Angelo Esposito [00:00:02]:

Welcome to Wisking It All with your host, Angelo Esposito, co-founder of WISK.ai, a food and beverage intelligence platform. We're going to be interviewing hospitality professionals around the world to really understand how they do what they do. Welcome to another episode of Wisking It All. We are here today with Frazer Nagy from tablz.com. Thanks for being here, Frazer.

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Frazer Nagy [00:00:30]:

Oh, Angelo, so great to have me on. Great to see you again, buddy.

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Angelo Esposito [00:00:33]:

Yeah, it's been a while. So happy to have you here. And, you know, for people who don't know, can you maybe walk them through what is tablz.com?

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Frazer Nagy [00:00:44]:

Tablz is, you know, something special, it's something new. It's not often you can say that, that you're really forced to market in this way. But, you know, I think as we'll get into it through the conversations, there's a few different ways you can look at it. But inherently, Tablz is very, very simple. Restaurants are the last industry in the world, if you think of it from the economic standpoint, to do something called revenue management, which is the combination of premium seating and dynamic pricing. So think airlines, first class, comfort plus. But Google flights, everything, it's always changing based on supply, demand. Hotels, rental car companies, sports, everyone does this.

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Frazer Nagy [00:01:19]:

But for restaurants, it's quite simple. You know, we 3d map the inside of these beautiful properties. And from a consumer's perspective, I should say, for the first time ever, you're able to upgrade to the seat of your choice. So you want that window seat, you want that booth seat. You, like me, love rocking up to the bar and getting that great corner spot. Well, it's the most demanded request in hospitality. And yet, for whatever reason, in the hospitality industry, we do a very poor job of hospitality, giving, you know, a guest, allowing a guest to get the seat they want.

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Angelo Esposito [00:01:50]:

Yeah, that's awesome. It's funny you mentioned that. Cause I always, when I talk about the hospitality space, I always kind of say it's always the last to adapt. Like, yes, there's a lot of tech. And, you know, I know owners get bombarded with tech, but when you think about it, the coolest thing to happen was, you know, open table and reservations. Then since then, it was maybe cloud point of sale systems, right? Like, hey, you don't need all this hardware. You can now do it, you know, on an iPad. And that was cool.

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Angelo Esposito [00:02:16]:

But after that, and, you know, now there's kind of a QR code phase that came back and maybe the, you know, ordering, because there's a lot more online ordering, but really, in general, the space is like quite behind when it comes to adopting tech. So it's super see what you're doing and maybe to walk someone through it. So let's just imagine I'm a client, I guess. Let me ask you this. What cities are you guys available in right now?

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Frazer Nagy [00:02:41]:

Yeah, we're, you know, we're expanding. We're in Miami. We're in Scottsdale, Arizona. We're in Toronto, Chicago, New York, San Francisco. Our first Los Angeles properties are going live this week. So, you know, you're going to start seeing this pop up a lot more. But to your point, Tablz is a little different, how we're going to market. So for those that want to nerd out on that side, we have a different, a bit of a playbook there.

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Frazer Nagy [00:03:06]:

But from a user perspective, we're starting by embedding tables right at the point of the reservation button. So think of that traditional open table. You go on the restaurant's website, go on their Google now, and wherever that reservation button lives. Instagram. July 2. Angelo was this year was opentable's 25 year anniversary. July 2. So for 25 years, there has just been this dropdown widget, 06:00 p.m.

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Frazer Nagy [00:03:35]:

Or 08:00 p.m. That is the guest service that you experience even at the most beautiful, forward thinking restaurant. So what we do is we create a little web app for every restaurant. And when you click reserve now, instead of just sending you right to that open table widget or that resi widget or seven rooms, well, now there's this little thing that pops up that says, hey, do you want to upgrade your seat and browse from this beautiful 3d selection? You know, those 4k cameras or, hey, you know what? Not for you, no problem. Go to open table. And that's what's really important is that we're not looking to build another reservation system here where Tablz is a guest service platform. And that is what's really, really important. And, you know, we can get more into that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:14]:

So I love it. I love it. And then I guess I'm already imagining, you know, some, some use cases. I mean, you mentioned one, just people who really have a preference and like, sitting at the bar near this corner, I'm imagining maybe sports events, you know, basketball game on, hockey game. You want, you want seats? You know, better, you know, closer to the bigger tv or whatever it may be. I'd love to hear what are some, like, other typical use cases you guys are seeing?

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Frazer Nagy [00:04:40]:

Yeah, well, you know, I joke with some of our investors that just roof front or rooftop, and waterfront tables is a billion dollar marketplace in itself. And I don't think I'll be far off when it's all said and done, so right away, anything with a differentiated viewer experience. So take even a little waterfront property in Brooklyn versus a rooftop in Manhattan will both have value. Never mind in Los Angeles to Dubai to London. Like, you just start adding up how many restaurants are built along water, which is something that most people don't even really consider. But then you get into different subcategories. Like you said, sports bars, huge. There's a huge and growing market of very experience driven bars.

