No-show at the restaurant: this is why restaurateurs today ask for your card when you book

«No show» it's the term that restaurateurs use when people don't show up at the restaurant after having booked, or if they cancel at the very last moment. It seems like nothing, but the bad habit is on the increase and if restaurateurs, of so-called “gourmet” establishments but not only, They ask for a credit card to guarantee the booking for a reason: the damage to the sector is no longer negligible.

«After the pandemic we recorded an increase in no show» they tell us Laura and Francesco Of Motherdough. «With the recovery, especially in restaurants in big cities, booking has become essential to guarantee a table. Almost no one comes without having booked, but with the increase in reservations, so has the no-show”.
Rudeness and disinterest are not the only reasons why the phenomenon is widespread. “It is also a question of selfishness and opportunism, a cultural calamity that causes us a mixture of disappointment and anger,” he says Argiolas eyeshadowOf Osteria Serafina and adds: «Some customers (foreigners, such as Italians) book multiple restaurants on the same day to be able to decide where to eat at the last minute. For little ones like us the damage is even greater: the available seats go away immediately and it becomes impossible for others to book. If there was a correct cancellation of the table, other customers could occupy seats that instead remain empty”.

«What people don't understand is that every lost cover is a missed collectionand at the end of the year they make the difference, especially in a sector which is increasingly in crisis between personnel costs, increases in raw materials and bills”, he adds bitterly Fabrizio Margarita, founder of the pizzeria Vurria.

The economic damage for restaurateurs

«We are talking about a net loss of 12% of the annual turnover, to which is added the cost in terms of time of calling customers a few hours before their booking to confirm it. We had to introduce the recall because the number of no show it had become unsustainable», declare the owners of Motherdough. Their testimony is aligned with that of the manager of Osteria Serafina, which speaks of a loss of turnover ranging from 10 to 15% every year. Things are no different for the Margarita family of the Vurria pizzeria: «We lose around twenty covers a week, for a total of eighty fewer customers per month. Considering that the average expense in our pizzeria is around €20-25 per person, at the end of the month it is €1,800 less, that is almost €22,000 a year.” Reading these figures is impressive.

Credit card yes or no?

Almost everyone now has an online booking system because it helps reduce booking errors (frequent in telephone requests) and leads to more responsible behavior, since customers must enter their personal data. «The methods of recall they are proving to be ineffective», Ombretta Argiolas tells us, adding that it will soon be introduced at Osteria Serafina a credit card pre-authorization system, to guarantee the reservation. «The Italian customer is reluctant to insert the card, but we have no other choice in a city like Milan, where the large choice of venues leads to compulsive bookings». And so they will do at Pastamadre Laura and Francesco: «We are trying to stall because we don't want to displease customers, but it is an economic damage that we can no longer sustain», they tell us, highlighting the difficult position in which most of the small and medium restaurateurs. In a pizzeria asking for paper is difficult but there is the solution is to reserve the table for a maximum of fifteen minutes from the reservation, «If the customer doesn't arrive we free the place, counting on the passage. It can work with tourists”, says Federico.

In summary? Before going to a restaurant becomes an affair of state, wouldn't it be better to go back to behaving with a bit of correctness?