You're listening to the Bloomberg Opinion podcast counts Saturdays at one and seven pm Eastern on Bloomberg dot Com, the iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business App, or listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Bloomberg Opinion. I'm Amy Morris. This week we look at why so many smaller airlines are looking to make big deals as M and A is turning into a survival tool and then something a bit closer to home home ownership. It's getting harder for gen z, so where will that leave them? And if you like going to a bar or a restaurant where everybody knows your name and you receive service that's tailored to you, well, you might be interested in a new trend customer loyalty programs.
But we begin with COVID boosters. They've over promised and under delivered. We're learning more that parents would like to give their kids RSV vaccines, but not COVID boosters. And as for adult it's only eighteen percent of adults in the US got the latest COVID shot that says of mid December. Let's find out what's going on. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Faith Lamb covers science and his host of the follow the Science podcast, and she joins me, Now, Fay,
let's start with the headline of your column. Will want to clarify something. It says boosters over promised and underdelivered. But your column really is more about the work being done to improve these boosters. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think that that people have become sort of resigned to the situation that we have where people are getting COVID you know, right and left, even though a lot of people are getting boosted. And I think that there is actually a lot of research out there to try to figure out what's you know, why the boosters and the COVID shots aren't protecting us better, and even research on better ways to boost people or vacciny people so that maybe it won't always be like this.
So one of the big challenges is the lack of a seasonal pattern. You explain this in your column, But I wonder is the lack of a seasonal pattern with covid like with the flu. Is it because COVID is so mercurial and it keeps changing, or is it because it hasn't really been around long enough to establish a regular pattern. For us to pick up on.
Yeah, I think it could be some of both. You know.
One of the things I remember being surprised by covering another story a long time ago on flu is that scientists don't completely understand why flu the flu season is when it is, you know, they sort of have some guesses. Well, is because people gather more, they're inside more people are inside most of the time in most places anyway, something to do with humidity changes, something to do with sunlight
and the immune system. So scientists don't completely understand the seasonal patterns that other viruses seem to have, and so it may take a while before it's understood whether this one will have a seasonal pattern eventually or not.
And there's another issue that you brought up in your column, and that is that there's a question about the quality of the new boosters. They're not going to hurt you, it's just perhaps they're not as strong as we had expected.
What's the issue there, Well, one of the things is just the vaccine. I mean, the virus keeps evolving really quite fast. So this one was geared to fight a version that's now pretty much extinct, and it's been replaced by something else. It's a moving target. And so the other problem is something called imprinting, by which the immune system kind of gets stuck creating antibodies to what it
was originally vaccinated against, which is the original version. And so people are creating antibodies to the parts of the virus that the current version and the original version that we were vaccinated against have in common. And when you boost people, it seems to mostly increase the antibodies to the original virus, not the you know, or this sort of small cross section that they have in common. And so that's that that imprinting problem is something that scientists
are still trying to understand. There was some sort of good news out of China that if people had repeated exposures to these newer omicron family of variants that we're still seeing, the imprinting became less strong and they were actually getting an immune response that was better matched to what we're seeing.
So wait to be exposed to the omicron variants. Then would you actually have to get sick or can we do that through a vaccine?
It was both either either by getting by getting omicron right, either way by getting a booster that was geared to omicron, or by getting omicron, either would be considered an exposure, So the more your immune system saw omicron, the more it actually did start to mount an immune response, breakthrough or override this imprinting effect. It's not clear that that's
working the same way. There's some papers showing it doesn't seem to work as well with the mRNA vaccines as it does with the vaccines they're using in China, which are a whole different kind of vaccine called an activated virus.
And we are talking with Bloomberg opinion columnist Faith Lamb about the promise of COVID boosters and why perhaps they're not gaining the traction that we would have expected. We also pointed out in your column that Pfizer is seeing the immediate results and effects of this, that people aren't getting the boosters as they expected, and they're struggling.
Some of it is that the main thing that the booster shots do is protect people against getting severe disease, and so the people who really should take them are older people, people with the kinds of health problems that put them at risk for severe disease. So one of the questions that doesn't get asked enough is, well, eighteen percent that actually could be really good if the people that need it most are the ones getting it.
But if there are people who.