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Frazer Nagy [00:05:27]:

Fine dining, of course. You know, I would call these large concepts, casual fine dining places. You know, I have never done a pitch and someone hasn't brought up Tao as an example of large format restaurants that have really created a. I would call it a large niche. You know, places that are doing a thousand covers a night. Very experiential. You see them in every major city, and, you know, town might be the most recognizable in North America for that type of dining, but they're not alone. There are dozens and dozens of hospitality groups that are building those type of concepts, and then eventually there's different waves of adoption.

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Frazer Nagy [00:06:03]:

So, you know, we'll get to these. Even, you know, my dream, I came from the farm to table, small restaurant format space, you know, and maybe they don't have, like, ten or 20 differentiated table experiences, but they might have two to three. And I think there's a spot for them later down the road when we move more towards a more traditional marketplace of discovery. But today, those are where our markets exist. And, you know, you mentioned even live music to, you know, we have a. We have a Harry Potter bar on the. Really? Yeah.

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Angelo Esposito [00:06:33]:

Where is it? Where. Where is Harry Potter bar?

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Frazer Nagy [00:06:36]:

And I should say this so they don't, they don't get sued by their lawyers. They're technically not supposed to use Harry Potter, but. No, it's a really cool concept called the cauldron. They have one in New York, they have one in Philly, they have one in Chicago. Our New York and Chicago locations are live, but they're also in Europe, I think they're London based, and it's all wizard themed. So, by the way, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, you name it. But you can do potion making, alcoholic potion making, and they've designed, again, they've designed these spaces to have an experience. And where you sit can really impact your date night or your friends going out to do this fun experience.

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Frazer Nagy [00:07:11]:

We can look at it from all spectrums. It's not just bottle service at the towel. You know, you can go down to really cool concepts like this. So that's what makes staples definitely special in that regard.

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Angelo Esposito [00:07:21]:

Yeah, it's funny because you think about like, you know, if I think about maybe the, you know, our parents generation, you typically, I mean, our generation, we like to frequent, you know, a different restaurant every week kind of thing. But if I think about my parents' generation, you'd kind of find the spots you like and you'd go off in. But in that there was that preference of table. So was that same theme of like, you get to know the owner, you kind of go every Saturday or maybe a couple of times a month and you got your table. So it's kind of interesting to bring that theme, but to new experiences. And you're right, it can make or break the night, especially if you're, you know, you don't go there often. Going out is not cheap traveling, right. So you're in a different city, maybe you're going.

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Angelo Esposito [00:08:04]:

You're only going out for two or three nights. So, you know, a third or a half of your trip is going to be based on that restaurant experience and getting, you know, not. Not being in control of your table. That makes a ton of sense. So, yeah, tell me a bit about, you know, just take it a step back. I always love to understand, like, you know, being a founder myself, like, where the idea kind of stem from, right? Like, where, where was inception day? When you're like, man, this is a problem we need to solve. And then kind of walk me through.

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Frazer Nagy [00:08:30]:

That journey just to your point. You know, it's a great segue question there because, you know, hospitality has evolved, right? And, you know, we'll get into the economics piece of tables where, you know, this is the first dollar an operator has ever seen that has no cost of goods, right? So when someone. And it's not that every table upgrade is paid, you know, 35% of our bookings are free. And that's an important part of it, of our equation as well. But if someone pays $20 or $50 or $100 for that table, that’s when you're only making 6%, 8%, even 15% margins, that's a major difference. When, let's say you and I go out for dinner, we spend $100, but they're only making ten. But then we were willing to spend $30 on the table with no cost of goods. So we'll definitely get into that and what that means.

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Frazer Nagy [00:09:19]:

But the guest service part is where it starts. And you think about what you just were describing, that generational shift, right? You know, dining was an occasion for our parents, you know, and, you know, we can be nostalgic. There's something beautiful about that. They would go out once a month. That was, like, for families that could even afford that. Like that. Dining was often even an exclusive experience for many. You know, certainly in the middle class family I came from.

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Frazer Nagy [00:09:46]:

My dad was fortunate. He remembers he would. But my mom's side never went out for dinner. They were farmers, like, it wasn't a thing. Right? So our generation, when we're now 2023, we'll officially pass. It was lagged because of COVID but we're gonna spend $51 for every food dollar eat dining out now, right? So restaurants will officially surpass. And if you think of that demographic concentration as well, well, that's much higher in cities like New York, Chicago, Miami, like people. So you're aggregating that across a whole country, never mind this concentration in these urban cities.

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Frazer Nagy [00:10:20]:

So, like, we take dining for granted. So I could get very philosophical about that, but in this context, I think there's obviously a real need. So, you know, I used to work. I've worked in restaurants since I was 13. Very first job was at a banquet hall golf course. I had a little bow tie, you know, these little italian weddings in my hometown, and. But, you know, I ended up dishwashing. I was.

