For years, New York City restaurants experienced a black market for reservations, where scalpers and bots bought up reservations and resold them for hundreds or even thousands of dollars on platforms like Cita Marketplace and Appointment Trader. This affected restaurants like Carbone, Balthazar, and The Polo Bar.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act in December 2025, prohibiting the resale of reservations on secondary markets. The goal was to protect consumers and businesses, ensuring everyone has a fair chance at securing a table.
Margot Finn, an author and professor of Food Studies, questions whether a truly fair system is possible, arguing that popular restaurants have always catered to an in-crowd. She suggests that while the ban prevents exclusivity based on wealth, it may make the system less democratic by not allowing anyone to pay their way in.
Jonas Frey, founder of Appointment Trader, countered that his platform merely reflected supply and demand, profiting from the high demand for free reservations. Appointment Trader, active globally, made half of its sales in New York, taking a 20-30% commission per booking.
Resy, a popular reservation platform, supports the ban and pointed out that mass reservation purchases often result in unnecessarily empty tables and wasted resources for restaurants. The act contrasts the experiences of the super-rich and the average American, highlighting the challenges of accessing popular dining venues in a city with a high demand for eating out.
The article also briefly examines the situation in Amsterdam, where Appointment Trader operates, noting that while resales happen, they are less frequent and the amounts involved are smaller. The Amsterdam restaurant De Kas, for example, noted this practice was ‘verschrikkelijk’.