
A Letter from the CEO
What Resy, Tock, and American Express are doing to support the Los Angeles community.
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January is the cruelest month for restaurants.
The holidays tend to provide a boost for the industry, with tables full of diners who eat and drink just a little bit more than usual. With a new year comes moderation for many of those same diners. Tourism slows down. Indulgence slows down. Drinking — read: alcohol sales — slows down.
But you know what doesn’t slow down for restaurants? Rent. Food costs. The responsibility to provide livable wages and health insurance.
The numbers are sobering: Resy data shows the five slowest days of 2024 (excluding holidays) were Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February. Overall, the first three weeks in January were the slowest of the year.
That’s all to say that the holiday hangover is very real for the legions of restaurant staffers who sprinted throughout the busy December season to provide hospitality and create memorable experiences for diners.
Our plea: Show up for the hospitality industry in January — and beyond — just as hosts, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, cooks, and chefs show up for us every day.
Our promise: Resy will use our platform to champion this message every way we can, including (but not limited to) a new ad spot, curated events, and a $25,000 contribution to the Southern Smoke Foundation, which helps members of the food and beverage industry in crisis nationwide through access to mental health care. And in Los Angeles, where fires are still ongoing, we are supporting the community, committing funds, and waiving fees — and that’s just our starting point for the road ahead to recovery there.
What Resy, Tock, and American Express are doing to support the Los Angeles community.
So go ahead and keep your New Year’s resolutions intact. But if you’re doing a Dry January, perhaps try one of the many brilliant non-alcoholic cocktails that are sweeping the country. If you’re looking to save some money, maybe pop in for happy hour or a quick lunch. And if you’re wanting to be more active, take a walk to dinner; we’ll help you find a place nearby.
For us, 2025 is all about becoming a regular, especially at a local spot that you love, maybe one that doesn’t get the bright lights or algorithmic attention. Being a regular is when the magic happens. When you know your server. When the bartender knows your drink. When you become part of a community. When a restaurant becomes a second home for you. When going there sparks joy.
It doesn’t matter if you go every week, every month, or maybe even just once a year on that special day: When you achieve regular status, that’s when you really start to understand the beauty of the hospitality world. That’s when you start to see the myriad little things and giant hearts that have gone into every single moment after you walk through those doors, and without fail, you get a smile and three words: “Right this way.”