Several Twitter users were left with a bad taste in their mouths after a tweet that has since gone viral showed a Greenwich Village restaurant, Dame, offering $1,000 NFTs to join its “Affable Hospitality Club,” as that they could skip the queue for a reservation.
“I’ll bravely say it: NYC restaurant reservation culture has gone too far,” tweeted Maya Kosoff.
Kosoff, a content strategist, writer and editor, posted the review from the crush, a New York-based restaurant recommendation site, which details the membership offer.
Several of the responses took issue with the idea of buying an NFT to make a reservation at a restaurant that already accepts reservations, and also pointed to the many dining options in the city. “Impressive to see a restaurant find a use for technology even worse than the QR code menu,” wrote one user, prompting another to point out that QR code menus at least improve accessibility for some customers.
the desperate search for a legitimate use case for NFTs continues. in this edition it replaces the burden of rich people bribing the maid d.
The resulting flap quickly gained coverage Daily Mail.
According to the Dame review in The crushit can be challenging to get a table at the restaurant.
“Reservations are released online 12 weeks in advance at 12 noon, but Mondays are walk-in only,” the post said. “If showing up on a Monday sounds too exhausting, you can also just buy an NFT that allows priority booking (no kidding).”
The Dame website does not mention NFTs, but according to The crush, a Dame Affable Hospitality Club NFT goes for $1,000 each and gives access to exclusive tables. The review points readers to another site, Front of House, which provides more details on Fish-and-Chips themed NFTs.
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are cryptographically unique tokens tied to digital and sometimes physical content, providing proof of ownership. NFTs can also act as virtual membership cards to an online or offline community – like fans of a specific restaurant.
“Dame offers the opportunity to join the Affable Hospitality Club and gives members access to reservations for groups of 2 and 4 until 2022!” it says on the Front of House website. “Get access to the hardest tables in NYC as well as other potential Dame & Front of House community benefits.”
Other restaurants listed on Front of House include Hanoi House, Emmett’s on Grove and Wildair Donut Friends, each with a digital collectible that patrons can purchase and view via a Metamask wallet, Coinbase Wallet or another wallet that supports Polygon and WalletConnect. Women’s NFT is without a doubt the most expensive.
Using NFTs for exclusive memberships is not new; several projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and VeeFriends, act as digital membership cards, giving holders access to exclusive benefits and privileges.
In fact, in 2023, NFT champion Gary Vee is opening a new restaurant called the Flyfish Club in New York as a member’s only private dining club.
When Decrypt reached out to Dame to ask about NFTs and memberships, the restaurant simply said, “no comment.” For its part, Front of House confirmed that Dame remains a partner.
“Yes, Dame is involved and they receive the majority of the proceeds from the sale,” said Front of House co-founder Phil Toronto Decrypt. “It’s their digital collectible that was created with us, Front of House, with the associated benefits outlined on the website.”
“Each of our partners works with us to create their collectibles ideally alongside personal benefits,” Toronto continued. “Our mission is to generate additional revenue for restaurants while delivering unique experiences to patrons.”
As for the revenue share, Toronto told Save clock in July that the restaurant receives 80 percent of the proceeds from the sale of each NFT, and 20 percent goes to Front of House – including NFT traded on secondary markets.
Stay up to date on crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.
