Web Giant Squarespace Acquires Restaurant Booking Platform Tock

After changing operations to help restaurants take orders during a pandemic that made indoor dining risky, Chicago-based Tock was acquired by Squarespace for $ 400 million in cash and stock, according to a Press release. Tock, co-founded in 2014 by Nick Kokonas of the Alinea Group, has become the go-to booking portal for Michelin-starred restaurants such as French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Eleven Madison Park in New York.

Kokonas and the company created the site to reduce customer no-shows: When Tock launched, the site required customers to prepay for their meals – a controversial strategy, but one that restaurant owners say better guaranteed that the seats were full.

OpenTable was Tock’s main rival, and Kokonas constantly took photos on the platform, which was sold in 2014 for $ 2.6 billion to Priceline Group. He called OpenTable a dinosaur, saying the interface was outdated and didn’t allow for flexibility; for example, restaurants could not intuitively add special events or pop-ups. Another rival, Resy, was sold in 2019 to American Express.

The city of Chicago praised Tock last year for helping restaurants – especially those that have never sold takeout – to sell carryover and delivery orders. With a 3% commission, it was more affordable for restaurants than the 15-30% fee that other third parties like DoorDash and Grubhub charge its customers. Tock has also broadened its footprint to include more than elite restaurants and to offer traditional reservations, not just prepaid ones. Museums, pizzerias and dive bars are among the new clients retained in 2020.

Squarespace is based in New York City and known for building websites. In January, officials said they confidential filed an IPO, according to Bloomberg. The Tock team remains in place in Chicago and Kokonas is still its CEO. Kokonas declined to comment when he arrived Wednesday afternoon. A press release from Squarespace says there will be no change in service for customers who use Tock, but Squarespace customers will see changes “to access Tock technology in the coming months.”

Tock has about 7,000 hospitality customers across the country and has processed more than $ 10 billion in sales in 200 cities, according to a press release.

Disclosure: Ben Leventhal de Resy was one of the co-founders of Eater, but is no longer involved in its operations.

• Squarespace buys Tech Startup Tock for $ 400 million and more [Yahoo]
• Squarespace says it has been classified in confidence to go public in the United States [Bloomberg]