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Frazer Nagy [00:10:43]:

I was really, you know, figured out how to make a Caesar salad and deep fried onion rings at a restaurant once as a, you know, I can't even call it a gard manger position, whatever that was. But, you know, I really had a gift for the gab and really enjoyed serving. Genuinely did. And the providence of food and the whole storytelling element that came with working in good farm table restaurants. But wherever I was, whether I was working corporate or really good fine dining or classic sort of scratch kitchens, we used to get calls all the time. And for four years, I worked at this fine dining restaurant as a. From sort of 19 to 22, 23, bus boy, maitre D, junior server trying to get promoted. And I really learned that game, that Tetris game, that is reservation management in a busy restaurant.

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Frazer Nagy [00:11:31]:

And, you know, we used to get these calls like, hey, it's my anniversary coming up. Hey, we're six for business dinner. Can we have your best table? And I used to think, what the fuck is my best table? And then, what is that? To you, right. Because everyone has their own different definition. There was one that seemingly was the best, but again, we would think, like, here's our super vip. We're going to put them on our best table. And for some reason they were unhappy because it was too drafty. It wasn't this.

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Frazer Nagy [00:11:59]:

They wanted to be in a more secluded area, so I just couldn't. And then as I got older and started getting into the startup land and started reading, thinking about, well, from open table data to National Restaurant association data, everyone says this is the most demanded guest service. How could something so simple be so difficult for a restaurant to execute on?

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:19]:

That's super interesting. That's crazy when you think about it. You mentioned 25 years. I know open table is one of the first to do what they did, and at the time, it was revolutionary what they did, but it's crazy to imagine that it's already been 25 years. It's making me feel old, man. I'm like, wow, feels like ten years ago. But that's crazy. I'd love to understand.

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:40]:

Maybe you mentioned the experience you've had in the hospitality space. I think that's such a great way to get that insight, see that pain point and maybe spark that idea. Was Tablz the first startup you had, or have you had other kind of startups? And I'd love to maybe walk people through your journey of what led to tables.

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Frazer Nagy [00:12:59]:

Yeah, I keep mentioning this mission like farmers table, and it is something very near and dear to my heart. And I have wolf. I will always prefer and rank great, scratch kitchens over for my choice of dining, just because I fundamentally believe in what it does for our economy when we procure the right ingredients and from the right people. So my first, you know, although I do have a degree in international economics and econometrics, which you can really tell why Tablz has come to be my love of hospitality and my fascination with economics and restaurant economics. But the first one, yeah, I had a project that I started called Transparent kitchen. It was a real first time founder journey. I saved up $18,000 of my server busboy tip money. I paid off my student loan.

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Frazer Nagy [00:13:49]:

I was, you know, felt like I was way ahead of my friends in that regard. I was always a very frugal kid, but, you know, $18,000, there's a lot of beer money for a 23, four year old. It's not a lot of tech money. You learn quickly, but somehow we made it way further than we should have. And the quick premise there is, I got very fascinated with the storytelling of the ingredients. So we essentially built still to this day, I think, shout out to my friends over at Popmenu. They, you know, they've really built an awesome system for menu management and websites, and I love it, but we essentially tried to build an interactive visual menu for the restaurant's website. And the thesis was, in 2015, every single restaurant just takes their paper menu and puts it as a PDF online.

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Frazer Nagy [00:14:39]:

And what a boring experience that is very similar. You can see the parallels now with reservations and the things we've learned from that. But, you know, when you look at a black cod, hand caught, or this chicken, you know, the classic Portlandia episode, the chicken named Hank or whatever, where he knows, they want to know exactly where it comes from. You know, I was one of those people, and I still am, and I really care, especially where my animal proteins come from. And. But, you know, it's amazing to know that this restaurant's buying, you know, the mushrooms from a local farm or this, this, and, you know, these, these local veggies grown on the rooftop. Like, people want to know when they care. Now, the thing there is we created this crazy interactive menu where you could see not only the chicken dish, but even where the chicken came from and which suppliers.

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Frazer Nagy [00:15:24]:

And we were even getting to that level of, like, granularity of visual storytelling, and it was amazing. We end up working with hundreds of restaurants in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Toronto region, dozens of suppliers as we started connecting in their supply chain into the menu. What I learned very quickly is, although there are millions of people like me that really care where their food comes from, is that a sufficient bar to create something like that from a venture back or business? How do you charge the restaurant for this? How do you connect that storytelling to real bottom line? And these are a lot of the questions that are really tough, and I think most succinctly expressed in the concept of a nice to have versus a neat. So all this is very great, nice to have, and chefs really, really cared about it. Well, I've said maybe chef driven restaurants. Well, where does that fall for some of the bigger restaurants? And by the way, some of those bigger restaurants that might only procure 20% of good products and 80% might be, you know, in the questionable or standard. You know, let's not say they're evil, but, like, you know, there's no story there. You're just buying Cisco rice, you know? Right.

