Old fashioned reservations versus a ticketing system

Yoyoyo... It's the owner of this joint, Phillip Foss.
Seeing as I got so much feedback the last time I was looking for opinions, I'm going to go down the same road again.
I've been considering switching to a ticketing system:
What are your feelings/experiences with the Next?Alinea/Elizabeth models?
Do you prefer it over the old fashioned method or is it a pain in the ass?
Looking for any/all pros and cons.
Thanks for the time,
Phillip

Please. Don't. I am about as avid a supporter as you have and I HATE the ticketing system. What issues do you see it solving for you, if I might ask?

I'd take ticketing over your current system, which quite frankly sucks and discourages me from trying your restaurant. The only thing I dislike like about ticketing is the forced tip. I want to tip based on my experience (good or bad), not some arbitrary number.

Have you considered open table? You can charge a fee for no shows through their system.

edit - added additional feedback.

Open table is a rip off. A lot of systems are trying to move in on their ground, but same story... So far.
Very curious to hear what you dislike about our system.

One of the issues w our current system is the amount of time we spend telling guests we don't have space available. I would like to avoid ticketing b/c I like the interaction involved, and if we were to adopt it, we would do it differently.

Mod note: This was split from the El Ideas thread to keep both threads cleaner.

I've never been unable to secure a reservation under your current system so not sure what the previous poster has had issues with. I love the way you do it now--it's part of the vibe of the place, interacting with you and Allison. Couldn't you post a calendar with availability through which res. requests could be routed? You click on a night, it shows availability of seats/tables, you then submit your request. I guess I don't really have as much of an issue with tickets as the rest of the circus that comes with it-- mad dashes when tables are released, having to book far in advance, maybe ending up with a date that later becomes inconvenient. Take those issues away and I probably don't mind. But I don't do Next and that's a primary reason. The spectacle of the ticketing craziness is a huge turnoff to me

phillipfoss wrote:Open table is a rip off. A lot of systems are trying to move in on their ground, but same story... So far.
Very curious to hear what you dislike about our system.

One of the issues w our current system is the amount of time we spend telling guests we don't have space available. I would like to avoid ticketing b/c I like the interaction involved, and if we were to adopt it, we would do it differently.

Granted, I've never purchased a seat at your restaurant, but I have to snicker at your "interaction" comment because the current system is aloof and incomprehensible. I signed up for el idea's mailing list in Oct of 2011, I think. Since then I've received a few random emails on months for tables. Now I receive "Seats to fill at EL Ideas" emails with undesirable times. Although I'm sure it's not your intent, the current system makes me feel unwanted as a potential customer.

That said, I've heard wonderful things about your restaurant and I wish you the very best.

I have dined at many places where a reservation required a credit card, in order to charge a penalty for no shows. I consider that acceptable, because the restaurant has bought the food on good faith and sustains a loss when people fail to appear. However, given the number of people I've seen on this site and elsewhere trying to sell tickets for places that do tickets, and selling them at a tremendous loss, I decided some time ago to never go to a place that sold tickets (unless I can help someone out who is stuck with tickets). Because one can cancel a reservation held with a credit card, but you can't get a refund on tickets -- and it appears to be fairly difficult to unload those tickets, even when discounted.

I may not be your customer, but my 2-cents is that I don't think of (even excellent) restaurants as events to be planned months in advance. I just can't think that far ahead (or am not willing to, when it comes to eating; plane travel is a different story). So I like reservations. If ten days or a couple of weeks turns out not to be sufficient to get into a restaurant I desired, I live with it and go somewhere else. A restaurant with a ticketing business model would be automatically off my list from the get-go.

boudreaulicious wrote:I've never been unable to secure a reservation under your current system so not sure what the previous poster has had issues with. I love the way you do it now--it's part of the vibe of the place, interacting with you and Allison. Couldn't you post a calendar with availability through which res. requests could be routed? You click on a night, it shows availability of seats/tables, you then submit your request. I guess I don't really have as much of an issue with tickets as the rest of the circus that comes with it-- mad dashes when tables are released, having to book far in advance, maybe ending up with a date that later becomes inconvenient. Take those issues away and I probably don't mind. But I don't do Next and that's a primary reason. The spectacle of the ticketing craziness is a huge turnoff to me

Ditto

PopcornMegaphone wrote:

phillipfoss wrote:Granted, I've never purchased a seat at your restaurant, but I have to snicker at your "interaction" comment because the current system is aloof and incomprehensible. I signed up for el idea's mailing list in Oct of 2011, I think. Since then I've received a few random emails on months for tables. Now I receive "Seats to fill at EL Ideas" emails with undesirable times. Although I'm sure it's not your intent, the current system makes me feel unwanted as a potential customer.

