Restaurant booking app Resy does more than just enable reservations via smartphone. Using data and AI tools, the tool helps restaurants identify loyal customers, note trends in attendance and keep as many tables booked as possible.
For consumers, Resy offers a curated selection of restaurants and a discovery platform, as well as SMS software that helps diners take advantage of last-minute openings at hard-to-get locations. The app is well-established in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco markets, including partnerships with well-known hospitality groups like Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group and David Chang’s Momofuku group.
Recently, Resy acquired Reserve, a similar app with an established presence in other cities including Boston and Chicago. Combined with Reserve, the new Resy becomes the largest independent restaurant reservation service in the U.S. PSFK spoke to Victoria Vaynberg, Resy’s chief marketing officer, about disrupting the restaurant booking experience and what AI can do for the future dining experience.
PSFK: What are some trends that you’ve noticed in the restaurant and hospitality industry in terms of how they intersect with new technology?
Victoria Vaynberg: It’s not a trend to me anymore, but I still think data are probably the most powerful tool.
Data can help restaurants both before, during and after their service. The software is powered to say if this event occurs, what’s the optimal change for that restaurant, for that night, to make sure that we’re only gaining and not losing? I still see data as the crux. We need to make sure restaurants understand who’s coming, who’s coming back and how to maximize a particular night with ease.
AI is very broad, but I think that very much intersects with restaurants in the same way, which is, how do you build intelligence into the system to help address the various needs? For example, we’re working toward a world where if it’s snowing in New York, you can know how that will impact your business. That’s where AI intersects for sure.
