How Toronto restaurants are dealing with the vexing problem of no-shows
Unlike skipping out on a party you’d promised to attend on Facebook, failing to show up for a restaurant reservation is a pretty big deal—to the restaurants involved, at least. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal details the lengths some restaurateurs are going to in a bid to discourage people from skipping out on their reservations. Some spots now require anyone booking a table to provide their credit card number, while others (e.g. Noma, the Best Restaurant in the World) will flip you off over the Internet if you no-show. In Australia, some owners are even taking to Twitter-based naming and shaming. And then there’s Next in Chicago, where customers have to buy a ticket to land a table—it’s like the most fun part of eating out, combined with the least fun part of going to the movies. We called around to see how Toronto restaurants were dealing with the latest epidemic of bad dining etiquette.
Origin
Charlotte Burton, Origin’s events coordinator, told us that the restaurant had four parties no-show last Saturday—altogether, 14 guests (about 200 dined at the restaurant that night in total). Burton says that’s not unusual, but nowhere near as bad as New Year’s or Valentine’s Day, when people make several reservations and break all but one of them. Unless you’ve scheduled a large party (and signed the requisite contracts), Burton would just really like it if you would call ahead and let them know if you’re not going to show up. As for any Twitter shaming, don’t expect it from Origin: “We’re not going to name and shame people,” said Burton. “After all, it is just dinner.”
Khao San Road
While those 14 people were skipping out on Origin, a party of 10 was doing the same thing to the folks at Khao San Road. Co-owner Jeff Regular (who sounds infinitely patient on the phone) says he’ll try and keep a reserved table free from about 20 minutes before the party is scheduled to arrive, then hold it for 10 or 15 minutes after they’re due. But as you might expect, it’s hard to explain to a long line of hungry people that they can’t have the table that’s been sitting empty for half an hour. Regular says they get about three or four no-shows per week, and that they’re now leaning toward stopping reservations entirely. “We get as much flack for taking reservations as for not taking enough,” Regular said.
Canoe
If you have a reservation at Canoe, expect someone to call you the day of to confirm the number of people in your party, check on any special requests and offer you directions. Jerrett Young, vice-president of operations at Oliver and Bonacini, says calling to confirm reservations keeps Canoe’s no-show rate very low. As for Twitter-based retaliation, Young was adamant: “We definitely are not going to spread nasty rumours about our guests.” What a relief.
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Unlike skipping out on a party you’d promised to attend on Facebook, failing to show up for a restaurant reservation is a pretty big deal—to the restaurants involved, at least. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal details the lengths some restaurateurs are going to in a bid to discourage people from skipping out on their reservations. Some spots now require anyone booking a table to provide their credit card number, while others (e.g. Noma, the Best Restaurant in the World) will flip you off over the Internet if you no-show. In Australia, some owners are even taking to Twitter-based naming and shaming. And then there’s Next in Chicago, where customers have to buy a ticket to land a table—it’s like the most fun part of eating out, combined with the least fun part of going to the movies. We called around to see how Toronto restaurants were dealing with the latest epidemic of bad dining etiquette.
Origin
Charlotte Burton, Origin’s events coordinator, told us that the restaurant had four parties no-show last Saturday—altogether, 14 guests (about 200 dined at the restaurant that night in total). Burton says that’s not unusual, but nowhere near as bad as New Year’s or Valentine’s Day, when people make several reservations and break all but one of them. Unless you’ve scheduled a large party (and signed the requisite contracts), Burton would just really like it if you would call ahead and let them know if you’re not going to show up. As for any Twitter shaming, don’t expect it from Origin: “We’re not going to name and shame people,” said Burton. “After all, it is just dinner.”
Khao San Road
While those 14 people were skipping out on Origin, a party of 10 was doing the same thing to the folks at Khao San Road. Co-owner Jeff Regular (who sounds infinitely patient on the phone) says he’ll try and keep a reserved table free from about 20 minutes before the party is scheduled to arrive, then hold it for 10 or 15 minutes after they’re due. But as you might expect, it’s hard to explain to a long line of hungry people that they can’t have the table that’s been sitting empty for half an hour. Regular says they get about three or four no-shows per week, and that they’re now leaning toward stopping reservations entirely. “We get as much flack for taking reservations as for not taking enough,” Regular said.
Canoe
If you have a reservation at Canoe, expect someone to call you the day of to confirm the number of people in your party, check on any special requests and offer you directions. Jerrett Young, vice-president of operations at Oliver and Bonacini, says calling to confirm reservations keeps Canoe’s no-show rate very low. As for Twitter-based retaliation, Young was adamant: “We definitely are not going to spread nasty rumours about our guests.” What a relief.){kind=link}
Come on, its Toronto. Do you really think we have the demand and guts to stoop to this level ? We are way too nice. But I understand the restaurants point of view. I always call to cancel, just seem the nice thing to do, after all we are canadians…..eh?
i enjoy when someone makes a reservation on opentable and then no-shows—they are deducted 1000 points and sent an email to that effect…some glee but glee none the less
It is a real shame for all those servers out there who have a reserved table not show up. In some cases, larger reservations have one server, whose whole night shift is designated towards only serving them and maybe a few other couples. SO when a table doesn’t show, they have their whole section empty and they could of otherwise made money on. This amounts to a terrible shift for the night, getting paid next to nothing hourly! Just call ahead to cancel so the tables can be given away to other hungry people!
No-shows will always happen. From a restauratuer’s P.O.V., there is nothing one can do about it. Although, I think people should have the common courtesy to cancel their reservations, because many times, restaurants are crammed full, with no tables available; and if someone is not honouring their reservation on busy nights, they rob someone else of a dining opportunity. That’s bad karma, man!
I call and cancel anytime I can’t make a reservation, and am always surprised when the person on the phone thanks me for calling to let them know. I thought that was just common courtesy….who DOESN’T do that? Rude!
Agree. How hard is it to call and cancel your reservation if your plans have changed? It’s inconsiderate not only to the business, but to other diners who might be dying to eat there. It’s a sad commentary on our world if the rest of us have to suffer (it makes me VERY angry when I’m asked to provide my credit card number to hold a reservation), because others are too lazy and selfish to be considerate. Karma indeed.
Common courtesy may not be so common any more but really, to ask someone for their credit card number to hold the table, have them buy a ticket for a table or even simply shame them, seems to be petty at best (and counter-intuitive to customer service principles). While it is extremely rude to not cancel your reservation, is it any better to retaliate like that? I would be inclined to spend my money in establishments that don’t lower themselves to that level.
Two way street here. Customer’s who want to dine in a restaurant that encourages reservation expect a certain degree of service, thus should be courteous enough to call & cancel for whatever reason.
As for the restaurant, calling to confirm is a good practice. After all if the customer is a no show that’s an opportunity lost. It’s another higher level customer service.
I find it stupid and selfish when patrons don’t cancel their resos but publicly shaming them over it is kind of ridiculous and I’d be surprised if there are no legal repercussions there. Not to mention, these high-end places would be foolish to stoop to that when you consider who some of their clients are! Talk about dumb…
To the person who commented that it’s petty for restos to ask for a credit card number to hold the reso, I don’t see what is so petty about that. You’d be surprised just how “courteous” people will be when they are held accountable in that way! And if dining at that resto is such a coveted privilege, why not make them buy tickets? At least these two methods would curb the number of no-shows.
Simply giving away the table 15 minutes after the reserved time when there are others waiting would make the most sense in the world IMO. Just sayin’.