That said, I've heard wonderful things about your restaurant and I wish you the very best.

I don't understand your dilemma. So you've never called or emailed to try to book a reservation? Are they supposed to send you emails inviting you to dine there when they know your schedule will permit? Obviously, this is a bit tongue in cheek but I truly don't understand why you expect making a reservation here to be any different than any other restaurant. You contact them with the date you wish to dine (may need to do this a bit further out than, say, your neighborhood bistro) and they tell you if it's available. How is that aloof or incomprehensible? And I've done exactly this successfully 6-7 times now so I can vouch for the fact that this really isn't difficult at all. Hope you try it!!

Another thing I don't like about ticketing: If I'm part of a party of greater than 2, I can't control whether something is going to come up for the other folks that makes it impossible for them to attend. Trust me, I don't cancel reservations capriciously--I've done it super-rarely, and only when absolutely necessary. (Twice in the last ten years, maybe.) But I want that option, if there is a death or sickness in my family or in the family of our dining companions. Life happens. Any system that penalizes me for life happening is a system I won't participate in.

i would have no interest in eating somewhere that has a ticketing policy. the frenzy that comes in its wake is ridiculous. it's great that El Ideas is so popular that you're considering it, but it's still a complete turnoff for me, for many of the reasons earlier posters have mentioned. eating out shouldn't be such a big deal that i have to commit myself and my money months in advance.

Personally I HATE the ticketing system. While I understand why a restaurant would want to use it (it is wonderful for them - money is received well in advance so can be put to use earlier and it removes financial risk of no-shows and late cancellations) it is terrible for the consumer to have to deal with the hassle of selling their ticket if one's plans change, sickness, health issue for family member, business trip etc. materializes. While restaurants who have lots of demand can get away with the ticket system, the venue needs to be aware they are implementing such a system at the expense of their patrons. Just because people buy the tickets does not mean people want the ticket system (Nick Kokonas does not seem to grasp this). I think your current system is quite good; you are not penalized financially by a system like Open Table, you receive payment several days in advance but one can cancel if a conflict arises prior to that - and you seem to assist in trying to find people to take over a reservation if someone has to cancel after payment is made.

The only situation where I would be in favor of a ticket system would be if the venue passed on some of the savings (i.e. charged less than they did before implementing the ticket system as they now did not have to build no-shows and late cancellations into the pricing) AND had a means where one could cancel the ticket for a fee (that would gradually become larger the closer to the reservation - i.e. something like $10/ticket if two weeks or more out, $25/ticket if 7 to 13 days out, $50/ticket if 2-6 days, $100 if less than 48 hours).

That said I will still patronize a restaurant if they use a ticket system, but only if I love the venue and they are unique - and I will do so with some trepidation.

"So you've never called or emailed to try to book a reservation? Are they supposed to send you emails inviting you to dine there when they know your schedule will permit? "

It's funny because for awhile El Ideas was sending emails with various open dates. "Seats to fill at EL Ideas." Haven't gotten one for awhile.

" If I'm part of a party of greater than 2, I can't control whether something is going to come up for the other folks that makes it impossible for them to attend."

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've endangered some friendships because when I first encountered them, I would buy tickets for the whole table and expect friends to pay me. I quickly discovered who was unreliable. But even for the reliable, things come up, especially when ticketing is so far in advance. For a few friends who work in sales and have business trips or for the foreign service or whatnot...it's pretty hard to get them in.

I've thought a lot about ticketing and systems because I've done work as a developer on similar systems in the past and also with my meat CSA program I've worked a lot with things where I really really need people not to cancel. Like selling fresh meat from local farms. If people don't pick it up, it goes bad very quickly, so I have to scramble to sell, eat, or process it for freezing. The system I use is that I take deposits via Amazon payments. If people are no-shows, they lose the deposit. I allow some cancellations within a certain time period. It can be hard to figure out the right amount that is high enough to act as a deterrent, but low enough that it's not demoralizing to lose. I wonder if restaurants could use such a system. Currently some take credit cards and I've never heard them charging a penalty, but the act of just taking the card number acts as a deterrent.

I have discouraged industry people I know from using the Next ticket system. I don't think it's very well made and it's expensive. I think there are other solutions that could be open-source, light-weight, and cheap if you decide to use a ticket system.

