> If people are willing to buy reservations, why not just charge more for the food until there is no waiting list?

I don't really like the idea that restaurant owners should be forced to raise their prices just to avoid being screwed by clever startups. What if you just want to keep your prices affordable even though you have a lot of success? I guess you can always ask for an ID and check if it matches the reservation, but I'm not a great fan of that either.