Top Tock exec is leaving Amex

Matt Tucker has some thoughts on the future of reservations: ‘I don’t know if an incredibly innovative, pure-play reservations company like Tock could launch today and compete.’

May 05, 2026

Matt Tucker, head of Tock and chief commercial officer for American Express Global Dining, will leave the company later this month. Tucker notified Tock restaurant partners of his departure this week; his last day will be May 22.

“Tock is stronger today than when I arrived, and more importantly, better positioned to serve you, your teams, and your guests,” he assured restaurant partners in his email.

His departure comes just months after American Express announced it would sunset Tock. It’s folding the brand and its tech into Resy, the company’s larger booking platform, in what’s been a long process that will take a couple months more to complete. Tucker planned to leave Tock around the time of that announcement, he told restaurants in his email, but wrote he “enjoyed working with the Tock team and our colleagues at Resy so much that I decided to stay a few extra months.”

(This line made me laugh, mostly because Tucker responded directly to my February Tock-is-sunsetting scoop with: “You just lit up my phone with ‘When are you leaving?’ texts.” Sorry! But I have been impressed by the genuine rapport between the leaders of two former competitors unified under one parent company.)

“It has been a real privilege having Matt on the team the last two years,” Pablo Rivero, CEO of Resy and Tock and SVP of American Express Global Dining said over email. (See?)

“He has been critical in bringing Tock into Resy and American Express, helping to lay the foundation for the future of our business. From our first meeting, it was clear that we share the perspective that Resy and Tock are incredibly compatible, not only in the product, but in their intentions and cultures. He brought with him a phenomenal team of people who are passionate about this industry, and I’m grateful for having the opportunity to learn from him. We’ll truly miss him and are all grateful for his leadership and impact.”

Tucker was the second leader of Tock, a reservations service founded in 2014 as a restaurant ticketing platform. He took over from Nick Kokonas, Tock’s founder and CEO, who sold the company to website provider Squarespace in 2021 for $400 million in what remains the most spectacular deal to come out of the Covid-era restaurant technology acquisition spree. Tucker joined Squarespace as head of Tock in 2022 and led its $400 million sale to American Express two years later, a move he considers crucial to securing Tock’s legacy.

“I’m very lucky I did that deal,” Tucker told me on Monday, implying Tock wouldn’t have been as powerful a competitor in today’s high-stakes reservations wars1 without the deep-pocketed backing of a financial services giant.

That’s because the reservations industry has changed — dramatically! — even in the relatively short time Amex has owned Tock. Its top players now court brand-aware and increasingly tech-savvy restaurants, sometimes writing big checks to win their business. DoorDash’s $1.2 billion acquisition of reservations platform SevenRooms last year and the delivery company’s subsequent flashy foray into restaurant bookings — signing some rumored top-dollar checks of its own — shook up industry leaders in a way I hadn’t seen before.

“I don’t know if an incredibly innovative, pure-play reservations company like Tock could launch today and compete in this world,” Tucker said. “I think that would be impossible. The economic model is not survivable as a pure technology SaaS business at all.”

While there’s no longer a need for a “head of Tock” at American Express, Tucker expects the company to replace him in his role as chief commercial officer. After taking some time off, he expects to return to the restaurant tech industry. (Before Tock, Tucker spent over eight years at online ordering giant Olo, serving as its president and chief operating officer during the company’s 2021 IPO.)

He is certain about one thing: “I can assure you I’m not going to start a reservations business,” Tucker said. But he might take advantage of the industry’s evolution, which now includes rumored seven-figure paydays for a handful of the country’s top spots. “Maybe now I’ll go and be an agent for chefs and restaurants,” he said.