Honestly, I find tickets add stress, impose costs and inconvenience to the customer and generally detract from the overall dining out experience. It favors the elite/moneyed even more than dining out already does, and adds another unnecessary degree of exclusivity.

On the plus side, ticketing pretty much takes those restaurants off the table (so to speak) for me, which helps whittle down dining options.

I do like the idea, however, of ticketed diners getting a discount. That is, if people want to compete and hustle for a handful of early-buy seats at a lower price, let them, as long as the rest of us may opt for the traditional method.

I can understand the allure of a ticketing system from a restaurant's point of view. The money is paid up front, you know exactly how many diners to expect so you can control food costs better and no-shows won't eat in to the bottom line anymore since the money is already in the bank. But from a customer's point of view (at least mine), a ticketing system is high up on the list of reasons not to patronize a particular restaurant. Life happens, plans need to change, and I would much rather be able to cancel a reservation (within a reasonable time frame) than have to go through the additional stress of having to find someone to buy the tickets from me. Another issue I have specifically with the ticketing system at Next and Alinea is that the tickets are only available in even numbers. There are 3 adults in my household so if I want to take everyone out to one of those restaurants I would need to buy 4 tickets and either sell the extra ticket, give it away or let it go to waste.

In terms of the type of reservation system to have, I think much depends upon how many open seats you typically have, and how many no-shows you have. Personally, I'm a huge fan of OpenTable not only because it eliminates human error, but also because it sometimes causes me to consider dining at a restaurant I hadn't considered (or forgot about). Twice I've had prominent Chicago restaurants f*ck up major family events because the person taking the reservation screwed up. That being said, I realize OpenTable is quite costly. But if you are having difficulty filling tables on a nightly basis, the costs may be justified by the increased traffic and attention. And no offense to the prestige of El Ideas, but sometimes people don't plan well in advance to go out for a fancy dinner, look at OpenTable for ideas, and if you're not there, you may not be popping into someone's head at the time a reservation is being made. I'm also not exactly sure how OpenTable works, and whether you can simply prevent prime time tables from being placed into their reservation system. I've always thought this to be the case based upon my ability to score reservations at restaurants that were otherwise unavailable on OpenTable. On the other hand, if you're largely fully booked, I can understand the reluctance to bother with OpenTable.

On another note, I understand the point of the ticketing system, particularly when it comes to a restaurant whose food cost is dramatically higher than most, and where just enough food is purchased for each night. I can see where same day cancellations and no-shows would destroy a restaurant's business. That being said, I prefer a non-ticketing system. And if forced to buy a ticket, but if I believe tickets will remain available for some time, I'll just put off buying them until I have to (which I would assume could lead to restaurant uncertainties and delays in food ordering).

Ultimately, if I can't have OpenTable I prefer an online calendar of the type boudreaulicious suggests. I don't want to exchange emails only to find out that my first couple dates aren't available. I then have to go back to my dining companions, pick new dates, and start the process all over. Just my two cents.

BR wrote:In terms of the type of reservation system to have, I think much depends upon how many open seats you typically have, and how many no-shows you have. Personally, I'm a huge fan of OpenTable not only because it eliminates human error, but also because it sometimes causes me to consider dining at a restaurant I hadn't considered (or forgot about). Twice I've had prominent Chicago restaurants f*ck up major family events because the person taking the reservation screwed up. That being said, I realize OpenTable is quite costly. But if you are having difficulty filling tables on a nightly basis, the costs may be justified by the increased traffic and attention. And no offense to the prestige of El Ideas, but sometimes people don't plan well in advance to go out for a fancy dinner, look at OpenTable for ideas, and if you're not there, you may not be popping into someone's head at the time a reservation is being made. I'm also not exactly sure how OpenTable works, and whether you can simply prevent prime time tables from being placed into their reservation system. I've always thought this to be the case based upon my ability to score reservations at restaurants that were otherwise unavailable on OpenTable. On the other hand, if you're largely fully booked, I can understand the reluctance to bother with OpenTable.

On another note, I understand the point of the ticketing system, particularly when it comes to a restaurant whose food cost is dramatically higher than most, and where just enough food is purchased for each night. I can see where same day cancellations and no-shows would destroy a restaurant's business. That being said, I prefer a non-ticketing system. And if forced to buy a ticket, but if I believe tickets will remain available for some time, I'll just put off buying them until I have to (which I would assume could lead to restaurant uncertainties and delays in food ordering).

