will end, and we'll have something different to bitch about.

Like I said, I'm resigned to the fact that I'll never experience the Paris 1906 menu. Releasing the tickets en masse won't solve the problem, it will simply create a larger secondary market for the tickets, imho. Think about popular sporting events or concerts - ticket brokers employ large numbers of people who pre-register and bid for tickets on line or in person and then resell them at multiples of face value. Would you care for 2 courtside tickets for the NBA Final Game 1 at the United Center? That'll be $26,180 thanks very much... How much will the kitchen table for six on any given Saturday in July/Aug/Sep at Next go for? There's no guarantee that the Bulls will make it to the finals (heaven forbid!), but the kitchen table [or, apparently any table at present] is a dead solid arbitrage profit...if you can get the tickets. And the scalpers will get the tickets.

I have a friend who lives in the neighborhood and has "camped out" in front of Next waiting for the "open table" since the day the restaurant opened. He's yet to be seated...

When the potential to game the system is profitable, people will game the system. They'll hire people to bid and buy and then pay them a healthy premium for their effort. The extraordinarily lucky will score tickets on a less than random basis, Next will lose out in revenue, and those of us who would honestly love to experience the menu will be left out...

Next will not lose out in revenue, as long as the tickets are paid for at their asking price (which i presume are priced so they make their desired profit) and are a sellout, they don't have to care about how much it goes for on the secondary market.

it would be nice if they had another, foolproof way but I don't think one exists aside from checking IDs at the door.

I think we should withhold all judgements on the ticket policy until sr1329 weighs in.

pizano345 wrote:I think we should withhold all judgements on the ticket policy until sr1329 weighs in.

I didn't get this but now I do and I laughed really hard.

Ok folks, let's please keep the discussion focused on Next and keep the personal stuff out of it.

Thanks,

=R=
for the moderators

Has the restaurant revealed or even hinted how they're going to transition to its next menu? Will there be a period where they freeze table sales and then announce a ticket date for the next period? How much of a warning will there be? Will it be a similar email system? Will those who registered already just be able to buy tickets immediately? That three month span will go by pretty quickly, and obviously tickets for the next Next menu will have to go on sale some time before the three months is up, right?

Here's my plan. Every three months Grant and Nick should open a new restaurant. In five years we will have Next 1-20, and we will still be fighting for reservations.

GAF wrote:Here's my plan. Every three months Grant and Nick should open a new restaurant. In five years we will have Next 1-20, and we will still be fighting for reservations.

Will there be a food truck?

Independent George wrote:

GAF wrote:Here's my plan. Every three months Grant and Nick should open a new restaurant. In five years we will have Next 1-20, and we will still be fighting for reservations.

Will there be a food truck?

Yes, but only 17 people a day can find its location.

Vitesse98 wrote:Has the restaurant revealed or even hinted how they're going to transition to its next menu? Will there be a period where they freeze table sales and then announce a ticket date for the next period? How much of a warning will there be? Will it be a similar email system? Will those who registered already just be able to buy tickets immediately? That three month span will go by pretty quickly, and obviously tickets for the next Next menu will have to go on sale some time before the three months is up, right?

They said on the Facebook page that sometime in June they will be releasing all the tickets for the July-September menu at once.

They have not said when they will stop selling tables for the Paris menu. I don't think if they have revealed what percentage of Paris tables have even been sold so far.

I don't have much to add to the various thoughtful write ups above, but I'll chime in with my impressions now that I've eaten at Next.

The eggs Benedictine and pork rillettes hors d'oeuvre, the stuffed mushroom on the fish course and everything about the duck were stellar. The turtle soup and the beet pâtes de fruits are my unsung heros for astonishing accomplishments in subtlety.

The only thing that came close to a disappointment was the chicken/cucumber plate. I certainly appreciated what they were trying to do with it, and the wine pairing was a bold choice delicious in its own right, but there's a pretty paltry amount of chicken on the plate, and the cucumber and salt pork dominate it. Perhaps I'm just perturbed that this was the best white meat chicken I've had that wasn't cooked in a pig's bladder at Paul Bocuse and it wasn't even center stage in its own dish.

