Tock Named Among Most Innovative Companies 2021

Tock, Nick Kokonas’ restaurant reservation platform, has been named one of the Most Innovative Companies 2021 by Fast Company, which calls it ‘the startup that saved the restaurant industry in the nick of time’.

The annual list of innovative companies is highly regarded in the tech world, and for a company like Tock to make the grade can only be recognition of the incredible work done by the its team. Seeing opportunity in the crisis, the company pivoted to Tock To Go, and at the same time allowed thousands of independent restaurants across the US and other countries to offer their menus for take-out and delivery.

Before the pandemic, Tock was similar to Open Table, another ailing reservation platform, focusing on high-end restaurant reservations only. However, the Tock To Go concept transformed its business model and helped them move out of sight of their nearest competitors.

See Fine Dining Lovers' 2020 Visionaries List 

Tock To Go provides a more equitable alternative to other delivery platforms such as DoorDash and Seamless, which notoriously charge restaurants as much as 30% commission. Tock charges restaurants a flat monthly fee of $199 plus 2% on orders, or just 3% on orders without a subscription (the service offers a 'pro' plan for $699 a month, charging nothing for bookings and 2% on Tock To Go orders). 

Unlike the big food delivery platforms Tock allows restaurants to keep their data, allowing them to develop meaningful relationships with their customer base, and without it being passed on to the restaurant next door.

Kokonas became aware of the coming coronavirus catastrophe when looking at Tock data, he saw bookings for a Hong Kong restaurant fall off a cliff. Kokonas, a former derivatives trader, saw the crisis as an opportunity and immediately had his development retooling the reservations platform to facilitate takeout.