The rise and fall of #FreeRezy, a group chat that unlocked NYC’s hottest reservations

Finance bros in New York take dinner reservations seriously.

If you don’t believe me, just watch American Psycho, where a reservation at the right restaurant is the ultimate status symbol.

While not everything in that movie is realistic (thankfully), the reservation struggle is spot-on. The best restaurants in NYC often release a small batch of reservations, months in advance, and are fully booked in seconds.

So what’s a finance bro with fine dining tastes to do?

Enter #FreeRezy

A trio of finance workers created #FreeRezy — a group chat on Telegram where aspiring diners could snag reservations at NYC’s hottest spots.

Here’s how it worked:

• The trio searched online to find out when the best restaurants release new reservations
• They set alarms at those times and would book tables from multiple Resy accounts
• They listed the reservations in the group chat where members could claim them on a first-come, first-served basis

Per Eater, the trio booked 1k+ reservations in the last 3 months, growing the group chat from a few people to 700+ members.

Then they got caught

Resy’s terms of service state that the app is for personal use — meaning #FreeRezy was clearly in violation.

After discovering the group, Resy promptly banned all 3 members, leading to the swift demise of the group chat.

The craziest part? #FreeRezy never even made any money. The trio planned to monetize a premium tier eventually but never made it that far.

If you feel so inclined to revive #FreeRezy, there’s a petition on Change.org for that — but with 36 signatures so far, it seems unlikely we’ll be seeing a comeback any time soon.