Next (restaurant)

Last updated

Next
Next (restaurant)
Restaurant information
Established2011 (2011)
Owner(s) Grant Achatz
Nick Kokonas
Head chef Grant Achatz
Food typeVariable
Rating Etoile Michelin-1.svg (Michelin Guide)
Street address953 W. Fulton Market
City Chicago
State Illinois
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 41°53′11″N87°39′07″W / 41.88639°N 87.65194°W / 41.88639; -87.65194
Website NextRestaurant.com

Next is a restaurant in Chicago. It opened April 6, 2011. [1] The restaurant received media interest due to chef Grant Achatz's success at his first restaurant, Alinea, as well as its unique "ticketed" format: [2] Next sells pre-priced tickets for specific dates and times in a similar fashion to the way theater, concert and sporting event tickets are sold. [3]

Contents

Property

Next is located in Chicago's historic Fulton Market, just north of the West Loop's "Restaurant Row" on Randolph Street.

Next's operation also includes two on-site bars: The Aviary, previously headed by Charles Joly, [4] and presently headed by Micah Melton, [5] and The Office, an invite-only speakeasy-format bar that seats 14 and is located behind an unmarked metal door in the basement of the building. [6]

Rather than stick with one type of cuisine, Next completely changes its style every few months, focusing on a different time period, parts of the world, or various abstract themes for each "season" of its menu. [7] While themes for the year are often released at the end of the previous season, menu development for each of the season's themes begins in final weeks of the previous menu. Executive Chef Ed Tinoco and Grant Achatz head this process.

These are the past, present, and (known) future menus of Next Restaurant:

Start DateEnd DateTheme
April 6, 2011June 30, 2011"Paris: 1906" [8]
July 8, 2011October 9, 2011"Thailand" [9] [10]
October 22, 2011January 29, 2012"Childhood" [11]
February 8, 2012May 27, 2012"elBulli" [12]
June 2, 2012September 9, 2012"Sicily" [12]
September 15, 2012December 31, 2012"kaiseki" [12]
January 9, 2013April 28, 2013"The Hunt"
May 8, 2013August 24, 2013"Vegan"
August 31, 2013December 31, 2013"Bocuse d'Or"
January 2014April 2014"Chicago Steakhouse"
May 2014August 2014"Chinese:Modern"
September 2014December 2014"Trio, January 20, 2004"
January 2015May 2015"Bistro" [13]
May 2015September 2015"Tapas" [13]
September 2015December 2015"Terroir" [13]
January 2016March 2016"The Alps" [14] [15]
April 2016August 2016"Tour of South America"
September 2016December 2016"The French Laundry: October 28th, 1996"
January 2017April 2017"Ancient Rome"
May 2017August 2017"Hollywood"
August 2017December 2017"World's 50 Best" [16]
January 2018April 2018"French: Cuisine Classique" [17]
April 2018June 2018"French: Cuisine Nouvelle" [17]
June 2018September 2018"Alinea: 2005-2010" [17]
October 2018January 2019"Alinea: 2011-2015" [17]
January 2019April 2019"Silk & Spice" [17]
May 2019August 2019"Italia" [17]
August 2019January 2020"José Andrés: World Central Kitchen" [17]
January 2020April 2020“Tokyo” [18]
August 2020August 2020“Mexico City " [18]
September 2020January 2021“The Fat Duck " [18]
January 2021December 2021“10th Anniversary Menu " [17]
January 2022October 2022“World’s Fair Menu” [19]
October 2022January 2023“Seafood” [17]
January 2023April 2023“Paris 1906” [17]
August 2023January 2024"Tuscany" [17]
January 2024April 2024"Julia Child" [20]
May 2024September 2024"Bobbie Flay" [20]
September 2024December 2024"Charlie Trotter" [20]

Tickets

Through the "Childhood" menu, Next sold tickets through their website in batches. Several tables would be opened up, and announcements were made on their Facebook and Twitter pages when tickets were available. The tickets sold rapidly. [21] Next tickets are transferable, but not refundable or exchangeable. [22] This has sparked the creation of a secondary market for the tickets, which has resulted in reports of people scalping the tickets for several times their face value. [23]

In an attempt to eliminate the secondary market on Next tickets, the sales model was changed in 2012 to follow a season ticket model, where in-advance tickets were only available if patrons purchased tickets for one meal from each of the restaurant's seasonal menus being offered for the year. [24] Additional benefits (including access to the invite-only The Office) were given along with the season tickets with the stipulation that if the tickets were sold, these additional benefits would be lost. For the 2012 season, the wait list during ticket purchasing reached a queue of over 6,600 people. With just over 900 packages available in total for the year, the people who were able to buy the tickets were in line within 8–10 seconds of their release. [25]

Next also releases "Same-Day" tickets via their Facebook page. [22] They guarantee there will be at least one table available via Facebook every day they are open.

Next, Alinea, and The Aviary, each in their own right, served as a testing and development ground for Nick Kokonas's proprietary ticketing system. Kokonas's system allows for dynamic pricing for restaurant tickets/reservations. The system, now held under a new company called Tock, is being commercially offered to restaurants around the country and the world. Some of the earliest adopters include, Thomas Keller's The French Laundry and Per Se and Daniel Patterson's Coi. [26]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Grant Achatz's Next Opens in "Paris, 1906"" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  2. ↑ Wells, Pete (May 3, 2010). "Grant Achatz To Open a Restaurant and a Bar". The New York Times .
  3. ↑ Wells, Pete (May 5, 2010). "In Chicago, the Chef Grant Achatz Is Selling Tickets to His New Restaurant". The New York Times .
  4. ↑ "Drawing Room Bartender Charles Joly To Join The Aviary" . Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Charles Joly Leaving the Aviary" . Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ "5 Secrets of The Office, Grant Achatz's Uber-Exclusive Speakeasy" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  7. ↑ Stein, Joel (December 9, 2010). "Sneak Preview: A Taste of Grant Achatz's Next Menu". Time. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Grant Achatz's Next Opens in "Paris, 1906"" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Next Gearing Up for Thai Menu" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  10. ↑ "From Paris to sizzling Bangkok". Chicago Tribune. August 25, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Preview: Next's childhood menu" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 "Next Restaurant on Facebook" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 "Next Restaurant on Facebook" . Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Next Restaurant on Facebook" . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Next at Next: An Alps-Inspired Menu with Stone Soup and Burning Logs" . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Grant Achatz is Creating a World's Best 50 Restaurants Inspired Dinner" . Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Next Restaurant - Past Menus" . Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  18. 1 2 3 "Next restaurant's 2020 season will explore cuisines of Tokyo, Mexico City and England's influential Fat Duck" . Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Next Restaurant - Worlds Faire" . Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  20. 1 2 3 "Next Restaurant - Our 2024 Tribute Menus" . Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Next Childhood Sells Out; Grant Achatz & Dave Beran Talk About the Concept, Menu" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Next Restaurant: FAQ" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Tables at Achatz's Next Selling For Up to $3000 on Craigslist" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Next to sell Season Tickets". Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Next Season Tickets Sell Out Quick; Over 6,660 Queue Up" . Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  26. ↑ DeJesus, Erin. "Introducing Nick Kokonas's Ticketing System, Tock" . Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Next – Chicago - a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant". guide.michelin.com. Retrieved August 30, 2025.
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