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Nick Kokonas - Know What You Are Selling - [Invest Like The Best, REPLAY]

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Nick Kokonas - Know What You Are Selling - [Invest Like The Best, REPLAY]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

2025/12/30
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

2025/12/30
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Today, I am replaying my conversation with Nick Kokonas, one of my favorites from the show. Nick is the co-founder of 3 of the best restaurants and bars in America - Alinea, Next, and The Aviary as well as the co-founder and CEO of Tock, a comprehensive...

Highlights

In this insightful episode, Patrick O'Shaughnessy revisits his conversation with Nick Kokonas, a visionary at the intersection of hospitality and technology. With a background in philosophy and derivatives trading, Nick brings a unique analytical lens to an industry often driven by passion over profit. The discussion dives into the structural inefficiencies of traditional business models and how disciplined thinking can unlock value in unexpected places.
06:10
Being right 51% of the time is enough if decisions are fast and frequent
09:15
His dad owned a diner and advised against entering the restaurant business
12:54
Nick and Grant ran Alinea as a business from the start
13:40
Alinea limits volume to maintain quality and long-term profitability.
16:11
'Fun' and 'delicious' are simple yet rare qualities that every restaurant should strive for.
20:23
Used gray latex from a Paris sex shop to solve plating durability issues
22:15
Good ideas get copied, but copycats fail without strong execution
28:24
Next restaurant sold $562,000 in tickets on the first day.
31:42
Time-slotted services should be dynamically priced based on demand, just like e-commerce for physical goods.
35:28
Wrote a 5,000-word blog post that got millions of reads and sparked interest from 200 restaurant owners
37:52
They compared their approach to Tesla's, starting with high-end and planning to go down-market.
43:08
The speaker emphasizes the value of carefully choosing first customers in business, using their own experiences with a restaurant-related company.
48:10
Selling meals in advance improves margins and reduces waste
53:28
Running a successful business creates opportunities, not the other way around
55:23
Self-published 'The Aviary Book' due to poor publisher contracts
57:18
A steak vendor offered a 50% discount for prepaid orders due to waste after 35 days of dry-aging.
1:07:33
Tock charges only 3% on its platform, enabling affordable direct sales for restaurants.
1:09:18
Proposed model charges restaurants 3% and consumers $1 for pickup, flat $5–$7 for delivery
1:13:51
Many businesses can't provide a recent customer list, which is insane for sustaining operations
1:15:51
Alan Hemberger returned a napkin from Alinea embedded in a hand-forged knife as a token of gratitude

Chapters

Welcome to Invest Like The Best
00:00
Intro to Nick Kokonas
03:58
Why it’s so important to own something
04:36
Make decisions that have outcomes
06:09
His interest in the restaurant business
08:34
Why restaurants are so tough
10:28
How their business mindset changed their running of the restaurant
13:39
Words they would avoid in the restaurant
16:09
Asking the right questions in the restaurant business
17:53
Importance in taking the right risks
22:14
Coming up with innovative strategies for ticketing, selling meals ahead of time, and dynamic pricing
23:36
Can dynamic pricing be extended to other businesses
31:42
Origin of Tock
32:54
Early days of Tock and identifying the right customers/challenges
37:51
Importance of the first customer
43:07
The typical restaurant business model
45:56
Lessons from Tock and the importance of knowing what you’re selling
50:57
Lessons from publishing
55:21
Other aspects of business that people know but do nothing about
57:18
Their response to Covid and lessons learned
1:01:53
The real impact to the food delivery companies
1:09:17
How businesses communicate their end processes to their customers
1:10:58
The Kindest Thing
1:15:41

Transcript

Patrick O'Shaughnessy: Here's an interesting question to think about. If your finance team suddenly had an extra week every month, what would you have them work on? Most CFOs don't know because their finance teams are grinding it out on lost expense report...