The Tim Ferriss Show #341: Nick Kokonas — How to Apply World-Class Creativity to Business, Art, and Life
Launching Alinea with Trust
- Nick Kokonas met Grant Achatz and quickly recognized his talent despite not knowing him well.
- They launched Alinea within a year after collaborative planning and trusting the unknown journey.
Prepaid Deposits Solve Overbooking
- Traditional restaurant reservations are inefficient due to no-shows and overbooking.
- Introducing prepaid deposits creates commitment and improves yield management for restaurants.
Use Transparency to Hire Right
- Be transparent and clear about job expectations during hiring to allow self-selection.
- Ask candidates about recent books read to gauge intellectual curiosity and avoid insincere answers.
Nick Kokonas (IG: @nkokonas, TW: @NickKokonas) is the co-owner and co-founder of The Alinea Group of restaurants, which includes Alinea, Next, The Aviary, Roister, and The Aviary NYC. He is also the founder and CEO of Tock, Inc, a reservations and CRM system for restaurants with more than 2.5M diners and clients in more than 20 countries.
Alinea has been named the Best Restaurant in America and Best Restaurant in The World by organizations and lists as diverse as The James Beard Foundation, World's 50 Best, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Gourmet Magazine, and Elite Traveler. His restaurants have won nearly every accolade afforded to them.
Nick has been a subversive entrepreneur and angel investor since 1996. He spent a decade as a derivatives trader, has co-written three books, and believes in radical transparency in markets and business. His latest effort is The Aviary Cocktail Book, which is perhaps the most gorgeous book I've ever seen. It is self-published, has already pre-sold nearly $1M in copies, and is being released and shipped in October of 2018.
We've been trying to get this interview going ever since Nick was of immense help to me for The 4-Hour Chef, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. We talk about much more than the restaurant business, including philosophy, derivatives trading, favorite books, and how Nick tends to break every industry he enters in the most productive way possible! Enjoy!
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