Getting a table at a top restaurant without a reservation: Appointment Trader promises to make it possible

De Librije, Toscanini, Kaagman & Kortekaas, De Kas; anyone with a bit of a taste for good food knows: you won’t get a table here (especially at the weekend) if you haven’t booked well in advance. Eating out spontaneously seems impossible, but Appointment Trader, recently launched in the Netherlands, wants to change that.

Eating spontaneously at a restaurant on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday evening without a reservation seems impossible in many places. What’s going on? There are so many restaurants in the city and everything is insanely expensive. HOW can so many restaurants still be so full that you have to book at least a month in advance? Well, the answer isn’t particularly complicated, of course: the restaurants mentioned above are simply excellent, and although more and more people say they’re eating out less, popular restaurants are still packed.

Appointment Trader

And for people who don’t want to wait a month or longer for their reservation, and are willing to pay extra for a reservation at a popular restaurant, it’s now possible to buy a reservation on the Appointment Trader website; a website that trades reservations. The originally American company Appointment Trader has been around for some time and is apparently successful in, among other places, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Miami, London, Barcelona, Singapore, Dubai and Paris. The Dutch version has been online since this week.  Appointment Trader brings supply and demand together and takes a margin from it; the platform makes its money by keeping 20 to 30 percent of the sale price.

Here’s how it works: on the (in my opinion rather unattractive) website, you can see which restaurants have a table for sale (for example, at Amsterdam steakhouse MR. PORTER), after which you can bid on the table or buy it immediately. Pretty bizarre when you consider that making restaurant reservations is normally free…

Restaurateurs aren’t happy

Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) is unhappy about the arrival of a website where people can buy reservations at popular restaurants for a lot of money. The Dutch version of Appointment Trader isn’t exactly bustling yet, but the first reservation for restaurant De Kas in Amsterdam was already traded on the second day, for just under one hundred euros. Horrible, owner Jos Timmer told Het Parool. ‘We do everything we can to offer good value for money and to be an approachable restaurant where everyone is welcome. It feels as though someone is taking control of your own restaurant away from you, without you being able to do anything about it.’

Tips from restaurateurs themselves

I’m actually quite good at planning, but not when it comes to restaurant visits. How am I supposed to know what I’ll feel like eating a month from now? We previously asked Bram Kortekaas of Kaagman & Kortekaas whether there were any special hacks for still managing to get a table on the spot. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any hacks in the sense of a special code word or secret insiders’ reservation site. But he does have a few handy tips.

‘First of all, I’d say: always call. It’s always worth trying; you never know whether a spot has become available. You’ll never be laughed at for asking us that, at least. A table for two is generally easier to arrange than one for a group of ten, but we’ve managed that before too. Because people have to reserve so far in advance, they also just “occupy” a day and time and then later decide not to come after all. So, once again: you never know whether something might have become available. Calling on Friday for a romantic table for two that same evening at eight o’clock will be difficult, but we always have a spot at the bar.’

Jos Timmer also always tries to make room for regular customers or people from the neighbourhood who call to ask whether someone has cancelled. ‘The fact that intermediaries are now making money from our restaurant feels wrong. And I think the idea that everything is for sale if you’re rich enough is horrible. De Kas doesn’t want to be part of that.’ And rightly so.

Lunch instead of dinner

And one more personal tip: have lunch instead of dinner at that lovely restaurant. It’s often much easier to reserve, usually cheaper and every bit as delicious! For example, at Wils* they serve a fantastic lunch menu for 45 euros (great deal!).

Also read:

• 37x the very best beach bars across the Netherlands
• 10x the best waterside terraces in Amsterdam
• Restaurant Troef is an approachable gem in Amsterdam-Oost where you can eat wonderfully

Source: Het Parool, NOS