The French Laundry moves to ticket system

Catherine Takayama (left) and executive pastry chef Elwyn Boyles add garnishes to a desert in the kitchen at The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California, on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Catherine Takayama (left) and executive pastry chef Elwyn Boyles add garnishes to a desert in the kitchen at The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California, on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close The French Laundry moves to ticket system 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

The French Laundry is officially moving from the OpenTable reservation platform to the increasingly popular Tock system at 10 a.m. today (Monday, Mar. 20). At that time, more than three months' worth of reservations will be available at once on the French Laundry's website, which will be good news for anyone who has tried (and failed) to snag one of the 4-star restaurant's elusive reservations.

To start, the initial tickets dates will fall between March 20 and June 30. The next two months of reservations will be released on May 1. Going forward, releases will fall on the first day of odd-numbered months: January, March, May, July, September and November.

As we've documented, more and more fine dining restaurants are using Tock's ticketing system, including St. Helena's Restaurant at Meadowood, San Francisco's Lazy Bear and Healdsburg's Single Thread. Atelier Crenn in San Francisco will go live on the system on April 17, with tickets at $325 per person. Dinner at the French Laundry currently starts at $310, a price that includes food, service, and taxes. Supplements and beverage pairings are additional.

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French Laundry owner Thomas Keller is an investor in the Chicago-based ticketing system Tock; its founder, Nick Kokonas, said the French Laundry's move this month is in part tied with the recent unveiling of its new $10 million kitchen.

Through Tock, a diner will pay either a portion or the entire cost of the upcoming dinner, sometimes months in advance, as part of making a prepaid reservation. It's a system closer to theater or concert tickets than traditional dinner reservations.