Next may currently be the hardest restaurant in Chicago to get into, but it probably has the most accessible online presence. Questions are constantly being answered on its Facebook wall, about such random items as why the date 1906 was picked instead of 1898 and why the restaurant doesn’t subsidize the price of tickets by selling ad space on its website. Honestly, it’s continually fascinating to read, as the commenters seem to be a truly strange mix of super fans, questioning economists, and know-it-all computer programmers. But Next has constantly used Facebook to counter the claim that tickets are currently being scalped for $3,000. The restaurant writes that the many stories written about it are “erroneous.”
Why? Well, the quoted price is actually for a chef’s table, which seats six people and also features a longer 16-course menu. Tickets for these seats normally cost $165 per person plus $150 for each additional wine pairing. That brings the total to $2,250 when you add the service and tax. That also means that if someone actually purchased the $3,000 ticket, it’d end up only costing $500 a person instead of $375 for the actual ticket price. Currently, the most expensive ticket for Next on Craigslist is going for about $425 a person for a table of two, which seems about right considering that the chef’s table features a longer menu with more wine pairings.
Perhaps the most interesting part about this whole ordeal is that the restaurant is adamant that “no table has sold for $3k in the aftermarket.” In fact, The New York Times reported that the original “seller later decided to keep the seats.” So, things aren’t quite as expensive as reported, but that still won’t help you get a seat.
[Next Restaurant/Facebook]
