Julian Jung, like many of us, found the process of going out at night frustrating.
A real estate investment advisor by day, he’d often find himself shelling out hundreds of dollars for cover charges and expensive drinks to court clients. He knew getting a table would be much more cost effective, but often felt that he didn’t know the right person to talk to inside the club to make that happen.
“It screamed inefficient market to me,” says Jung, and decided to do something about it.
In December, Jung and a team began building up Tablelist, an app that connect club-goers with open tables at discounted prices. Essentially, it’s the Hotel Tonight for nightclubs, explains Jung.
When club owners have unsold tables, they can log onto the Tablelist portal, enter the number of tables they’re looking to fill and guests they can accommodate that evening at a discounted price point.
“At the end of the day, we’re definitely a club owners’ solution [to filling empty tables],” says Jung.
From there, patrons can open the Tablelist app, see what is available and book it directly from their phones. “It’s Uber-esque in a sense,” says Jung, meaning that when patrons show up at the club, they don’t take out their credit cards again.
In Massachusetts, it is illegal to discount alcohol, so paying for table at a club means paying for the real estate and the service that comes with it. The bottle price, therefore, always remains the same. While Jung admits it was a challenge for him and his team to navigate these local liquor laws, he says that the experience they gained here will only help them grow in other cities.
Tablelist launched in private beta last month and is working exclusively with three Boston clubs – Minibar, Storyville and the Emerald Lounge now. By summer, they plan to open the app up and be working with five Boston venues, as well as expand to New York and Las Vegas.
“If we could start in a place like Boston, it’ll be easy anywhere,” he said.
To get access to the private beta version of Tablelist, email info@tablelistapp.com.
