Coming Soon to an Eatery Near You: Restaurant Ticketing

Restaurant ticketing is a relatively new concept that has not as yet spread like wildfire, but is quickly gaining steam. It goes like this: if you want a table at a certain restaurant at a certain time, a regular reservation made via phone will no longer do the job if the restaurant uses a “restaurant ticketing“ system. Everything is done online via a calendar based on availability and the dining patron must pay ahead in the same way you pay in advance for a sporting event. There is no refund and changes cannot be made, but the ticket can be given away. The first of these systems to launch is TOCK, created by Nick Kokonas — the Chicago restaurateur behind Alinea, Next and the Aviary. Some of his investors include Thomas Keller,  Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and the Melman family, owners of the 118-concept Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group. There’s also Ticketbud, a self-service event ticketing software, that allows restaurants to market events, sell tickets online and view…