My wife found the dessert bland. I was of the opinion that letting it warm on your tongue really opened up the flavor, and that the port was an exceptional match. She couldn't get past how cold it was served.

Wine pairings were exceptional across the board, but the wine from the Jura that's paired with the turtle soup (Montbourgeau l'Etoile, non-fortified, but somewhat sherry-like), I really want to mix in cocktails...amongst other things, I think it would make an absolutely amazing Brooklyn.

Service was more than adequate, not up to Alinea standards on the nuts and bolts, but superbly accommodating and friendly.

Nick justed posted a Q&A about ticket's on Next's Facebook page. Regarding how many seats have been sold:

At this point we are roundly 75% sold for the Paris 1906 menu. We will continue to release tables until we have none left.

I was surprised and very pleased to receive this email from Next this morning. Note that every possible issue raised in this thread seems to be specifically addressed, including the IE compatibility issue:



Next Restaurant Tickets
Thank you for signing up to be notified when tickets for Next go on sale, and thank you for your patience.

We are pleased to let you know that you may now purchase tickets to our inaugural menu, Paris 1906 -- Escoffier at the Ritz. Please be aware, however, that we have been experience very heavy traffic loads. Every day we release another 20 tables for May through June, but they have been getting purchased incredibly quickly. We believe that this will settle down over time.

Please navigate to: http://www.nextrestaurant.com, type in your email address, and click "Generate Password". Once you receive your unique password by email, you may then log in to our site and purchase tickets. Please note that a very small percentage of users have had an issue with their passwords... please generate a new password one more time -- and only one more time.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that once you log in you complete your diner profile at Manage Account and attach a credit card to your profile. All credit cards are verified and held securely by Authorize.net. You may then go to "Tickets" to choose a date, time, and beverage choices as you wish. If you browse first, then update your account, your reserved ticket will not be held during that process.

Over the next several weeks we will release additional tables for each night on a rolling basis in order to create a fair chance for everyone to purchase seats on their preferred dates. Pricing for Paris 1906 will vary between $ 65 and $ 110 for our main dining room depending on the day and time you are dining. Our kitchen table features an expanded 16+ course menu for 6 diners with a private room overlooking the Next kitchen and is fixed at $ 165 per person.

Beverage pairings range from still or sparkling water to reserve wine pairings. All pairings include coffee / tea service. Once you select the beverage pairings for each diner and let us know of any dietary restrictions that we can accommodate from the menu, simply click proceed to payment to complete the transaction. Please note that any dietary restrictions not specifically listed cannot be accommodated for this menu. For example, a vegetarian option does not exist for Paris 1906 due to the nature of the cuisine... but will certainly be available for future menus.

Finally, we have made every effort to create a simple to use, secure, and logical ticket system. We did, however, run into issues with our system running on Internet Explorer and have chosen, for the time being, to require Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. We hope to address this issue shortly.

We look forward to welcoming you at Next and sharing what we have spent the last two years creating.

Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas

http://www.nextrestaurant.com

It is with some concern and some bemusement that I read this thread.

Let me say first that I understand the frustration that people feel when they see the "sold out" sign... however, let me add that this is precisely what you would see if you could call up the Alinea reservation system. I am not sure why it feels better to be told that we can't seat you anytime between now and the end of June and can add you to a waitlist that is 100+ names long... but apparently it does.

The speed with which tables are being bought has truly surprised me. I expected that we would release 20 tables per day and that they would slowly sell out... I never expected that we would sell 20 tables in 1.5 seconds as we did this morning. Which tells me that for every 5 calls we receive at Alinea, there are another 20 that get a busy signal on the first of every month. I have spoken with a few restaurant owners and we all agree that until now, we had no means of measuring what demand really was... now we do.

Selling tickets to Next is no different than selling tickets to a theater event that is much in demand. I wish we could legally require ID's at the door and no transfers... but we cannot. When we release the seats to our next menu sometime in June, I expect to sell 80% to 90% all at once, holding back a few tables just to get the flow of the service correct for the new menu format. Will people be happier about this? Or will we get hundreds of emails stating it was unfair to do it on a Tuesday at 11 AM? Tough to say.