Are elderly and at risk and are not getting it, then we have a bigger problem. But I think that they may have counted on this being more like a flu shot, and there are a couple of reasons why it's never going to be like a flu shot. You know, you can't the boosting effect apparently only last for about four months, and so you'd need to time it to when the season was and we don't really have this well defined season, so it may be a challenge to
make it as effective. And people just know they you know, they look around, their friends are getting it. Everybody's getting it, people who got boosted or getting it, people who got the last booster got it. So I think there's this sort of feeling from experience that well, I'm not going
to get protection against getting COVID. I think there'd be a lot more motivation to go get a booster if you thought it was going to give you a, you know, a really strong protection against just getting infected in the first place, because people would still rather not get COVID than get it, even if the disease is mild in them.
Let me ask you this. I've always understood the boosters from the very beginning weren't necessarily going to keep you from getting COVID, but will keep you out of the hospital. There's sort of like a seat belt. You're not going to avoid the crash, but you're not necessarily going to be terribly injured or killed because of it. Right, So they're like a seat.
Belt, Well, yes, a little likeacy belt, except that we know that whereas it in your car. You know, anyone could get killed in an auto accident. But it really is certain high risk groups are likely to go to the hospital, and other people are much less likely, especially if they've already been vaccinated and exposed to the virus have some immunity. That we're not seeing the hospital fill up with twenty five year olds who have already had
two boosters and just didn't get a third one. You know, it's really the elderly that need to be targeted.
Do from your research, have you found if there is a better booster coming. They're still working on this, they're not done yet. Yeah.
I mean I talked to Dan Barouche at Harvard and he just has a paper out in the journal Nature showing that in animal studies they can actually completely protect against infection with an inhaled version of the vaccine. Whether that's practical or not, I don't know, but it worked, and so it is possible that sort of getting the protection where people, you know, first, where the human body first encounters the virus, seems to offer a pretty strong protection.
And people are looking at nasal that, you know, they're looking at these as something that might actually just prevent people from getting infected in the first place, and in animals at least, it seems to work.
So an inhaled version then would target specifically the lungs and protect the lungs exclusively or especially yeah, or just.
The upper respiratory tract. You know, it would sort of get around your upper respiratory tract, which is where people you know, are accumulating the viral particles. So, you know, I don't know exactly why that worked so much better than the nasal one. So the nasal one seemed to work pretty well, but the inhaled one worked really well in the animals, and I think they're still still working out why that is and how this might be translated
into a human trial. There are already some apparently there is a trial with an inhaled vaccine going on, So there are human studies that have gotten started already.
So they're trying to improve it to better match the variants, and they're trying to improve it to better target the upper respiratory tract. And they're trying to improve it. So it's not necessarily always a needle.
Yeah, And I think just to write so that people don't keep getting mild infections, which then would mean that they're less likely to infect spread the virus to more vulnerable people, so that we would see a real end
to the deaths and the hospitalizations. That it's not necessarily something that we would have to live with wherever that, I think scientists are still trying to, you know, trying to improve the tools we have, the vaccines we have, so that we're not resigned to dealing with this situation for all eternity.
So what's your take home message from all of this? Wow?
I mean, I guess just that I think that this people haven't I don't think people have lost interest in COVID. I think there's still a lot of interest. And I think that that scientists who are doing this kind of work should continue to get support, and I think it's it's what they learn is going to be useful for dealing with the next pandemic and other viruses as well. So I think having this this you know, surge in new research is really important and that we might see
some new things coming down the pipe. It's not all doom and gloom.
Faith Lamb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She covers science and his host of the Follow the Science podcast. Now coming up will take a look at consolidations in the airline industry and what is that ten you're listening to Bloomberg Opinion.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Opinion Podcast Contest Saturdays at one and seven pm Eastern on Bloomberg dot Com, the iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business App, or listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
You're listening to Bloomberg Opinion. I m Amy Morris. Antitrust regulators have made no secret of their skepticism toward further consolidation in the airline industry mergers at acquisitions, though, like Alaska Air's nearly two billion dollar acquisition of Hawaiian holdings didn't happen in a vacuum. And throughout the aerospace supply chain, power is concentrated in the hands of just a few players. So really the only way for companies to hold their
own is to get bigger. Let's learn more about this. Bloomberg opinion columnist Brooks Sutherland covers deals in industrial companies. She's been following this from the very beginning. She also writes the Industrial Strength newsletter, and she joins me, now, brook as always, thank you so much for taking the time with me, And I want to start with what you describe as a concentration of power up and down the supply chain in the aerospace industry.
What do you mean?
Sure?
