A tweet that has now gone viral showed that the Greenwich Village restaurant Dame was charging $1,000 NFTs to join its “Affable Hospitality Club,” which would let members skip the line for reservations. This made a lot of Twitter users feel bad about themselves.
Maya Kosoff tweeted, “I will bravely say it: NYC restaurant reservation culture has gone too far.”
Kosoff, a content strategist, writer, and editor, shared a review from the New York-based restaurant review site The Infatuation that talked about the membership offer.
Some of the answers were against the idea of buying an NFT to make a reservation at a restaurant that already takes reservations. They also pointed out that the city has a lot of places to eat. One user said, “It’s amazing to see a restaurant find a way to use technology that’s even worse than the QR code menu.” This led another user to say that QR code menus at least make it easier for some customers to find food and services.
The Daily Mail was the first to report on the resulting controversy
The Dame review in The Infatuation says it might be hard to get a seat at the restaurant. The advertisement said that online reservations could be made 12 weeks in advance at 12 p.m., but walk-ins could only be made on Mondays. You can also get an NFT that gives you priority booking if you don’t want to go on a Monday (not joking).
The Infatuation says that each Dame Affable Hospitality Club NFT costs $1,000 and gives access to private tables. The Dame website doesn’t say anything about NFTs. In its review, it tells people to check out Front of House, which is another website with more information about the NFTs with a fish-and-chips theme.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are cryptographically unique tokens that are tied to digital or, in some cases, physical assets to prove ownership. NFTs can also be used as virtual membership cards for a group of people, either online or in real life, like people who go to a certain restaurant.
Members of the Affable Hospitality Club will be able to book rooms for two to four people until 2022. Dame is giving this chance to its customers. Reads the page for the Front of House. Get access to the hardest tables in New York City and other possible Dame & Front of House community perks.
Front of House also shows places to eat like Hanoi House, Emmett’s on Grove, and Wildair Donut Friends. Each has a digital collectible that customers can buy and see with a Metamask wallet, a Coinbase wallet, or any other wallet that supports Polygon and WalletConnect. By far, the most expensive is the Dame NFT.
It’s not new to use NFTs for exclusive memberships. For example, VeeFriends and the Bored Ape Yacht Club work like digital membership cards that give users access to exclusive benefits and privileges.
In fact, Gary Vee, who won the NFT, is setting up a private dining club called Flyfish Club in New York for members only in 2023. T he bar said, “No comment.” For its part, Front of House did say that Dame is still a partner.
Phil Toronto, a co-founder of Front of House, told Decrypt that Dame is involved and that they get the most money from the sale. They and Front of House made a digital collectible, and the benefits are listed on the website.
Each of our partners works with us to make their collections, which Toronto said are best when combined with benefits you can get in person. The goal is to help restaurants make more money while giving holders unique experiences.
Concerning how the money is split, Toronto told Saveur in July that 80% of the money from the sale of each NFT goes to the restaurant and 20% goes to Front of House. This includes NFTs sold on secondary markets.
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