Ultimately, if I can't have OpenTable I prefer an online calendar of the type boudreaulicious suggests. I don't want to exchange emails only to find out that my first couple dates aren't available. I then have to go back to my dining companions, pick new dates, and start the process all over. Just my two cents.

Well said, I fully concur.

justjoan wrote:eating out shouldn't be such a big deal that i have to commit myself and my money months in advance.

While (as I wrote) I'm in complete agreement with you, this thread has caused me to consider the things to which I don't mind committing myself and my money months in advance. There was the example I gave about plane tickets. Now a new example has occured to me. Months ago, with another couple, we committed ourselves and our money to seeing the Lyric Opera production of "Oklahoma!" next month. And we're glad we did. The same "life happens" objections could be made to that as to restaurant-ticketing, yet those "life happens" objections don't matter to me in this case, because seeing this production of a classic musical from good seats in the opera house is important enough to me. I suppose I believe that even an orgasmic eating experience is--shall we say, transitory?--in a way that a great musical experience is not. But though I'm not one of them, there are people to whom eating in a certain restaurant is that important.

boudreaulicious wrote:

PopcornMegaphone wrote:

phillipfoss wrote:Granted, I've never purchased a seat at your restaurant, but I have to snicker at your "interaction" comment because the current system is aloof and incomprehensible. I signed up for el idea's mailing list in Oct of 2011, I think. Since then I've received a few random emails on months for tables. Now I receive "Seats to fill at EL Ideas" emails with undesirable times. Although I'm sure it's not your intent, the current system makes me feel unwanted as a potential customer.

That said, I've heard wonderful things about your restaurant and I wish you the very best.

I don't understand your dilemma. So you've never called or emailed to try to book a reservation? Are they supposed to send you emails inviting you to dine there when they know your schedule will permit? Obviously, this is a bit tongue in cheek but I truly don't understand why you expect making a reservation here to be any different than any other restaurant. You contact them with the date you wish to dine (may need to do this a bit further out than, say, your neighborhood bistro) and they tell you if it's available. How is that aloof or incomprehensible? And I've done exactly this successfully 6-7 times now so I can vouch for the fact that this really isn't difficult at all. Hope you try it!!

Funny. The reason we only send emails infrequently is because I personally dislike it when a company sends me emails on a regular basis. As above, consider calling or email. It really does work.

Gonzo70 wrote:

BR wrote:In terms of the type of reservation system to have, I think much depends upon how many open seats you typically have, and how many no-shows you have. Personally, I'm a huge fan of OpenTable not only because it eliminates human error, but also because it sometimes causes me to consider dining at a restaurant I hadn't considered (or forgot about). Twice I've had prominent Chicago restaurants f*ck up major family events because the person taking the reservation screwed up. That being said, I realize OpenTable is quite costly. But if you are having difficulty filling tables on a nightly basis, the costs may be justified by the increased traffic and attention. And no offense to the prestige of El Ideas, but sometimes people don't plan well in advance to go out for a fancy dinner, look at OpenTable for ideas, and if you're not there, you may not be popping into someone's head at the time a reservation is being made. I'm also not exactly sure how OpenTable works, and whether you can simply prevent prime time tables from being placed into their reservation system. I've always thought this to be the case based upon my ability to score reservations at restaurants that were otherwise unavailable on OpenTable. On the other hand, if you're largely fully booked, I can understand the reluctance to bother with OpenTable.

On another note, I understand the point of the ticketing system, particularly when it comes to a restaurant whose food cost is dramatically higher than most, and where just enough food is purchased for each night. I can see where same day cancellations and no-shows would destroy a restaurant's business. That being said, I prefer a non-ticketing system. And if forced to buy a ticket, but if I believe tickets will remain available for some time, I'll just put off buying them until I have to (which I would assume could lead to restaurant uncertainties and delays in food ordering).

Ultimately, if I can't have OpenTable I prefer an online calendar of the type boudreaulicious suggests. I don't want to exchange emails only to find out that my first couple dates aren't available. I then have to go back to my dining companions, pick new dates, and start the process all over. Just my two cents.

Well said, I fully concur.

Well put and thanks for the input. Very gratefully, filling seats has not been a big issue. I am simply look to simplifying our system and I will look into a calendar. One of the biggest issues are the amount of emails that go back and forth. There are many facets to our system that I am in favor of, but I also know there is room for improvement. That's the idea here. Maybe one day if the need arises to drum up more attention we'll consider open table. I do however look at that kind of like selling my soul. It troubles me they make so much money living off the backs of hard working cooks, servers, and dishwashers. I get... it may one day be a necessary evil. Just not soon I hope

riddlemay wrote:

justjoan wrote:eating out shouldn't be such a big deal that i have to commit myself and my money months in advance.