And so I always think it's fascinating that these airline deals tend to get so much public attention and so much antitrust scrutiny. But there's been a number of combinations that have happened elsewhere in the aerospace ecosystem that they just don't attract the same level of scrutiny. And so, for example, the former United Technologies Corp. Merged with Raytheon to build up this aerospace and defense giant. They also acquired Rockwell Collins, which itself had been on an acquisition spree.
You know, in terms of the airplanes themselves, you really have Boeing an airbus and that's it as far as you know, major commercial jetliners. And then there was a consolidalidation that happened in the aircraft leasing space where ge sold its aviation leasing business. And so I just think it's interesting that, you know, there's so much fixation on the airlines, and perhaps that's because we as consumers tend to interact with them more than we do the aerospace
manufacturing side or the aircraft leasing side. But these deals are part of that broader ecosystem. When we have so much consolidation, it changes the negotiating dynamics because airlines they lease planes, they buy planes, they have engines, they need engine maintenance, and all of that sort of adds to these pressures that airlines are facing.
So how did we get here.
Through a number of deals over the years. I mean, you know, Boeing was created through a series of acquisitions, and you know some of the deals that it just described happened a lot more recently as well, and regulators allowed those to go through. And so I think there just needs to be a bigger conversation about what is the actual competitive operating environment for these airlines.
Transformative deals have a poor track record, and you talk about that in your column on the Bloomberg terminal. So would this then really be the only recourse that airlines would have to hold their own or even grow a little bit?
I think it is. I mean, just when you think about, you know, takeoff slots at airports, those are also restricted, and so the only way that you can get more is often by buying another company's positions at those airports and so, and you know that labor is uh, there's not a lot of labor to go around. There's long waiting lists for airplanes, and so if you want to go ahead and you know, get a bigger fleet very quickly, one of the better ways to do it is by
buying somebody. And I just think that that needs to be part of the conversation. It's not just the airlines want to go in and consolidate in order to be able to jack prices up for consumers. They have all of these other pushes and pulls on their finances and their ability to compete.
Well, that's a good question. Then how does this impact the consumer, the guy who's holding the ticket.
Sure, I mean so right now. Actually, there are arguably too many seats available domestically in the US, and you've seen a number of carriers actually have to lower fares in order to be able to fill those seats, and they're often not doing so profitably because they're also, you know, dealing with rising cost pressures, not just from labor and fuel, but infrastructure constraints, supply chain, logjams, weather disruptions cost the airlines money too, not just the flyer, their time and
their patients, and you know, it's it will be interesting to see, you know. Jet Blue makes the argument that buying Spirit will actually allow them to be more competitive with the big four airlines, and that their goal is not necessarily to raise prices. Now, part of their business plan is to make the Spirit jets look more like Jet Blue planes, and what that means is taking seats
out and making them a little bit more comfortable. But when you have seats fewer seats, obviously that means, you know, there's a little bit of a change in the price dynamic and the fairs. So I mean it's difficult to say exactly what would happen with the prices. But I just think it's also important to think about, you know, han, these airlines continue to survive and compete in a world where they're sort of the odd man out on a series of oligopolies.
And we are talking with Bloomberg opinion columnist Brooks Sutherland about the only real route for airlines to grow, and that just might be M and A brooke. What has to change then to give these smaller airlines a fighting chance?
You know, I think it's difficult to really change anything because a lot of this is structural. I mean, you can't go back and unwind the deals that created Boeing. And at this point, you know, we're not going to go back and undo the takeovers that created what's now known as RTX or any of the other consolidation that's happened up and down the supply chain. And so I think then that begs the question of Okay, well, then do you have to allow the airline deals and so
that it's more of a level playing field. It's interesting because there was also consolidation that happened in the railroad industry were the two smallest players combined, and that is a different regulator that's a specialized regulator that looks at
railroad deals. But they allowed that deal to go through along the same argument as Jet Blue is making for its Spirit deal, that basically, the market is what it is and the only we can't go back and rewrite history, and so the only way to introduce more competition now is by letting these smaller players combine.
So where is the government in all of this? Where do the regulators come in? Are they turning a blind eye to some but not others?
So the dj has sued to block Jet blues combination with Spirit. They just wrapped up closing arguments. We don't have our ruling yet from the judge in that case, and it's not exactly clear what the timing of that decision will be. And then they also the DOJ did successfully block Jet Blue's marketing alliance with American Airlines. But I guess that gets back to my original point of the regulators have taken a very tough stance on these
airline deals. That is just not happening to the same degree in these other corners of the aerospace ecosystem, and those deals have unique characteristics and unique qualities that need to be assessed under by antitrust regulators, and they certainly did look at those deals, but there's just not the same amount of public uproar or scrutiny, And I just wonder if that sort of shifts how these deals are analyzed and they do matter.
