Leventhal: Resy cut fees to zero during COVID, setting industry precedent
Ben Leventhal · Resy and Eater: Ben Leventhal · Jan 20, 2025 · at 48:37
Resy co-founder Ben Leventhal describes how the reservation platform navigated the early COVID-19 crisis following its sale to American Express.
0:00 / 0:19exact quote · 19.7s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“We did two things, and we did them very fast, and then the industry followed. One is, we cut fees to zero. We thought it was really important, symbolically, to say, we are not in a position to be collecting money from restaurants right now, and a lot of the industry, other tech companies followed that, and I think it was important that we did that.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ben Leventhal
Leventhal: Consumers resist surge pricing because restaurants feel democratic
“There's something about hospitality that forces consumers into a different mental model than they are using for other Entertainment categories. And I think it's the intimacy of it. I think it's the legacy and the history of hospitality. Restaurants in people's…”
Ben Leventhal: Early online media prioritized publishing speed over accuracy
“The priority was pace and speed, and certainly that took precedence over, I would say, accuracy in some cases.”
Leventhal: Restaurants are orders of magnitude harder than other small businesses
“If you think about the moving parts at the average independent restaurant and how complicated The production and assembly and delivery of food is to the table, and you compare that to any other small business, it's orders of magnitude more difficult.”
Leventhal: Metering restaurant software fees based on booking volume is insane
“The idea that more successful restaurants pay more is insane. You pay us a flat fee. Use the software as much as you want it.”
Leventhal: Eater avoided reviews and photos at launch to prioritize publishing speed
“Now, we did say, we're not gonna write reviews. And we also said, we're not going to post photos of food. And we said, we're really not interested in, in adding to the noise with more photos of food. And we're really not interested in writing reviews because w…”