In the wake of an Eater Investigation some weeks back, TablePronto—a reservation scalper service—has responded to the less than enthusiastic reactions it has received here and elsewhere. One of the website's founders, Antoine Powell, left a lengthy, explanatory comment in response to our last post on the matter, a statement from Aqua GM Jean Claude Persais. Furthermore, SF Weekly picked up the story today and found some similar statements from the TablePronto founderman. We'd be remiss if we didn't share both sides of the story, so here are some select quotes from Powell:
1) On public reaction: "We are used to the public having a wide variety of reactions to our service. Surely, anything “new” or different gets that kind of reaction. But what we have seen in our experience is that once people understand us a little better than they really come to like our service." [Eater Comments]
2) On the restaurant industry: "We're trying to live harmoniously with the restaurant community ... We don't want to encourage a scalper frenzy. You're not going to make a living off selling these reservations. Nobody is." [SFW]
3) On the demand here: "It's not that hard to get reservations in San Francisco ... But our customers are paying for their last-minute decisions." [SFW]
And so it goes. Do as you must, diners of San Francisco. The decision—and conscience—is yours and yours alone. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, there are just two reservations available online now, so if you want to spend Friday night at Perbacco or Town Hall, it'll just cost you $10.)
· Reservation Scalpers [SFW]
· Restaurants, OpenTable Investigating TablePronto [~ESF~]
· Reservation Scalping Hits San Francisco [~ESF~]
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