Like they'd pay more attention to those deals that we you and I might pay more attention to because we're the ones buying the ticket.
Sure well, they certainly didn't try to block any of those other deals, and they're blocking the airlineses deals, which I just think is interesting. And you know, it's always fascinating me, even taking a step beyond the aerospace sector, that there's so much consternation about big tech and the amount of power that the technology companies have, which is certainly a very valid debate and one that we should be having, but nobody talks as much about the consolidation
that's happening on the aerospace side. And so I do think public perception and the things that we as consumers pay attention to does sort of affect these conversations. But it has to be because everything is interconnected. This is all as we learn going through the supplis chain crisis of the post pandemic period. Everything is interconnected and depends on companies up and down the splashchaing.
Right, And as you explained that there's no real way to undo it. It's all been done, it's all intertwined. So then how does this end? Because the way it's described doesn't really seem sustainable, at least for some of these airlines.
Sure, and I think that's why you're seeing so many of them try to do deals. I mean, if you look at it just on face value, and you consider the amount of scrutiny that Jet Blue has gotten for its two endeavors, you would ask why in the world would an airline try to do a deal right now? And the fact that Alaska is going ahead with one and trying to buy Hawaiian clearly they see somewhat of a financial opportunity there as well, just given how beaten
down Hawaiian shares have been. But I think the fact that they're going ahead with this deal at a time when Jet Blue Spirit deal is still tied up in the courts tells you how important you know, this industry views consolidations.
All right, Brook, thank you so much. We're going to leave it there, and we're going to continue to watch it with you. Now that we know a little bit more about what we should be watching when we look at these deals. Thanks so much for your time.
Thank you.
Brook Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who covers deals in industrial companies. She is also the author of the Industrial Strength newsletter. Don't forget. We're available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform. This is Bloomberg Opinion.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Opinion podcast count Us Saturdays at one and seven pm Eastern on Bloomberg dot Com, the iHeartRadio app, and the Bloomberg Business App, or listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
This is Bloomberg Opinion. I Ami Morris. It is true for every generation that becoming a financially secure adult is hard. Now. A big part of that is home ownership, and last year, Vice President Kamala Harris told Bowie State University students that home ownership is good for the economy and that the government is trying to make it easier for you to own your own home.
When we increase home ownership, it strengthens communities and it strengthens our economy. Homeowners are more likely to put down.
Roots, but establishing yourself in your career, securing a home, starting a family, these are not easy things to do, and maybe it's harder for some generations than others. Let's talk about this. Bloomberg opinion columnist Alison Schrager joins me now, and she covers economics. Alison, is it harder for some generations?
I used to say no. I used to think, you know, I think it's always hard. I think establishing yourself as an adult is always a challenge, and everyone thinks it's harder for them than anyone else. Anyway, I kind of always thought it actually was getting a little bit easier
for everyone else. But millennials really did make a fine point of it, and they did have a point when it came to buying a house that it was more expensive than it was for their parents, like the price, but they also had way cheaper mortgages and also wanted to buy bigger houses. So these things, I guess, you know, even doubt and I always thought, you know, it's not so bad, guys, but I think gen z might have a legitimately harder time getting their first home.
Now, let's get into that before we get to the gen Z part. You had said that millennials have said for years that they were priced out of the housing market in part because of their student debt.
That's true, but way more people go to college. And also there's actually a positive correlation between your student debt balance and the odds of home ownership. And that's because the more student that you have, the more likely you are to have like a graduate degree or something like that that makes you get paid a lot more. So, actually, the more student that you have, the more likely you
are to be a homeowner. And in fact, I was digging into the data looking at home ownership rates with different generations, and you know, Millennials did buy homes a little later, and just the way that millennials grew up a little bit later for a lot of reasons, some
of which were positive. But in the last say several years, as they started to approach middle age, like other generations, they bought homes a lot, and particularly their prime home buying years were when interest rates really hit those record lows, particularly mortgage rates, so they actually got a really good deal.
There is still lower home ownership for millennials than for say baby boomers at their age, but I found that was largely driven by mostly men who still live with their parents, and most of them didn't go to a college at all. So I think we know that population is struggling, and I don't know if it's for home prices, but I think we can agree it's for a lot of reasons beyond that.
