As a first-time restaurateur, one of the many firsts you need to be prepared for is the issue of no-shows. Similar to ghosting in the dating world, no-shows are diners who make a reservation and then simply do not show up. It is a universal F&B issue. It happens to every restaurant in the world, no exceptions. Given the current F&B SOPs where seating capacity is reduced due to social distancing, this issue is even more damaging than before.
With seating capacity reduced, if diners decide to ghost reservations at the very last minute, it greatly impacts restaurants and bars that are still trying to recuperate losses incurred during the pandemic. It also hurts other diners who sincerely want to dine but are turned away because the tables are sitting empty, waiting for people who would never arrive.
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A universal issue
Singapore
We are not asking for much, we are just asking you to honour your reservation and we do our best to make you happy.
For chef-owner, LG Han, of one Michelin starred Labyrinth, showcasing local Singaporean flavours and culture, he implemented a cancellation policy three years after Labyrinth was opened. “In 2014 when we first started, I was a bit hesitant about it. My rationale mostly was that, it’s a risk, right? People might not feel comfortable to share their credit card details and we were still a new establishment. No-shows happened consistently every other week. But there was once, on a Friday night – the busiest time of day for a restaurant, we had a 20 pax cancellation within 24 hours. We are a fine dining restaurant with a 30 seating capacity. It was a huge loss – food cost, table cost, preparation time, labour cost, we also hired part timers for peak periods, not to mention opportunity cost of the lost tables. In 2017, we were awarded our first one Michelin star and the demand grew. And then came a 70% no-show on one of the nights and I’d had enough. It reached a point whereby I would rather control my cost and serve customers who are serious about dining in our restaurant.”
One very poor last-minute excuse given, LG recalls, was when a customer called at 6pm to cancel a 7.30pm reservation saying that he’d missed his flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. “Considering the 4-hour journey accounting for flight check-ins, etc. if you’d missed your flight, you should have missed your flight earlier than this. If he’d called in the morning, I could understand and find a replacement.”
“We are in the service industry and we try to be as understanding as we can as a restaurant. If customers call us in advance with valid reasons to request to move their dinner reservation to other dates or to lunch, we will definitely accommodate, even though moving reservations from dinner to lunch will incur a loss to my business.”
From a restaurant perspective, we are not here to take your money, we are not here to fight the customer, we just want to know whether you’re serious about dining in our restaurants.
Kuala Lumpur
Jungle Bird’s (Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020) Managing Director, Joshua Ivanovic, recently had a 20 pax reservation that decided not to turn up on a weekend, even after being contacted multiple times. “I can definitely say we experience at least a few no-shows every weekend. Anything from two to twenty people. It’s simply really frustrating, rude and inconsiderate. I’m sure there are certain circumstances where things can’t be helped: emergencies for example.”
A simple phone call to let us know is always met with a sincere thank you from our side.
Bangkok
For restaurateur Choti Leenutaphong, owner and founder of Foodie Collection, a notable F&B group of restaurants with Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020 and one Michelin starred 80/20, il Fumo, 1919, La Dotta, and Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020 Vesper under its umbrella, he shares,
“We experience more last minute cancellations than no-shows. It’s most likely due to Bangkok’s infamous traffic jams. We’re looking at around 20-30% of total bookings.”
Choti recalls a no-show incident, “I remember during the first year that I started business, one end-of-the month Friday dinner service, a guest booked for 10 pax and only 4 pax arrived. Worse still, they spent very little and were more interested in photo-taking. We ended up asking the guests for the seats back but that was 2-hours later, and we did have to deny some walk-ins and last minute bookings because of that. Lesson learned: We must ask guests way in advance about their incomplete parties.”
It’s just a pain sometimes to see something that can be avoidable.
Consequences of no-shows
No shows do not only impact the bottom line but it goes deeper than that. Across three cities – Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, all establishments that Set the Tables spoke with consistently shared the same sentiments. In these times where we are facing a pandemic and grappling with social distancing, it can have a significant impact on team morale and the restaurant or bar atmosphere, which are two key drivers of any operating F&B business.
“There is a distinct drop in morale amongst the team when they’re geared up for a busy night with large party bookings, often the team have prepped accordingly to make sure service is snappy and organised, and setup the bar for large orders of cocktails, only to be let down. So, there’s a wastage aspect there. We also tend to stock up on fast moving items in advance if we expect big bookings and that’s extra money spent on holding stock.” said Josh of Jungle Bird, Kuala Lumpur
For Choti of Foodie Collection in Bangkok, the impact is similar. “ It creates loss of sales opportunities where we could have given the table to walk-ins or last minute bookings. Specifically for fine dining, it also means additional waste as we have to prep the food in advance. It’s just a pain sometimes to see something that can be avoidable. It also hurts our team’s morale somewhat since they were expecting a big table.”