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Frazer Nagy [00:16:30]:

Well, where does that fall? So all of a sudden, you start realizing, you know, market share. You don't want to end up as a founder. You don't want to greenwash, you don't want to just pretend just to pull up numbers. So it's very, it's very interesting that when you're in, I would call it more social enterprise or ethics and business clash. The niche we did find, though, was definitely allergies, and I would call them picky diners. Like, 90% of adults now have an allergy, whether it's real or imagined.

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:59]:

Right. Gluten intolerance is popping up the last ten years or so.

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Frazer Nagy [00:17:04]:

So, hey, if you're in that category, one in five people that, you know, maybe you don't care about the ethics, but you really don't want to eat gluten. Well, this, that was a really good software for them. So that was it. A lot of lessons there. You know, we got up to one, 1.4 million users and hundreds of restaurants, like, we had traction. Just, you know, classic question, could we figure out how to make money from that?

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:27]:

Right, right. But you know what, it's funny because, you know, before WISK, I've had other startups failed. Most of them failed. But, you know, when I say startups, I don't just mean I tried it, like, similar to you, like, really went deep, spent years, money team, you know, and kind of failed, or at least didn't take off where I wanted it to. But if I think about all the learnings that I got during those years and then applied to WISK, it's crazy. And even now, I like, like, I was talking to somebody the other day and I was telling them if I were to redo WISK with what I know now, like, all just the tech and startup and raising capital and hiring mistakes and, you know, you name it, I could probably do what I did in, you know, seven years. Now. It's been technically since I started, probably do it in like two years, you know, and it's those lessons that you're able to learn.

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Angelo Esposito [00:18:17]:

So, yeah, I guess that's a big part of it, right. You take what you learn, applied it to Tablz, and it's probably part of the reason that Tablz is gaining traction and you're seeing that success, right.

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Frazer Nagy [00:18:30]:

It is. We def, you know, there's a few things. Two, I guess, success success metrics that, you know, were very observable. One was just the building the Alpha MVP. You know, it was hard to even say in that first business. It took us a year to two, honestly, to have something that was functional that, like, not just the pilot restaurant, but the second 3rd could adopt in the same way so whatever alpha Beta you want to call that, in this case, it only took us six weeks. Like, it really was like a significant observable difference of time and energy to get something that multiple restaurants could use simultaneously pretty quickly. And then, yeah, certainly decisions around what type of, like that identification again, of a, what you are and why that matters.

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Frazer Nagy [00:19:16]:

And what I mean by this is like, we clearly are a one sided marketplace today. And that is very important for those that understand technology because we don't have the Uber, Airbnb, classic two sided marketplace issue, where do we have enough drivers? Do we have enough restaurants? Do we have enough users? Well, the great thing is we're just putting it right at the point of interaction of reservations so we don't have to go out and spend millions of dollars attracting people to download Tablz today. And that was so important because if I fundamentally believe, we just wouldn't even have anything off the ground. Imagine you in a restaurant. I go to you and say, hey, by the way, this is the one of the most significant user behavior shifts you probably will ever experience in your restaurant. Good news, it's free. Good news, it makes you a ton of money. Good news, it's all driven by consumers.

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Frazer Nagy [00:20:00]:

So that makes it a lot less scary than getting in a stranger's car and Uber. But imagine you do this with me, and I said, maybe in six, nine months I'll get my first table, right? Because I got to attract these. There's like, I don't think that would ever.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:12]:

Right.

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Frazer Nagy [00:20:13]:

You know, the obstacles you face with restaurants like that plus that equals no game. I think this is the only way we're able to go to market. And then eventually, hey, I think we have a real shot. Like already the business is selling tens and tens of thousands of dollars of Tables per week, per month, and it's growing every, every day. But, you know, there's a whole other price at the end of this rainbow that is pretty cool. And I think our capital partners and our restaurants that really get it today as early adopters, they see it, too.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:44]:

That's awesome. And so if I, you know, as, you know, right at risk, we deal with thousands of restaurants as well, but we, we help with what you alluded to, which is the cogs. Right. And that, that's been going up with, with just costs going up in general and supplier relations and all that stuff. So we really try to help with that percentage, like you mentioned, right. You sell a, might be just cost of goods, you know, the other, the other 30 or whatever might be labor and then you have a bit left over, and then you have your operational costs, you name it. But I'd love for maybe all the restaurants listening to walk through some of the maybe unit economics. So, like, it sounds like a great value prop.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:20]:

So, you know, we kind of walk through the client experience, go on the website, click on the booking, do I want a regular reservation or this much better experience where I can choose where I want to sit, etc. Etc. At a fee. Great. Now, what does the restaurant, you know, side look like? So if I'm a restauranter, I own a restaurant. I know I have some key, you know, real estate in terms of Tablz. Walk me through that process.