While (as I wrote) I'm in complete agreement with you, this thread has caused me to consider the things to which I don't mind committing myself and my money months in advance. There was the example I gave about plane tickets. Now a new example has occured to me. Months ago, with another couple, we committed ourselves and our money to seeing the Lyric Opera production of "Oklahoma!" next month. And we're glad we did. The same "life happens" objections could be made to that as to restaurant-ticketing, yet those "life happens" objections don't matter to me in this case, because seeing this production of a classic musical from good seats in the opera house is important enough to me. I suppose I believe that even an orgasmic eating experience is--shall we say, transitory?--in a way that a great musical experience is not. But though I'm not one of them, there are people to whom eating in a certain restaurant is that important.

These are great points!! Ideally I would like something that maintains the intimacy of a restaurant with the planning ahead and commitment of buying tickets to a concert or a play. I would like to offer an out for guests when situations arise. What I don't want to happen is for the business and my team members to lose out because of cancellations on short notice. The fact of the matter is that we have ZERO foot traffic and most people need to make arrangements or plan in advance to dine with us. This is why we charge in full (less gratuity) 1 week out. After that, if you can't fill the seats - and neither can you - you are still on the hook for it. A bit of both worlds I guess

I dislike ticketing systems for restaurants, and my enthusiasm for dining at places that have them is greatly diminished by their presence. As others have posted, it's easy to see why restaurants prefer them but other than being offered a discount to purchase in advance (not something that any place I know actually does), I cannot think of a single reason why a diner would ever prefer them. The best, most sustainable business arrangements are, to a great degree, mutually beneficial. The paradigm shift to ticketing attempts to force a fundamental change that is entirely in favor of the vendor. The diner gets zero benefit and also absorbs a substantial portion of the operator's risk. From a consumer perspective, it's not evolutionary, it's a huge step backwards. But, the fact that ticketing is intertwined with technology obscures this just a bit. It's new, it feels modern, and it's on the internet, so it must be the wave of the future, right?

Where it has seemed to work, at least up to now, is at places where scarcity creates and sustains demand. And at some places, I think they'll always do ok with ticketing. At this handful of places, where demand for seats is far greater than supply, there will likely always be enough diners who are willing to take on the extra burden, that advance ticket purchasing will endure. But I imagine that at some more marginal places, as buzz (and demand) dies down, a ticketing system could actually catalyze a restaurant's demise.

I don't believe restaurant ticketing is a sustainable model and guess that someday we'll look back and remember it as an ill-conceived, failed experiment. If it does endure on any sort of scale, I believe it'll represent a huge loss for diners/consumers.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote: The paradigm shift to ticketing attempts to force a fundamental change that is entirely in favor of the vendor. The diner gets zero benefit and also absorbs a substantial portion of the operator's risk.

For the most part, restaurants have been screwed for years. Party of 10 cancels 15 min prior to reservations, enough said....

Airlines, live theatre, sporting events all are able to make the ticketing seem fair, so why not restaurants? How are they so different?


I can think of one way the diner will benefit from ticketing system. The chef's can now spend more time actually thinking up dishes and cooking and less time fielding phone calls and emails about reservations.

mhill95149 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote: The paradigm shift to ticketing attempts to force a fundamental change that is entirely in favor of the vendor. The diner gets zero benefit and also absorbs a substantial portion of the operator's risk.

For the most part, restaurants have been screwed for years. Party of 10 cancels 15 min prior to reservations, enough said....

Airlines, live theatre, sporting events all are able to make the ticketing seem fair, so why not restaurants? How are they so different?


I can think of one way the diner will benefit from ticketing system. The chef's can now spend more time actually thinking up dishes and cooking and less time fielding phone calls and emails about reservations.

I'm in favor of taking a credit card to guarantee a reservation and charging a customer if they don't cancel before a time determined by the restaurant. That's a reasonable approach to cancellations that puts the burden in the most appropriate place. It's a long way away from ticketing, too.

Generally, at restaurants of this level, reservationsists answer phones and book tables, not chefs.

=R=

sounds like the chef in THIS case is taking a lot of the calls / emails....