And you had said in your column on the Bloomberg Terminal that the last several years saw one of the biggest increases in home ownership of any generation. Now does that apply to millennials, gen Z, gen X? Who where does that apply?
I mean, and really for millennials because Gen X and millennials already like roughly if you look at a generation, like when they're like top out at home buying, it's usually like maybe sixty five seventy percent, And you know, not everyone is destined to buy a home. So Gen X and boomers are pretty much already there. Like this is like if you're gonna buy a home, you're gonna buy a home. I mean, I guess it's rare to
buy your first home at sixty. I mean, I'm sure it happens, but it's like if you're yeah, so so I said, like there's just an age where people start buying homes, and that tends to be as a little later for millennials and other generations, but because they also
got married later and things like that. But it is like your thirties and for them maybe a couple of years later into their fir thirties, but that was also the best time to buy a home, arguably because they've now locked in cheap mortgage for as long as they want.
We are talking with Bloomberg Opinion colonist Alison Schrager about Generation Z getting a bad deal on housing, and Allison, so far we've talked a lot about millennials and what this leaves for gen Z. Where does this leave them when it comes to home ownership.
Well, legitimately hard spot because I said, like millennials did to face higher prices but also super cheap mortgages, so it kind of was a wash. But for gen Z is facing both and not only that, because mortgage rates were so low and then went up so fast, and you know, while they might come down a little if the Fed starts cutting, they're probably not going back to those nice three sub three percent rates we used to
see unless there's some major policy push. So that means millennials who maybe have their first starter home are probably going to sit in that home unless they have to move, because you know, who can afford to move now. And that pretty much leaves gen z or shut out of like the sort of buying housing market because they have high prices and high mortgage rates.
So because millennials were able to lock in those low rates, they're not inclined to move. Nobody can afford to move because they don't need to get a new mortgage with a much higher rate.
Yeah, and as I said, millennials are probably going to sit on those for like a decade. I mean, I bought during the pandemic for the first time, and like I can, I can don't see how I can ever afford to move.
So when are gen z looking to buy these starter homes? Are they already out there in the market. Are they already starting to experience this issue or are they just looking down the road?
Probably the really keen ones are, but because I mean, how old are gen z ers now, Like maybe mid twenties, so it's a little early. But people are saying that the housing market is going to be sort of really inaccessible for maybe like another decade. So as they approached that time, bar some like extraordinary things happening to mortgage rates or a housing crash, which you know, I don't know if it is that likely. Again, they're going to face a tough time.
Are they experiencing some similar inflationary pressures when it comes to renting?
Yeah, I mean that's the other thing. They are definitely facing high rents. I mean, I live in New York, and you know, every generation moves to New York is like, it's so much more expensive, and it's it is always more expensive. But oh my god, I mean I don't even know how young people moving to New York now afford it. I mean I was just reading the median
rent is like between four and five thousand dollars. I mean that's I mean, if you're on a starting salary, I mean, I don't know how you cope with that. So the higher mortgage rates are creeping into higher rents too. So it's just I think everyone complains every generation, and I don't want to minimize that. I think it is always hard making your way in the world, and I think that's the bottom line. But I think it is actually maybe harder for them. I mean, there are other
things that are legit hard about. Know, if they're harder than they were for other generations.
They're timing is just lousy timing.
Is and well, I mean also they also had their schooling disrupted by COVID, which probably also has social effects and you know, I mean and a lot of social unrest that certainly other generations didn't. But also to compound their misery, now they're like, all right, world's back to normal. I'm going to do that thing that young people do, move to a big city, start my life. And they're facing these just astronomical rents, and I think that's just a function of the fact that you know, rates have
gone up before. They're not even that high by a historical reasons, but what they did do is they were very low and then now like something like more normal historically normal, and that just happens like almost overnight for them. So that just has all these weird knock on effects for the economy on rent and housing prices. That makes life harder for.
Them now when you have those higher rates, though that usually would mean less expensive homes, but that doesn't help them in this case.
Because there is that huge chump jump up that happened, so suddenly I see and they were just I mean, we've seen, certainly have seen mortgage rates higher than this, and that brought down prices.
But in the.
Past, you weren't, like a year ago, at like historically low rates that you know, the Fed engineered and the government and just the market, all these forces came together to bring rates like mortgage rates that just like, I mean, a two and a half percent thirty year fixed mortgage just shouldn't exist, but it did, and everyone like you know, refinanced or bought a home.
Then.
