The issue of no-shows
There are actually a few...
Welcome to another instalment of this food-centric/restaurant-orientated digest. As a heads up, this week’s instalment leans a little more rant-y than usual but this is a topic that’s been top of mind lately; mostly (and sadly) because we’ve been on the receiving end of several no-shows at the bar. I’ll keep my grumbling to a minimum but if you have thoughts or similar frustrations, I’d love to hear from you so please drop a comment below.
I’ll start by saying I’ve flaked. I’ve bailed on plans that have been in the diary for months. I’ve said “sorry darling, I can’t make it” with approximately zero guilt because I was in my pyjamas by 7pm, eating a bowl of pasta and re-watching Gavin & Stacey for the third time.
But I’ve never – hand on my heart – just not shown up to a restaurant booking. I’m no saint – see aforementioned flaking – but it blows my blinkered mind that you wouldn’t call/DM/email before disappearing on a dinner plan. But this is something we sadly see at Joyau on a far too frequent basis.
Just last week when lovely Chloe was in the kitchen, cooking for a limited time while on a fleeting stop in London, we had 14 covers not show up on Saturday night. Bear in mind, we checked bookings the week before and scheduled an extra team member onto the rota to make sure we could give every table attentive and generous service. We ordered more lamb in from our butcher, Chloe prepped more of her delicious green sauce, more clafoutis, more perfect roast potatoes. And after all of that, three tables just didn’t show up.
We get that life happens. Childcare falls through at the ninth hour, work deadlines stack up and signal failures halt trains. Heck, we’ve had to reschedule more plans than we care to admit because we’ve had to step in and help our team behind the bar. But if you flag it – ideally sooner rather than later and not 30 minutes before the booking – at least we know and we can do our best to give the table to someone else who might want to take the now empty spot.
Most restaurants now take card details when you go through the motions of booking a table. You’ll be familiar with platforms like OpenTable or SevenRooms that come with disclaimers about charging per person for no-shows or cancellations less than 24 hours in advance. It’s now considered standard practice and gives the restaurant some insurance if the table ends up with no one on it. We use ResDiary and we don’t charge a deposit at the point of booking. Why? Because we want you to book a table with ease and without the friction of having to punch in your card details when you’re trying to book a dinner date for two next Friday. There is nothing less sexy than two-step authentication.
The biggest challenge of last-minute plan changes if you’re on the receiving end of this type of ghosting is that it sucks the air out the room. As a team, we go through the motions of laying the tables, briefing on dishes and wines so we’re primed and ready to show every guest a good time from the moment they walk through the door.
Jack and I have talked at length about no-shows and how/if we can manage them more effectively. This is just a snippet of what he had to say:
“Not showing up doesn’t just affect us as a small independent business, it also kills the vibe for everyone else. We all know how magical the background noise of a busy restaurant is… Clinking glasses, the burr of friends and family deep in conversation, the intermittent clatter from the kitchen and FOH happily hot on their toes to make sure the evening flows at the right pace. But if a booking – or worse, more than one booking – doesn’t show up, it can completely kill the vibe and ruin the fun for everyone else.”
So next time you make a booking – at Joyau or anywhere else – treat it like a promise. One with real consequences if broken. Like a dinner party you were invited to by a friend you’ve not seen in a while, but better – because you don’t even have to offer to do the dishes.
And if you really can’t make it?
Just cancel. DM us, email us, pop in and tell us face to face. We won’t charge you for cancelling, we won’t hold it against you; we’ll just hope to see you another time soon.
Until next time, have a good one!