I am somewhat amazed that people take the system so personally -- as if we designed it against them or that if we took phone calls it would somehow be different or easier. We are trying to be as unbiased and fair as is possible. It is not perfect, but it is blind -- I have no idea who is buying the tickets. Additionally, we have made some moves against known scalpers to highly discourage any future purchases -- I would rather not say specifically what we have done as it would prevent me from doing the same again or at least suggest a work-around for them. But we are trying.

As for the walk-in... we are doing that as a 'same day ticket' via facebook and soon twitter. This is to avoid lines out front. So your friend who is camping out has not sent us an email asking about that.. or checked our FB page for info. If he truly camped out he would be told to keep an eye there and to mail samenight@nextrestaurant.com when we mention that we have a few tables. Once Aviary opens, there will be some late-night seats through there as well for our patrons of Aviary.

nick.kokonas wrote:I am somewhat amazed that people take the system so personally -- as if we designed it against them or that if we took phone calls it would somehow be different or easier. We are trying to be as unbiased and fair as is possible. It is not perfect, but it is blind -- I have no idea who is buying the tickets. Additionally, we have made some moves against known scalpers to highly discourage any future purchases -- I would rather not say specifically what we have done as it would prevent me from doing the same again or at least suggest a work-around for them. But we are trying.

Part of it is that it's such a new model, people are not used to it, may not understand it fully, so when it doesn't give them what they want, it makes them mad. No doubt, though, we'd better get used to this system of ticketing. It seems to offer so many unheard of advantages to restaurants that I have to believe many others are going to adopt it.

nick.kokonas wrote:When we release the seats to our next menu sometime in June, I expect to sell 80% to 90% all at once, holding back a few tables just to get the flow of the service correct for the new menu format. Will people be happier about this? Or will we get hundreds of emails stating it was unfair to do it on a Tuesday at 11 AM? Tough to say.

I for one think it is a fantastic idea . . . similar to the day when Cubs tickets and concert tickets go on sale. The purchase and sale happens in one day in one shot, and that's that. If you get tickets, great. If not, you work the secondary market. I suspect there is a lot of frustration b/c one has to visit the website every day in a vain attempt to secure one of the tables that dribble out.

I do worry that a disproportionate number of the tables will get scooped up by secondary market brokers, who use powerful software programs that completely overwhelm ordinary buyers.

David Hammond wrote:

nick.kokonas wrote:I am somewhat amazed that people take the system so personally -- as if we designed it against them or that if we took phone calls it would somehow be different or easier. We are trying to be as unbiased and fair as is possible. It is not perfect, but it is blind -- I have no idea who is buying the tickets. Additionally, we have made some moves against known scalpers to highly discourage any future purchases -- I would rather not say specifically what we have done as it would prevent me from doing the same again or at least suggest a work-around for them. But we are trying.

Part of it is that it's such a new model, people are not used to it, may not understand it fully, so when it doesn't give them what they want, it makes them mad. No doubt, though, we'd better get used to this system of ticketing. It seems to offer so many unheard of advantages to restaurants that I have to believe many others are going to adopt it.

Nick, to the extent you're trying to please everybody, I would suggest that's impossible. I'm sure you realize this already and I can imagine the frustration when you meticulously devise what you believe is the fairest reservation system and that system nonetheless leaves scores frustrated and angry. Yes, I'm frustrated because I haven't yet been able to secure tickets, but so be it . . . that's part of life and the Rolling Stones taught me to deal with that long ago. It's certainly not your fault and my life will not be lacking significantly if I miss the Paris menu.

But on a related topic, because the demand for the Paris menu has been so much greater than you initially anticipated, have you considered extending that menu beyond June? Or do you fear that your team might get bored without the change? I imagine the Next team is not one wanting to do the same thing every day.

In any event, congrats on what can only be seen as a tremendous success. At the very least, I find it all fascinating in that it's so different from every restaurant concept I've ever heard of.

ews wrote:

nick.kokonas wrote:When we release the seats to our next menu sometime in June, I expect to sell 80% to 90% all at once, holding back a few tables just to get the flow of the service correct for the new menu format. Will people be happier about this? Or will we get hundreds of emails stating it was unfair to do it on a Tuesday at 11 AM? Tough to say.