So now we have this weird situation where no one wants to move, and in the past it didn't really happen, so that keeps prices high. You know, I said, gen Z's had it rough. They never complained about the COVID thing. In fact, they took having their college experience stolen from them with actually quite quite graciously. So I feel like, yeah, maybe they won't we won't be subjected to a million think pieces of like my generations as it so are.
They'll just be like, yeah, this is our cross to bear and we take it.
Looking ahead with this, where does this wind up? I mean, are they just going to be late homeowners. Are they just going to be considered renters? Do we have a crystal ball where we can see what happens next.
There is a trend generally of people going becoming like stable adults later, and that has nothing to do with housing. It's the sociological things, like you know, Jane BIG's slower lives this whole hypothesis, So probably they'll reverse some of the trends we've seen. One of the reasons housing felt so expensive to millennials is they also wanted to live in bigger urban areas and have bigger houses. So maybe they'll be a swing back to smaller houses and more rural areas where they're cheaper.
Bloomberg Opinion columnist Alison Schreger covers economics. You're listening to Bloomberg Opinion. I'm Amy Morris. Restaurant tours have been struggling with inflation and labor shortages, labor costs and consumer complaints, and now there's a new push to help maintain customer loyalty. Let's learn more about how this works with Bloomberg Opinion columnists Bobby Gosh. He covers culture and Bobby, remember there was a time when you could have a favorite restaurant
or a favorite bar cafe, and they'd know you. Like back in the eighties, there was successful TV series you've probably heard of it, cult Cheers. It was built on that whole premise of everybody knowing your name.
So what happened, particularly since the pandemic, the restaurant industry as a whole has suffered acute shortages of people, particularly weight staff. The pandemic was a sort of wake up moment for a lot of people who worked in that industry who realized, you know what, this is a terrible job. They pay us very poorly. We had to depend on the kindness of strangers, so to speak, with tips. There are better jobs out there, and we're in an economy where unemployment is low, so there are a lot of
other jobs out there. So the restaurant industry has been losing the exact kind of people who would remember your name, whould remember your favorite drink, remember the dishes you like, would ask after your friends, would ask after your health. All of that sort of human interaction that you could rely upon is becoming much harder to assure these days.
So how does a loyalty program help accomplish this? How does this work well.
So there's one loyalty program that's just been launched. It's called Blackbird. It comes from a guy called Ben Levinthal who also was responsible for Eater and for Rezi, the reservation app, so he has a good track record in using digital solutions. And the way it works is that you sign up. Restaurants sign up and that allows sort
of restaurants to build a profile. Every time you go to a restaurant, you make an order, it is recorded and stored and that information is available to that restaurant to other restaurants, so that when you go back the moment you make the reservation, the maitre d at the restaurant gets a little mini profile of you and says, okay, this is Amy Morris. She's been coming here for a while. She likes you know, a cosmopolitan. She likes her steak
medium rare. The last time she was here, you know, she was not happy with the dessert, but she didn't make a big fuss. And so he'll have he or she will have all of this information and can design and experience for you and they can act on this information and say, okay, when you walk in the door, there's the cosmopolitan waiting for you. They can say, you know, we were really sorry, we messed up the last time.
This drink is on the house. These are the sort of things that a really good Matred could do back in the day.
Would it cost more, No, it will.
Cost you absolutely nothing, and in the trial stage it will cost the restaurant only a few cents per reservation. Eventually, if the system really takes off and restaurants respond to it, well, then they'll they will be charged more by Blackbird. But as a consumer, there's no expensity of it.
Our customer's loyal Is this something that customers are kind of no, unintended hungry for?
Well, that's the other thing to consider, and that's not a problem technology can solve. Lots of customers are not as loyal as they used to be because they're more choices. And after the pandemic, many of our favorite places closed down. New places have opened up, so there's an excitement about going and trying new things, and that is a challenge to our old favorites and I'm not sure that can
be solved by technology. But ultimately we are, particularly those who like to eat out, would like to experiment and try new things. That's not something technology can solve.
I don't think it's going to be interesting to see how this works out. Thank you so much, Bobby for filling us in.
Thanks Amy, Thanks You want to go where everybody knows your name?
Bloomberg Opinion columnist Bobby goes. That does it for this week's Bloomberg Opinion, and we're produced by Eric mollow You can find all of these columns on the Bloomberg terminal, and we're available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay with us. Today's top stories and global business headlines are just ahead. I'm Amy Morris, and this is Bloomberg.
You want to go where everybody knows me