The high price for failing to show to a restaurant reservation

Restaurants are fighting back against “no-show” diners, introducing huge fees for those who fail to turn up to bookings. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Queensland diners are being forced to fork out up to $165 per person if they fail to show up to their restaurant booking.

As eateries face skyrocketing prices for fruit, veg, proteins, wine, gas, electricity and rents, “no-show” diners are hurting hospitality businesses more than ever before.

In a bid to reduce the number of patrons not honouring their reservations, which is estimated to cost the industry $75 million per year, some venues are now charging hefty fees to those who cancel last-minute or don’t turn up to their booking, while other operations are taking payments upfront.

Shannon Kellam from leading Brisbane French restaurant Montrachet introduced cancellation fees of $165 per person for their special chef’s menu experience three months ago and said it was a necessary deterrent for people who didn’t respect the system amid soaring prices of everything from cooking oil to green beans.

“The cancellation fee is for people who are ignorant who think that it’s fine just not to turn up for dinner,” he said. “If you pre-bought tickets to the movies, do you think you’d get your money back if you didn’t show up, you wouldn’t. So why should we considering all the work that goes into the experience?”

He said the restaurant didn’t charge people a cancellation fee due to illness, and would always talk to no-show customers first before charging their card, but said in the rare event it was charged, it went to covering wages and food costs.

At newly opened high-end Japanese restaurant Sushi Room in Fortitude Valley, guests are charged a $50 per person deposit at the time of booking, which is then credited towards their bill; while diners who sign up to the venue’s multi-course omakase menu must pay the full $330 upfront.

Co-owner Karla Munoz Labart at her restaurant Labart in Burleigh Heads. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“With Sushi Room, it’s only a 50-seat restaurant so if we have a table of 10 no-show that’s a loss of thousands of dollars for us,” said Sushi Room co-owner Kelvin Andrews.

“We’ve already bought produce for it and everything is fresh on the day so we are buying already for that customers and then it’s food wasted.”

He said the restaurants took a sympathetic approach to last-minute cancellations for genuine reasons and would usually offer a credit for a future booking. However, he said it was commonplace for diners to book in at all three of his Fortitude Valley eateries, including Hellenika and SK Steak & Oyster, and decide on the night where they wanted to go, leaving two restaurants at a loss.

“At Hellenika we do a booking fee for groups of eight to 10 or more just because a group will book in and then not show up on the day and that’s a loss of income for us and especially with the rising cost of everything, like our fruit and veg, we can’t afford to keep losing tables,” Mr Andrews said.

Restaurant Labart at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast was one of the first Queensland restaurants to introduce a prepayment scheme, charging diners $125 per person upfront for their set menu, and an accompanying $125pp fee for cancellations within 24 hours.

Despite an initial backlash from diners, co-owner Karla Munoz Labart said customers were now happy to pay and it meant they had something to look forward to.

“There is obviously leniency. We charge the upfront amount and it’s really more to get people to commit,” she said, acknowledging that the business was already having to wear huge price increases for everything from meat and fish to beer and wine.

“Like buying a flight ticket or tickets to a concert, it’s no different to that, you’ve got to have a level of commitment.”

Mrs Munoz Labart said they rarely had to charge diners the cancellation fee, and would normally offer a credit for a future booking instead.

“It’s not about keeping people’s money for no reason, it’s just having that commitment and people having the courtesy to let you know they aren’t coming,” she said. “So if you just don’t turn up, there would be no returning of that money if the table has just sat empty all night and the food’s gone in the bin and I think most people would think that’s reasonable.”

In 2017 an online reservations company black-listed 38,000 diners across Australia for not showing up to bookings.

National retailers association CEO Dominique Lamb said restaurants were charging the cancellation fees as a “last ditch effort” to survive the winter Covid wave, with those located in CBD’s struggling most due to the high number of people now back working from home.

“Restaurants and cafes are still in the process of coming back from the pandemic and whilst we’ve seen other verticals come back quite well, they absolutely haven’t,” Ms Lamb said.

“All the costs are increasing; groceries, gas, electricity and wages, and then adding that skill shortage due to Covid and flu numbers, many restaurants don’t have any other option because they have to cover that bottom line to survive.

“For many this (charge) is their last ditch effort to do that, especially in the CBD locations where people are working from home, it’s been tough.”