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Frazer Nagy [00:21:45]:

Yeah. First and foremost, we're chatting with restaurants. I'll eat, I'll quite quickly try to ease their initial fear. I don't know what's in the mint, in the Michula. I don't know what part of the brain it is, but the place that sends all those. Those chemicals rushing forward. And the premise here is I too have managed a number of restaurants, and it is a Tetris game as a joke. So the first fear we always get is like, my God, we give away a table, the whole house of cards comes crumbling down.

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Frazer Nagy [00:22:13]:

And of course it doesn't. And there's a few reasons we really focus. Although there are, like, very specific, unique tables that we highly covet. And they should too, because there's like, say, this one corner spot is unlike anything else in the restaurant. Well, guess what? Like, you should use that. There's two ways to look at it. You either look at it as like this. We should revenue maximize this table to its fullest extent, or that is the one sacred table we only ever give away to our.

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Frazer Nagy [00:22:44]:

I call them super vip's. And honestly, both are fine with us. Because if it's not that, if it's that one guarded sacred real estate, and you need it for whatever, super vip, that's fine with us. If you're that type of restaurant, guess what? We know there's gonna be ten other tables that are highly coveted. So from there, we move into what we call sort of these cluster sections. So take us in a restaurant, you can picture it anyway. The six tables along the window, the four booths carved out on the one wall. Well, what we're really narrowing in on is that our user base doesn't care if it's that table or that one.

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Frazer Nagy [00:23:16]:

They just want to be along that cluster, like the booth, side by side. There's no real differentiated experience, but they want that wall. They want that window selection. And so that gives our operators, like, all the operational flexibility of the world. Plus they get the revenue component. So this was probably our biggest lesson over the year. And what we go in with these operators, we just say, hey, okay, let's identify these key sections. They have different functions of value.

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Frazer Nagy [00:23:41]:

We consult on that. We offer them a toll hosted data that we're learning from all of our other partners. Think of it, crowdsourced all this data information. You know, you're midtown Manhattan versus little Havana in Cuba or in Miami. Like, you know, there's different functions that we're learning, and it's great. So from there, it's pretty simple. Like, they just price that. We shoot the restaurant, we create the sections, we price it.

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Frazer Nagy [00:24:06]:

We, we, people can upgrade. And this is probably the last most important piece for the operator. They keep their existing reservation system. So you have open table, you have seven rooms, no problem to us. We have no pony in that race. You pick the system that's best for you, and then Tablz puts that reservation right into your system. So when your GM shows up at 02:00 p.m., noon, whatever, off or shift or in your host team, well, the Tablz table is already at the specific location, and so there's no dragging and dropping. We see so many operators now using multiple reservation systems, they're manually recreating reservations in another system.

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Frazer Nagy [00:24:46]:

This is the best part. We are like a digital and physical concierge behind the scenes, and it's only going to get smarter and better as we pursue even deeper integrations with these partners. But we really mean it when it's just, it goes live and people upgrade and it goes into your system.

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:03]:

Yeah. And it does make, it make a massive difference. I remember when you got, you know, speaking of little Havana in Miami, when you guys got cafe la trova, place I frequent once in a while. Awesome vibe. I think they're top 50 best bars in the world, if I'm not mistaken. So they have a great cocktail program, great food. But I remember, you know, every time I go, they got live music. It's a really good vibe.

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:25]:

And it's funny because the day you got it, I was like, this is such a good fit. I mean, there's many different scenarios, but I was like, this is perfect tables because you want to sit in the right spot when there's that live music and just the ambience of that place. So it really resonates. And I think one of the big things, at least in my opinion, about tables, is once you interact with it, right. So it's like, it's one thing they hear about it, but if people actually go, example on cafe or go to one of the restaurants you partner with and they actually see it, I find it makes all the difference, you know, kind of pictures worth a thousand words. Like, I remember when I saw it, I was like, wow, this is great. I can see where I want to sit. And it just speaks volumes to the, the customer experience of, like, how.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:08]:

How refreshing it is to have that, you know, capability. So, um, that's awesome. Um, I think one of the things I'd love to maybe walk through is so, you know, from the restaurant's point of view, I think at least from what I'm hearing, it sounds like the risk is pretty low. There's no switching cost because they're using the regular reservation system, which is awesome. One less hurdle and thing for the restaurants to worry about. Um, so what is, what does the onboarding look like? Right, so you get to a restaurant, they're like, hey, Frazer, this sounds pretty cool. I wanna try it. What happens? Walk me through it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:41]:

What happens next?

