Have you tried getting a reservation at the hottest restaurant in town, only to be turned away time and time again?
It’s not just you.
To be sure, the dining business at the lower and mid-end has been hurting recently. McDonald’s ( MCD ) saw US sales drop in the second quarter, and Dine Brands ( DIN ) US sales at its IHOP and Applebee's locations slipped 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively.
But high-end restaurants, such as the ones that you may see on online reservation apps like Resy and OpenTable ( BOOK ), have seen business grow. American Express ( AXP ) "saw a hundred billion dollars in spend in 2023 in the dining category alone," said Resy CEO Pablo Rivero in an interview with Yahoo Finance. (American Express bought Resy back in 2019.)
For American Express, that $100 billion in restaurant spend was an all-time high. And that means it’s happening beyond the “pandemic revenge” splurge that occurred in 2022. Amex’s well-heeled cardmembers like to dine out. Rivero said it's a “passion area” for them and that demand has translated into more restaurant reservations on the Resy app.
Resy, in its 10th year of business, recently topped the 600 million reservation mark on its platform.
Rivero said even high-end, buzzy restaurants are not without challenges, however. Restaurants are struggling with high rent, food inflation, and labor costs, with challenges varying from city to city,
At the same time, Rivero noted that new restaurants are still opening up. Even new concepts like Resy’s Misipasta pop up in NYC's Governors Island is super popular, he said, catering to folks willing to pony up $450 a seat.
Why can’t I get a reservation though?
There is a dark side to the reservation business that Resy plays in, including numerous complaints of bots flooding the online systems , scooping up slots, and reselling them for exorbitant prices.
The New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, in his final column , lamented the loss of the human touch at restaurants with online reservation systems and pre-paying for meals via other apps.
Resy and Rivero said they are battling bots and “reservation fraud” in general, which will hopefully lower some of the frustration felt by diners in high-traffic urban areas. Rivero didn't say how the app was battling the bots, but other companies have done this by blocking certain IP addresses , beefing up login procedures to keep virtual users out, or using third-party security services.
It's not just customers who suffer from reservation bots and scalpers; restaurants are hurt in the form of unused reservations.
As patrons complain about bots, scammers, and inability to get into the new hotspot, Rivero tried to steer the conversation away from those complaints to how Resy can help users get reservations at places flying under the radar — low-key restaurants, or jams, that are building buzz locally but aren't well known.
“How do we help [restaurants] connect with more diners? We just announced a new version of our app that allows you to discover that neighborhood jam that you might know of, right? So it's really focused on connecting restaurants with diners and incentivizing diners to go and try new restaurants.”
Resy says it's working on software that will help users identify those up-and-coming spots before they get written about on foodie blogs like Eater or Grub Street.
Translation: Trying new and hidden restaurants also means the likelihood of securing an 8 p.m. reservation, even on a Saturday night, thus making Resy users happier.
As for those “neighborhood jams” or low-key, hidden gems you might be sleeping on, Rivero offered up a couple of choice spots in New York City and Miami in the video above.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering the auto industry. You can follow him on X and on Instagram .