Grant A. is not taking the calls at alinea but he was paying a huge amount on a yearly basis to have a staff answer the phone and say "no"
better to have that $$ spend on staff doing the cooking which IMHO is a benefit for the diner....

The ticketing option relieves the restaurant of having to serve up a gotcha moment to the canceling customer. With tickets everyone knows the score before any $$ is exchanged. Ron, tell me why sporting events, live theatre do not just charge a cancelation fee instead of how they handle it right now? What makes them so different than restaurants?

mhill95149 wrote:sounds like the chef in THIS case is taking a lot of the calls / emails....

Grant A. is not taking the calls at alinea but he was paying a huge amount on a yearly basis to have a staff answer the phone and say "no"
better to have that $$ spend on staff doing the cooking which IMHO is a benefit for the diner....

The ticketing option relieves the restaurant of having to serve up a gotcha moment to the canceling customer. With tickets everyone knows the score before any $$ is exchanged. Ron, tell me why sporting events, live theatre do not just charge a cancelation fee instead of how they handle it right now? What makes them so different than restaurants?

Sure, Chef Foss does get involved but even he has a reservationist, as do most high-end places. It's pure speculation to suggest that the money spent on a reservationist would be reallocated to directly benefit diners. It's just as likely, more so probably, that that money would be diverted to investors and backers. But who can really say, right? It's a straw man, for sure.

As for sporting events, concerts, etc. those conduits have always functioned in a buy-in-advance manner, so no one is trying to push a zero-benefit change onto the customer. It's always been done that way. But even then, the analogy is flawed. I've gone to concerts and sporting events and purchased tickets right there on the spot, minutes before those events started. You can walk up to U.S. Cellular Field 5 minutes before a White Sox game, any White Sox, and buy a ticket. In any case, at such events, the customer has a choice whether to buy in advance or buy at the door. Restaurant ticketing takes away choice (reservation or walk-in) and requires diners to give a lot back from how things are currently being done while receiving virtually nothing in return.

And if you're saying that restaurants should be more like airlines, that's just silly. Who on earth would argue for that? That's probably the most customer-unfriendly industry there is.

=R=

mhill95149 wrote:Ron, tell me why sporting events, live theatre do not just charge a cancelation fee instead of how they handle it right now? What makes them so different than restaurants?

I'm not Ron, but since I already suggested an answer, I'll say it again. Most people do not think of a specific restaurant on a specific night as having quite the same "indispensibility" to their plans as a concert or a sporting event. If I want to see the Bulls, and I get shut out of seeing them because I didn't have a ticket, it's not like I can go catch the other NBA team in town. If I want to go to the Lyric Opera, and I get shut out because I didn't have a ticket, it's not like I can pick up and go to that other opera company down the street. If I plan a vacation, I want to know I've got a seat on a plane upon which the whole rest of that vacation is predicated, rather than see the rest of my vacation collapse like a house of cards. In each of these cases, these businesses sell tickets because they can; they are just that indispensible to my plans. But in the world of restaurants, if I am unable to go to Restaurant X on a given night, I'll go to Restaurant Y or Restaurant Z--and be just as happy!

A very few restaurants have an equivalent indispensibility for a very few customers. But not most restaurants for most customers.

riddlemay wrote:

mhill95149 wrote:Ron, tell me why sporting events, live theatre do not just charge a cancelation fee instead of how they handle it right now? What makes them so different than restaurants?

I'm not Ron, but since I already suggested an answer, I'll say it again. Most people do not think of a specific restaurant on a specific night as having quite the same "indispensability" to their plans as a concert or a sporting event. If I want to see the Bulls, and I get shut out of seeing them because I didn't have a ticket, it's not like I can go catch the other NBA team in town. If I want to go to the Lyric Opera, and I get shut out because I didn't have a ticket, it's not like I can pick up and go to that other opera company down the street. If I plan a vacation, I want to know I've got a seat on a plane upon which the whole rest of that vacation is predicated, rather than see the rest of my vacation collapse like a house of cards. In each of these cases, these businesses sell tickets because they can; they are just that indispensible to my plans. But in the world of restaurants, if I am unable to go to Restaurant X on a given night, I'll go to Restaurant Y or Restaurant Z--and be just as happy!

A very few restaurants have an equivalent indispensability for a very few customers. But not most restaurants for most customers.

Really? Then why do you bother even coming here to talk about restaurants? If you are going to be "just as happy"why bother with LTH???
FWIW, we are actually talking about indispensable restaurants here....

No one is suggesting your average "red sauce Italian joint" sell tickets