San Franciscans were aghast at the launch of ReservationHop, a service that scrapes plum restaurant reservations and sells them back to diners who can pay a premium. But the inspiration for inserting a middleman into fine dining may have arisen in New York, a city with more experience in separating the haves from the have nots.

ReservationHop only made it an hour after launching before the criticism to start pouring in. Twitter users were outraged. One restaurateur described the service as "disgusting and hurtful." Even TechCrunch couldn't stomach what ReservationHop was selling.

There are two things startups shouldn't fuck with in San Francisco. One is parking, and the other is restaurants. San Francisco is, after all, a city of foodies. Techies write bots to score competitive reservations. Foodies stand two hours in the rain waiting for day-old New York bagels. Now a startup is drawing fire for trying to capitalize off that love.