213. Nick Kokonas: Getting Past Good

<p>How’s it going? Really, how are things going for you? If things are going pretty good, you might want to tear everything down, and start all over again.</p> <p>Nick Kokonas (<a href= "twitter.com/nickkokonas">@nickkokonas</a>) is Co-Owner of <a href= "https://www.thealineagroup.com/">The Alinea Group</a> and CEO of <a href="https://exploretock.com/">Tock</a>. The Alinea Group is a collection of restaurants Nick started with world-class chef Grant Achatz, including their first restaurant, Alinea – a three-Michelin-star restaurant that received the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2016. Alinea is also ranked in the top restaurants in the U.S. and the world on numerous lists, including World’s 50 Best Restaurants.</p> <p>Tock, Nick’s other company, is a reservation system for buying tickets to some of the best restaurants in the world. With Tock, Nick has completely re-thought the economics of restaurants, eliminating wasted seating inventory, and making available variable pricing based upon the popularity of reservation times.</p> <p>Nick is a truly original thinker. He’s demonstrated this on his appearances on some other podcasts, including <a href= "https://tim.blog/2018/10/18/nick-kokonas/">The Tim Ferriss Show</a> and <a href= "https://okdork.com/lessons-worlds-best-restaurant/">Noah Kagan Presents</a>. But this conversation is full of fresh insights, including:</p> <ul> <li>Nick says “people are far more afraid of success than failure.” What drives Nick to tear everything down and start over, even when things are going well?</li> <li>Nick also says "if you're trying to innovate. A/B Testing things as a terrible idea because people won't know what they want.” But there’s an important distinction he draws. Find out when he tests, and when he doesn’t.</li> <li>At Alinea, they intentionally make the first moments of dining there incredibly awkward. Seriously, I was cringing hearing him describe this. Nick said "there are people who hate us for it, and I'm okay with that.” Find out why.