Valentine’s Day special on Craigslist: A reservation to a Fresno restaurant. Can it be trusted?
Something unusual popped up for sale on Craigslist this week: Valentine’s Day dinner reservations at Cracked Pepper Bistro.
Not selling dinner, mind you, but actually selling a reservation for two Thursday night for $50.
Here’s what the post says: “Making last minute Valentines Day plans? Make your night special with a romantic Cracked Pepper reservation for two people at 8pm. Willing to meet up in a public location, confirmation number in exchange for cash payment. Asking for $50 OBO. Serious inquiries only.”
Cracked Pepper is one of the best restaurants in town. It’s bread pudding has a reputation in this city, and it’s probably one of the most sought-after restaurants on this holiday. It’s all booked up for Valentine’s Day (according to its online reservation system) and probably has been for a while.
If it’s real, the person likely had the forethought to make a reservation weeks or months ago.
But is it right to sell it? The person is selling something that is otherwise free and, as the chef notes online, doesn’t belong to him or her. Or is this just the free market at work? The person who’s smart enough to plan ahead gets the benefits and that’s capitalism?
And what if it’s a scam? People have been known to take money and not deliver what they were promising, something law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned people about. Or worse, pull a gun on someone when they meet them and rob them.
If you ever do buy something like this, the Fresno Police Department recommends doing the transaction at one of four “exchange centers” at police departments. Cameras record it and police are close by.
Selling reservations online isn’t unheard of.
A man in St. Louis was selling Valentine’s Day reservations for $29 a pop years ago. He called it a “smart way to help out procrastinators.”
And some small companies actually work with restaurants to sell hard-to-get reservations. In New York’s East Village, a company sells reservations for $5 a person and the restaurant gets a cut of the money.
But this is Fresno, and $50 is a lot more than reservations are selling for in New York City.
Cracked Pepper owner and chef Vatche Moukhtarian had mixed feelings about it. He posted an image of the Craigslist listing on his Instagram account.
“So this person Selling his reservations for Valentine’s Day something that Doesn’t belong to him,” his post said. “Not sure how I feel about this what do you think? Let me know best response will get a free bread pudding.”
Reactions from Instagrammers were mixed.
Said one person: “Ok.... I think this is creative! He’s in top of him game! Saves the day for the procrastinators!”
Another: “Have them meet you at the restaurant! This is absolutely crazy!”
This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 10:07 AM.
