After infiltrating pretty much every other industry, NFTs have finally entered the world of private dining.
VCR Group, a company helmed by American entrepreneur and Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk, has started selling membership to what is being billed as the “first NFT restaurant.”
The exclusive Flyfish Club, which is set to open in New York City in 2023, works like any other members-only joint except that your membership card is an NFT purchased via cryptocurrency. For the unversed, a non-fungible token, or NFT, is a unique digital asset that can be securely stored or traded on the blockchain. In this case, a token will give you access to the glitzy new 10,000-square-foot venue, plus a few other perks depending on the level of membership.
There are currently no new tokens available—VCR has sold 1,501 to date and has a further 1,534 reserved for the company—but the existing tokens can be leased or resold on the secondary market. This, of course, influences how much you’ll pay for membership, particularly given that things could fluctuate wildly due to the unpredictable crypto market.
The Flyfish Club’s regular membership, which gets you into the cocktail lounge, the high-end seafood restaurant and private events, will currently set you back around 3.8 Ethereum, or approximately $12,481 at the current exchange rate. The top-tier omakase membership, meanwhile, was going for 7.8 Ethereum ($25,620) at the time of this writing. As the name implies, this membership also includes access to a 14-seat omakase room.
Membership, however, only gets you so far. The kicker is that you will have to pay for the food and drinks in regular dollars once you’re inside. It should be up to par, though: VCR Group has a few industry veterans overseeing things, including Josh Capon of Lure Fishbar and Conor Hanlon of NoHo Hospitality. According to the team, you can even expect a master sushi chef serving up fish flown in daily from Japan.
It almost makes all the digital gymnastics sound worth it.
