Restaurateur Nick Kokonas isn’t waiting for Congress to come to his rescue

In the span of a week last month, both of Nick Kokonas’s businesses ground to a halt. His restaurants, which include Chicago’s award-winning Alinea and Roister, were forced to close their doors to stop the spread of COVID-19. And Tock, his restaurant reservation platform, which was used by more than 3,000 restaurants, came to a virtual standstill. So Kokonas pivoted both businesses by turning his restaurants into carry-out venues and transforming Tock into Tock to Go, an ordering platform for restaurants that want to offer customers pick-up or delivery options. Here, he talks about how he’s future-proofing his businesses for the COVID-19 era and why he thinks other restaurants should follow his lead. 

I gathered my team in early March and said, “This is coming, and we need to get through it.” Before I became involved in the restaurant industry, I was a derivatives trader, so I follow markets and worldwide events. Tock, our reservation management platform, also has clients in 30 countries. I could see the restaurants in Hong Kong that we serve going from 96% full to zero in a week.

We decided to turn the five restaurants in the Alinea group into carry-out places...
   ...more

RSK: Now that is a doer rather than a complainer and woe is me person. Making lemonade out of lemons.