Interesting ideas, especially for higher-end/pricier/in-demand restaurants at off-peak hours.
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Surge pricing finds success where the service is sensitive to exact time/date – performances such sports and theatre, airline trip, on-demand transportation such as Lyft – when you cannot reschedule . . . it’s the Cubs against Cardinals, sold out Hamilton, you must be at that appointment. Dinner at a trendy restaurant just to try the cooking? Maybe not so compelling unless it is an appointed business occasion or life event.
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But maybe a 6PM res when everyone wants 730?
I believe human nature generally feels better about a discount vs a surcharge - even if they essentially have the same result.
Places have been discounting off peak hours for decades. The same dish is less expensive at lunch. Early bird discounts help fill early dinner seats. Many places switch to a late night menu which is less expensive and requires less kitchen staff to produce. Daily specials are often offered to sell slow moving ingredients.
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'Surge Pricing" is more palatable than “Early Bird Special”, for the non-blue haired crowd? 
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I had the same thought 
I snagged a res at few years ago at Tickets Bar in Barcelona. Probably 7PM which is dang near lunch time there. It was almost all tourists. But tourists with very good taste
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Doesn’t matter to me what they call it. I happily ate and saved money at early bird specials when I lived in an area that had them. I was in my 20s and 30s and usually the only non-senior in the place.
I guess I’ve always looked at what a thing actually is then considered if it worked for me or not. What it is called or who the marketing is directed to is of little concern to me.
Since marketing does seem to be of importance to some, I’m sure they could come up with a new catchy name! I think many people who start their work early are fine with an earlier work night dinner.
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Bulls-eye.
Frankly, I tend to doubt “surge pricing” will help a significant number of restaurants in “hot” areas/cities for a number of reasons. But it was nice to see (for once), the issue of stratospheric rents being stratospheric as a significant factor in restaurant profitability. (Though “Interestingly”, it’s one of the interviewees that really stressed that, rather than the article’s author, who relegated it to and “and of course…” clause after citing increased labor costs as the primary factor.)
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