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Frazer Nagy [00:26:43]:

Yeah, it's very straightforward. Again, we just need a clean, we say camera ready dining room. So make sure your mouth bucket isn't sitting next to the bar and make sure the tables are correct for Stephanie. Some of the early operators, we can't make it to all the shoots ourselves. Like, the great news is we have people coming around. We're getting inbounds from Europe now too. And we're not going to be able to have myself or my team on the ground. But we've already been there helping straighten the linen and the knives and making sure their candles are lit, because it doesn't matter.

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Frazer Nagy [00:27:17]:

This camera, they're 4k. They pick up every little detail, and that's what you want, because the restaurants we're working with, whether it's, again, a sports bar to really experiential or fine dining, like, they have invested likely low millions, if not more, into the aesthetic of their space. And it's pretty crazy to me. Again, someone who just spent, let's say, $2 million renovating their restaurant has an open table widget. Like, not really the experience. And good luck. Still today, with all of the trillions of photos we take of restaurants and food, try to find, like, a half decent interior photo of a restaurant in 2023. It's like the most bizarre thing, thing in my mind ever that even Google can't extract the right content of the dining room.

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Frazer Nagy [00:27:58]:

So there's a lot of value there. So really, it's just about getting the place clean, ready to go. We shoot it, we can do it at night. So a lot of candlelits, we can do it during the day. We really try to mirror that vibe. In some cases we've done winter and summer shoots. Some cases we've had night ant. So we get to work with the restaurants in that way.

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Frazer Nagy [00:28:16]:

And then the rest of it is sort of what we addressed in the last question, where, hey, we make some recommendations. Those window tables, those booths. But most GM's, most operators already know inherently. We just, we like to say, we just make those little bit of tweaks for them, push them in this direction. In that direction. Based on what we're seeing, this is the first time they've ever had to think of it this way. And we generally start them off with maybe lower, lower prices in the twelve to $20 range or 2030. And then what we're seeing is systematically with certain properties, we just start slowly creeping it higher.

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Frazer Nagy [00:28:48]:

There's always a logical point. We still want to make sure, by the way, like 05:00 p.m. Flip times we highly encourage those are free because we see those at this elasticity point where we're certainly not charging Monday at 05:00 p.m. Versus Saturday at seven. What a different function of demand. But even maybe it's Saturday at five for a restaurant that is very busy. Well, what if we use that pricing psychology, that elasticity of demand, which is called in economics, to say, oh, well, if I come in at five, I get the best table for free, but if I come in at 638, it's likely booked up, but, you know, I get it. So for those more, you know, for those people that are willing to move, but then we see what's really interesting.

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Frazer Nagy [00:29:26]:

There's time and data where, let's say it's $20 at 545 or, sorry, free at 545 and $20 at six. Like you think, oh, why wouldn't you just go 50 minutes early? And the amount of people just book six? Because that's when they want to come in. And prices in an object like this is where we're going, you know, really trying to implement on that restaurant. So you just got to shoot it, then we help you with it, and then it just goes on your website. I know every, every restaurant tech says there's a three step process that sounds like such a cliche, but I think ours actually is.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:57]:

So that's awesome. And so once it's on the site, they can decide how many days, how many tables so they can ease into it if they want. Let certain days open, let certain times open. And then what's been the reaction? So once people, I'm imagining that the first time, you know, maybe a restaurant owner or operator gets, gets that booking, what's that like for them?

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Frazer Nagy [00:30:17]:

You know, I'll be honest, I think they, you know, we're at the stage right now where they're just like, please don't go wrong.

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Angelo Esposito [00:30:23]:

Right?

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Frazer Nagy [00:30:23]:

Like, and I'll be, I'll be brutally honest because it's so new and their psychology is like, no, no complaints is a, is a good thing because there's, you know, this initial reactions are just, and I say frankly, like the, the industry operates at such a position of fear generally, right? Like we would, we, even if we know we're running out of money, we would rather just like put our head down and hope for the best. So, so I get it. I'm from the industry, we operate from that position and we recognize that a lot of this is like hand holding. And then, you know, what happens by a weekend, by two weeks in, by month, it's like oh I get it. This just sort of runs behind the scenes. The reservations end up in our system. Oh, our first paycheck. Oh we just made a thousand this month we made two.

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Frazer Nagy [00:31:08]:

Oh my, this is new to me. I'm getting checks from my technology providers every, every month with no cost of goods. Like so you know, it's going to take a while to build roam here. We get it. We're working with our 1st 20 really good hospitality groups that own a couple hundred properties. You know they're start with one, then they add two, then they had five. And you know we have some really, really big groups now sniffing around global brand names. But we know we're, no, they're not, everyone is willing to be in that frame adopter.

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Frazer Nagy [00:31:37]:

Right. And so we really, you know, we're really grateful for some of these incredible groups like Cafe Latrova, like LDV Scarpetta, American cut and Mercer street. And you know there's, there's some in good company hospitality here in New York has been such an incredible partner with us with refinery rooftop and, and you just see like these early adopters and they're already like now they're adding group bookings. So hey, like try to get a tent top in New York or Chicago and Miami like good luck. Yeah, because open table caps out at seven, right? And then you get into this weird ambiguous private event space of like 35 plus so, like, just twelve friends going out for dinner is like the Olympics in most major cities. I'm trying to get a table, so I think we have some really interesting areas to fill. But we just want to make sure, as you said, that first reaction. Guys, it's going to be okay.

