Nick Kokonas of Tock & Alinea, flipping the low-margin restaurant model | E1262

Jason Calacanis chats with Nick Kokonas, CEO at Tock and Co-Owner of Alinea Restaurant Group. They discuss Nick's journey into the restaurant industry, his angel investments, Tock's innovative ticketing system, and the future of high-end restaurant delivery. They also touch on the topic of eliminating tipping and how Alinea is handling vaccinations.

Speakers

AI Chat

Unidentified

Jason Calacanis

Host • 32%

Nick Kokonas

Guest • 64%

Unidentified

Unidentified

Unidentified

Partners

Chapters

0:00	Nick Kokonas, CEO at Tock (acq. Squarespace) & Co-Owner of Alinea Restaurant Group
0:54	How Nick got into restaurants & met his co-founder Grant Achatz
9:30	Nick’s Angel investments
10:50	Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week
12:14	What OpenTable got wrong
18:05	Tock’s ticketing innovation
23:20	Benefits of having pre-paid reservations
25:00	Pipe - Start trading for free for 12 months
26:40	Dynamic pricing in restaurants
28:55	Nick critiques Jason’s techniques to get a reservation
35:32	Why some Maître d's hate Tock
38:22	Drata - Get 15% off SOC 2 and other audit
39:41	Digital checkouts at restaurant tables
44:50	Why tipping should be eliminated & what obstacles stand in the way
50:54	Will high-end restaurants keep doing delivery?
56:16	Hospitality labor supply
1:00:27	Inflation
1:02:42	How Alinea is handling vaccinations & employee health
1:07:18	Alinea's signature desert
1:12:10	Nick's core lessons as an entrepreneur
1:20:45	Mock meats

Transcript

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