‘Special place for you to burn in hospo hell’: Bar owner hits out at no-show customer

A furious Sydney bar owner has lit up a customer who booked a table taking up almost half his venue and didn’t bother showing up.

A furious Sydney bar owner has lit up a customer who booked a table taking up almost half his venue and didn’t bother showing up, telling her there’s a “special place for you to burn in hospo hell”.

The weekend just gone was the first time in months struggling establishments were able to allow customers to dine in, with a maximum capacity of 10 people.

Aref Jaroud, the owner of bar Low 302 in Surry Hills was looking forward to catering for a table of four on Saturday night, after a booking came in under the name “Aimee”.

As the reservation time came and went, “Aimee” was nowhere to be seen and Mr Jaroud had turn customers away, assuming the party of four would be arriving late.

However, it soon became clear they wouldn’t be showing up at all. Mr Jaroud took to the bar’s Facebook page to send her a personal message.

“Hi Aimee. We thank you for making a booking at Low for four people. Right now that is 40% of our entire capacity,” he wrote.

The Low 302 bar has reopened to dine-in customers.

“The thing is Aimee, you didn’t show up for your booking. You didn’t have the common courtesy to call us up and cancel.

“Maybe you have no idea the financial impact this has on a restaurant right now. Maybe you don’t care. You have single-handedly set the worst of precedence for our entire industry at this most difficult time.”

He signed off by saying: “Aimee, there is a special place for you to burn in hospo hell.”

Mr Jaroud told news.com.au that, like all hospitality businesses, the past eight weeks have been particularly difficult for Low 302.

He said he’s flipped to business model on its head to survive by changing the menu and opening during the day.

On top of that he said restrictions on the time customers spend in the venue and the strict cleansing routine means “serving 10 customers can feel like serving 110”.

He said it was disappointing that people wouldn’t show up to a booking, but he believes deposits aren’t the way to go as customers might risk coming in if they were feeling unwell.

“Hopefully this is something that will be on people’s minds now,” he said. “If you can’t make it, just let us know and cancel because it means we can re-book and it gives other people a chance for a night out.”

Sydney restaurants opened their doors for the first time over the weekend. Picture: James Gourley/AAP

Despite the no-show he believes the 10-customer limit is a good start to reopening Sydney again.

“It think people understand this is not forever, and this is just the way it is for now,” he said.

“But it (the weekend) was great. People were just happy to be out and about, sitting with their mates and having a meal.”

Another Surry Hills bar, Poly, suffered a no-show on the same night, leading owner Mat Lindsay to write an Instagram post which he has now deleted.