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Frazer Nagy [00:32:27]:

You know, we're not going to bat 100%. There's going to be a hiccup here. But right now we're batting like 99. So. So, you know, let's, let's keep that up. And we're only, it's only going to get stronger year over year, so that's awesome.

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Angelo Esposito [00:32:39]:

It's so true. I never thought about the, the, you know, plus ten thing, but, but now that you mentioned, I was kind of smiling because I was just realizing it's happened to me where it's like that. You're in that awkward zone of your. Right. Whether it's open table or another system, it's like, hey, I can't do more than seven or eight. And then you go to the website and there's a whole kind of private event. Email this person who's typically going to be available more of a nine to five. So you're kind of like in this weird in between zone.

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Angelo Esposito [00:33:04]:

So it's super interesting. And I wanted to ask you is how is you find that there's like, I'm just thinking of this out loud now, but I would imagine there's maybe some type of referral, natural referral that happens not just from the restaurant size, because I know the restaurants are close and, you know, they usually recommend what tech they're using and things grow like that. But what about from the client side? Like, if someone booked at a restaurant had that good experience, do you think there's a likelihood that when they frequent a restaurant, maybe they know better? They're bringing that up? Have you seen any kind of referrals come from that side?

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Frazer Nagy [00:33:37]:

Yeah, you know, it's, it's. We're going on 30, maybe even more now. 30, 40,000 guests have used tables at this point. And, and if you think of where we start, like, so it took us from January 1, 2022 to June 1, 2022 to sell our 1st $10,000 worth of tables and do our first, like, x thousands of bookings. And we did that last week alone. So there's a compounding nature to this whole thing. So that's very exciting. You know, we're just out of COVID I think people in the life cycle of our industry, you know, some of our hometown markets back up in Canada, you know, Toronto was literally on government lockdown on February 17, 2022, right.

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Frazer Nagy [00:34:22]:

You know, New York was still in restricted capacity in March. Like, we were only a little over a year into this. So it's really cool to see what is. 2023 was a real, you know, 2022 was like, PTSD. We survived. 2023 was maybe our coming out party. And, you know, 2024 is, I think we'll see some real compound, you know, compounding, you know, hopefully outcomes to our results or from our actions. So to that point, like, man, I could.

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Frazer Nagy [00:34:49]:

I could talk to you all day about where I would love to see our consume, like, our user, our guest interactions happen. You know, I'm going to say a few things around, maybe not directly about referrals, but, you know, we have a. We have a property here in Manhattan where we shot it at sunset because the amount of people that demand to go for sunset to watch set over the Empire State is incredible. Right? And I want to get. Think of this psychology. Like, right now, you make a booking maybe just for 06:00 p.m. Because that's when you're hungry and want to go out to eat. So there's a whole category of people that just browse and they're just like, oh, do you want.

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Frazer Nagy [00:35:23]:

Hey, sweetie, do you want a burger tonight or do you want pizza? Then there's this category of destination restaurants which drive a huge portion. It's like, no, I want to go to this restaurant tonight. So not this because I'm hungry. I'm trying to get this reservation. But, like, what is the next category? Like, where do you take discovery? Well, hey, like, think of what Airbnb's doing in travel. Oh, you want to stay in an igloo tonight? You want to stay in a castle tonight? Like, they're pushing the boundaries. What happens? Right? So what does that mean for dining? Hey, do you want to go see the sunset with a glass of sparkling in our hands? Like, what a beautiful experience. Do you want to go, hey, we'll do a great brunch along a seaside.

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Frazer Nagy [00:35:57]:

Like, we do that, maybe subconsciously. But if tables could make that a far different experience than 06:00 p.m. Or 08:00 p.m., widget, I think we could radically change. And guess what? We have all the 4k scans of all the real estate. So, you know, when I think we get there, from group hookings to these experiences, we do have inherent network effects that are in our favor. And I think when we start really getting out there, they're just going to start compounding, which I'm really excited for.

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Angelo Esposito [00:36:27]:

That's awesome, man. And I definitely can see that happening. As you're mentioning sunset, I'm thinking of just even my own kind of bookings when I have friends visit me in Miami. You know, one of the things that we go, you should go to this, one of our clients, we should go to this sunset. We have a sunset menu and they got a beautiful view of the, the water. So it's like, we know that's a spot, and if it's a weekend and, you know, we know another good spot that's like in a state park. And it's got an unobstructed view of the sun, sunset, because it's literally on the, on the water. So it's so true that subconsciously we're doing that anyway.