I for one think it is a fantastic idea . . . similar to the day when Cubs tickets and concert tickets go on sale. The purchase and sale happens in one day in one shot, and that's that. If you get tickets, great. If not, you work the secondary market. I suspect there is a lot of frustration b/c one has to visit the website every day in a vain attempt to secure one of the tables that dribble out.

I do worry that a disproportionate number of the tables will get scooped up by secondary market brokers, who use powerful software programs that completely overwhelm ordinary buyers.

I do think that's probably part of it, this is an ongoing frustration instead of a one day and done thing. Three Floyds' Dark Lord Day tickets went on sale, they had hundreds of people whining on their Facebook page that day that they didn't get tickets (even though the ticketing system actually worked pretty well this year) and that was that.

Of course, I have no such ongoing frustration -- I can't even try to get tickets as my employer (and I'm sure there are plenty of others) has an IT department that mandates Internet Explorer and blocks installation of other browsers, and I'm not about to encourage the secondary market, so I've already accepted that I won't be getting to try this menu.

With all due respect Nick, the email thing followed by "nothing available" is what ticks people (well me at least) off.

Had I not received an email, I would not see a problem. I would have been content knowing that I'm somewhere on a long waiting list.

The email thing though says basically "Now you get to beg." I personally found the idea of having to go back repeatedly to be a bit insulting.

David Hammond wrote:

nick.kokonas wrote:I am somewhat amazed that people take the system so personally -- as if we designed it against them or that if we took phone calls it would somehow be different or easier. We are trying to be as unbiased and fair as is possible. It is not perfect, but it is blind -- I have no idea who is buying the tickets. Additionally, we have made some moves against known scalpers to highly discourage any future purchases -- I would rather not say specifically what we have done as it would prevent me from doing the same again or at least suggest a work-around for them. But we are trying.

Part of it is that it's such a new model, people are not used to it, may not understand it fully, so when it doesn't give them what they want, it makes them mad. No doubt, though, we'd better get used to this system of ticketing. It seems to offer so many unheard of advantages to restaurants that I have to believe many others are going to adopt it.

I personally will get used to it by crossing places who use the "new model" off my list of dining destinations. Seems like a nice filter for me. There are a lot of places in Chicago. I prefer those that have a customer-friendly reservation system.

Frankly, I think it's a matter of too much novelty at once: new restaurant, new reservation system and a limited edition menu (and again, I already have tickets, so I'm not one of the shutouts). The theatre comparison is not exactly analogous, as a production is generally the same night after night, for (again, generally) as long as demand dictates. Big productions play for *years*. Baseball, likewise, is a long season, with each game fundamentally the same - same field, same rules - as the last. A major touring musical act will often hit a market multiple times, and will almost always play the hits people have come to expect from them. But again, due to the confluence of novelty, Next is not like any of those aforementioned ticketed events.

If I were to guess, I'd say a lot of frustration stems from a system that, at least in theory, makes dining as much the luck of the draw as anything else. This can be thrilling, but also maddening (as with, say, Schwa, which of course is no stranger to frustrated patrons!). If I can't get an Alinea table, there's not the same feeling that I may *never* get an Alinea table, if I make the effort. Same with the Cubs, or Paul Simon tickets, or, I dunno, "Wicked" or something. There's always the next time, at least until mortality intervenes. But Next has a built in expiration date which inevitably leads to a racing against the clock stress that feels just the wrong side of out of one's control. Just as my purchasing tickets for the Paris menu does not at all guarantee I'll snag tickets to the next Next menu, I can imagine someone missing out on Paris entirely feeling like the same thing is likely or at least possible the next time around, in perpetuity. Which leads to frustration, resentment and disillusionment. Hopefully Next will find or fall into a rhythm, but as I mentioned above somewhere, thanks to the reinvented menu conceit, this cycle is bound, even designed, to repeat.

Can't agree more with what Vitesse98 said. I've definitely gotten over my disdain for the ticketing system and have accepted the fact that luck is the only thing that is going to get me in for the Paris menu.

Even when you guys asked for a clever email for a table last Saturday, my "written from my dogs perspective" magnum opus wasn't even good enough!