Resy and Eater: Ben Leventhal

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Ben Leventhal first started blogging about New York City’s restaurant scene in the early 2000s, he was doing it as a hobby. But as the website Eater gained weight and spread to other cities, it became a snarkily influential voice in the dining world. Recognizing that many restaurants struggle to survive, Ben then co-founded Resy, a booking app that squeezed more value into seats by charging diners higher rates for a hot table. When this business model flopped, Resy made a rapid pivot that eventually paid off, with an acquisition by American Express for $200 million in 2019.

This episode was researched and produced by Sam Paulson with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our engineers were Robert Rodriguez and James Willetts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderie Plus subscribers can listen to how I built this early and ad-free right now.
0:05.7	Join Wonderie Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:10.6	I feel like I'm missing out because everyone is either starting a side hustle or becoming their own boss.
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	...

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