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Angelo Esposito [00:37:02]:

So making it easier to do that makes a ton of sense. So where would you like to see, you know, Tablz next year? I mean, I'm obviously growth in terms of restaurants, but I'd love to kind of hear, you know, if you want share your vision of what's, what's next for Tablz, you know, as growth keeps compounding.

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Frazer Nagy [00:37:21]:

Yeah. On the product side and that guest experience, it's the, everything is about that. The differentiation between maybe one experience to the next. So what makes this restaurant special, both at the high level, but then what makes it really like, what is the thing you can table or the time of day? So let's just throw this whole category of vibe and differentiation. So I want to get to the point where you can even click on not only are you on the table, but I want to see what the vibe is at 05:00 p.m. 07:00 p.m. Versus 10:00 p.m. And I think we can get there before any other platform can, which is really, really exciting.

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Frazer Nagy [00:37:57]:

So that's where I want to see it go on that end and just make this the most experiential booking experience anyone's ever seen. It already is certainly, I can probably safely say that already, but I think we're, again, only 20% of the way there. And so making it to what it could be. And then, you know, who knows? Like, what's going to happen with all of these new visual ways that, you know, Apple's announcing products, like, you know, when we look two, three years from now? Well, like, this thing changed everything ten years ago. Now we're going on 15. But, like, what's the next room? And certainly I think we're in the right position. We don't know where that's going to go, but maybe you have something that connects that. You then walk through that dining room and say, you can pick that table versus again, a widget that says 06:00 p.m.

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Frazer Nagy [00:38:43]:

Or 08:00 p.m. So I'm excited for that. I think in the next year, let's just start with stuff that already exists. Bringing in video content, bringing in vibe content, making what a lot of our operators have said, bridging the reality to their digital guest experience. So what's going to happen when you get there? Well, guess what? You can have a taste of that. It's never going to replicate, right? Go to Cafe La Trovo. We can put a video of people dancing to that amazing music and eating that. Incredible.

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Frazer Nagy [00:39:06]:

I've dined there twice now. Just honestly, some of the best food I've ever eaten. That's never going to be replaced. And that's why you and I love the hospitality biz, you know, that's why I'm not in crypto or I'm not an AI right now. I'm not smart enough to be an AI, but that's definitely why I'm not in it is actually, there's a human element that I don't think will ever be replaced in our industry, and I think that's still what keeps a lot of us in it. So, and then on the restaurant side, you know, things always, they never go as fast as you want. I could say I want a thousand partners by next year. Of course, it's, you know, we're going to still grow at the pace that we can.

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Frazer Nagy [00:39:41]:

But it really starts, you know, in this business with relationships and, you know, we have, again, it's not nothing to sneeze at. Beginning with 20 amazing hospitality groups and growing from there and as you said, making sure that the initial value they saw is accurate, which certainly is, they're not taking properties, they're adding and making sure that their friends see what they saw. And if, yeah, you weren't that first adopter, you're the second adopter. Well, no problem to us. That's totally fine. Let's get there. That's how I see it. So it's, it's, again, it's going to be a psychological battle for operators just making sure they're comfortable.

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Frazer Nagy [00:40:18]:

Although as we described in this call today, all these benefits, free money, get better guest experience. You know, it doesn't mean you can just snap your fingers and do that and then on the guest side. Just making this the most beautiful interactive tool that you've ever, ever seen for booking your next dining experience.

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Angelo Esposito [00:40:36]:

I love it, man. Very well said. So maybe just end off. So for people that, you know, just to reiterate, for people who want to find you, for restaurants who want to, you know, learn more, sign up, maybe try tell me where can they find you? What's the process look like? If they want to maybe, you know, sign up and then, yeah, I'd love to kind of share that with them.

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Frazer Nagy [00:40:56]:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, go to our website, tablz.com T-A-B-L-Z, for our connects to the north there and it's, you know, go there. There's a few sort of samples of some of our partners that are using it really well. But, you know, I will say sorry, sorry. All the diners out there, we don't have like a marketplace today where you can browse all the tables. That's strategic. We planned that. But definitely for operators, come check it out, use it.

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Frazer Nagy [00:41:25]:

It's free to join. Shoot us a message in the contact. Say hi to Angelo, get him to bug him to get my number. But no, it's very, very easy. Just Frazerables.com, some my first name and there's no shortage of ways to get ahold of us. So certainly we would love to, love to have you. If you're a great restaurant doing great things and have a beautiful dining room.

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Angelo Esposito [00:41:46]:

Amazing. Thank you for sharing that. Well, guys, you heard it here, tablz.com. Changing the game when it comes to reservations for restaurants here with the CEO and founder, Frazer. Frazer, thanks for being here today.

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Frazer Nagy [00:41:58]:

Thanks, brother. Thanks for having me on.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:01]:

Feel free to check out WISK.ai for more resources and schedule a demo with one of our product specialists to see if it's a fit for.

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