Soon after the re-opening during RMCO, Kuala Lumpur’s Entier French Dining experienced a 15 pax reservation no -show. Hui Ying, Director of Marketing for Platform Hospitality Group shares candidly, “It was a Friday night and in order to abide by every regulation of the government on social distancing in restaurants, we had to seat them at multiple tables with a big distance between each guest and every table, so we ended up having to block out more than half of this restaurant for them. It was a smooth conversation arranging this with the guest, and the last thing you might think of is that they will pull out of this Friday night dinner that we had agreed to specially close-off a big part of the restaurant for. But that very evening at 6:30pm they cancelled the reservation.”
“This one swift action of theirs was not only inconsiderate but genuinely demoralizing for the team. This happening at the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic when conversations about the struggles of the F&B industry was a hot topic basically proves that some things haven’t changed, and that many still lack an overall understanding and empathy for the struggles of others.
This one swift action was genuinely demoralizing for the team.
There are so many negative consequences that diners may not be aware of. The F&B industry is very much an interpersonal industry. Our greatest asset is and always will be the people. It is a vicious circle, if staff morale is low, the guests will not be treated with the best experience. Mental health and morale goes hand-in-hand.
Understanding and respect is a two-way street. We respect you as a diner and you need to respect that the restaurant has costs to cover.
There is still hope, perhaps?
Not all high-end restaurants implement cancellation policies. For Kuala Lumpur’s Platform Hospitality Group, an F&B group which prides itself in modern concept dining and welcoming hospitality, Hui Ying explains, “At Entier currently, we do not hold credit cards or have any policy for no-shows. All these are practised in good faith, and we will continue to do this until no-shows happen too frequently. But of course, this is a reality in all F&Bs, and it affects the industry as a whole. We have some terms and conditions for bigger groups (see below) on a case-by-case basis. Mainly, because we feel that an act of this manner begins the experience on not-so-perfect terms, therefore it’s based on trust and good faith that people will honour their reservations.
Unfortunately, the inconsiderate sides of people still surface from time to time (in reference to the 15 pax reservation no-show after the re-opening during RMCO). Of course, we have also seen, post-MCO, that many of our guests have been very supportive. They’ve given a lot of encouragement, and assisted the Group in more ways than they can imagine. But it’s not all peachy.
Choti of Bangkok’s Foodie Collection also shares, “…for some reason, Post-Covid-19 lockdown sees less no-show than pre-Covid-19. Perhaps, the guests are much more understanding of restaurants as a result.”
Let’s hope things will get better.
Ways to mitigate no-shows for industry peers
For co-owners Richard Joore and Kit Yin Chan of JOLOKO in Kuala Lumpur, a lively Afro-Carribean restaurant and bar in Kuala Lumpur, they work with UMAI, a restaurant management system, “We use their booking platform which has a deposit system linked to it. This helps so much especially when we have special menus. Another feature they have that helps is if you and other restaurants use their system, it informs you if someone has double booked two venues. I believe there is a blacklist feature as well if there’s been multiple cancellations from one person but luckily we’ve yet to see that”
For il Fumo and 80/20 in Bangkok, both restaurants implement a credit card guarantee for parties of 6 or more. If there’s a no-show or a less than 24 hours cancellation notice, then the management will be obliged to charge 30% of the tasting menu fees. Choti shares, “Unfortunately, we have to do this as both establishments are fine dining restaurants and require a lot of prep to make the whole dining experience perfect for our guests.”
Josh of Jungle Bird shares that there might be mixed reactions, “The only way to really tackle the problem is to enforce a system whereby guests pay a deposit in advance when making the booking. However, in reality, I don’t think that’s a viable option. I know certain restaurants in the city do that, and some globally recognised fine dining establishments do, but they can and it’s expected.”
For Platform Hospitality Group, Hui Ying and her team have implemented a partial restaurant booking policy. “For bigger groups of 16 pax and above, they may book a section of the restaurant, we call it “partial restaurant booking” and it will be treated like an event booking, while the rest of the restaurant remains open to the public. We practise this at both Entier and Botanica+Co. There is a minimum spend and house policies still apply. We will take their pre-orders or refer to a particular menu which they have to ordered from previously. A 50% deposit of the full estimated fee will apply, with the rest of it to be settled after the event. We, of course, still have some stories on no-shows, etc. I would not rule out the possibility that at any time, should we have too many incidents of no-shows, we would also adopt the temporary withholding of credit card details.”
In Singapore, Labyrinth implements a $50 holding fee per head that was introduced in 2017. It will be deducted in full if there are no shows within the time limit, depending on the party size. The charge will be made only if the guest cancels last minute or does not show up at the restaurant. “The holding fee is just to cover our food costs as we prepare our mis en place based on reservations. It doesn’t even cover the opportunity cost of the lost table” says chef-owner LG Han.
“It is never about the money. Some customers can be unreasonable, cancelling at the last minute, demanding to know why we take their deposit. It doesn’t happen so often, but it does happen. Understanding and respect is a two-way street. We respect you as a diner and you need to respect that the restaurant has costs to cover as well. It’s the reason why restaurants have no choice but to have reservation rules at the end of the day.”
We have regulars who are supporting us all through the years, and we do not charge them any holding fees. It is based on trust. In any circumstances, if both parties trust each other, we do not need collateral…but trust has to be built over time.
Interview and words by Theri B. Edited by Lim Aileen.
