I’ve made $105,000 thanks to dinner reservation spots – critics say I’m bad for business – but it’s all legal | 1MND9K5 | 2024-04-30 17:08:01
I've made $105,000 thanks to dinner reservation spots – critics say I'm bad for business – but it's all legal | 1MND9K5 | 2024-04-30 17:08:01
THE controversial resale market has taken over the restaurant business, where one reservation purveyor is pocketing thousands flipping dinner tables.
Alex Eisler, a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, has earned about $105,000 from reselling highly coveted reservations at celebrity-hub restaurants.
Since November 2022, Eisler has been conducting his side business using the Appointment Trader app – an online marketplace that allows users to buy and sell restaurant reservations using an auction model.
Like many of the binders on the app, Eisler said he first stumbled upon the marketplace while trying to secure a reservation at the New York City steakhouse 4 Charles Prime Rib.
Eisler peaked in the resale market after developing a code and bot to automate the process.
The largest profit was for a whopping $1,358 for a reservation at a Japanese restaurant in Boston.
"It has never really been about the money for me," the college student told The New Yorker.
"I just wanted to bring supply and demand together."
At Carbone, an Italian restaurant in NYC's Greenwich Village, reservations are so elusive that hopeful diners are willing to fetch out thousands for a table.
Eisler told the outlet he sold a table at Carbone for $1050 on the app.
After fees deducted by Appointment Tracker, typically between 20% to 30%, Eisler said he took home approximately $70,000.
Eisler has even made faux phone numbers and emails to try and score reservations.
"Sometimes they recognize my voice, so I have to do different accents," he told the outlet.
"I have to act like a girl sometimes, I'm, like, 'Hiiiii, is it possible to book a reservation?'"
Nicky DiMaggio, a waste management business owner, also flips tables on the side, charging between $500 to $1,000.
"My client list is like the NBA, Megan Fox," he told The New Yorker.
DiMaggio said he made thousands in 2023 off his side hustle.
The most a diner paid DiMaggio for a reservation was $5,000 for a table at the French eatery Per Se.
"A woman called me and said her boss (who was a billionaire) was flying into New York for a meeting and he wanted to take his clients to dinner," DiMaggio said.
"She said he was flying into Teterboro, the driver was going to pick him up, take them to a restaurant called Per Se, and he's going back home."
"I got the Per Se Reservation done in ten minutes. She sent me the wire within five minutes."
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