The unbearable lightness of the ghost reserve
That is, customers who do not show up despite having a confirmed reservation, without further ado. Without warning, without reservation cancellation or hosts: fuck the restaurant.
That is why it is common to see cases like that of David Muñoz, day in and day out, colonizing social networks:
And I wonder, if this happens to one of the restaurants with the longest waiting time (and best valued) on the gastronomy planet, what will become of so many simple eating houses without loudspeakers or resources? I'm telling you: fuck off.
The problem goes further. And it goes to more because there is more and more supply and the possibilities multiply; Without going any further, a gastronome (a bit undesirable) told me not so long ago that his modus operandi was make reservations at two or three restaurants at the beginning of the week and decide at the last minute. The bastard.
It does, everything is said, because there are not so many restaurants that work with blacklists: one of the many possible solutions to try to alleviate this bleeding — TripAdvisor does it through its Dimmi platform in Australia, and in just one year They have managed to reduce customer no-shows by 25%: no less than 38,000 Australians banned for being unpresentable. Never better said.
Solutions? Require a deposit to guarantee the reservation or purchase of tickets (as is done with a concert, after all it is the same: an experience), but is the sector mature enough to implement ticketing beyond the big gourmet restaurants? I have my doubts.
No show, the drama of not respecting the work of others
How can we avoid no shows? “The only option is to charge for the reservation, but it must always be online with the express authorization of the client because otherwise it lacks legal validity and the diner can return the charge. This process is functional when they make the reservation in advance, but it is not operational in the day-to-day life of a normal restaurant like ours, where there are also many reservations by phone and from one day to the next...”, he explains.
“ It is complex to force a client who reserves for tonight, or calls at 12 to reserve for food and channel him through the web ..., although it is very common for all of us to have internet on our mobile phones, I know..., but there are many occasions where it is complex to do so. For my part, I only have to make people aware of how necessary it is for us and our survival to be respectful of reservations and cancellations, ”he adds.
Begoña Rodrigo , winner of the first edition of Top Chef and chef at La Salita, is much more cryptic: “The no show confirms once again that, despite the 'exceptional and mediatic' moment that the kitchen is experiencing, this is no more beyond the window. That someone does not show up for a reservation made exudes an unforgivable lack of respect for the work of others. Subijana said in the prologue of Akelarre's kitchen, the dream of Pedro Subijana: ' While the best table in the corner consoles itself in the loneliness of a missing person, other people celebrate in sadness not having been able to enjoy it' ".
And he adds: "And it is that beyond the fact that the table is not billed (which is the only thing that those who do not come think about), beyond that, it supposes a lot of work in the garbage and perhaps the payment of unnecessary extra staff ; but especially it means that there will be people who will have to look for other gastronomic options because you, son of a bitch, you have decided to be an unpresentable ”.
Solutions? In the long term, the remedy seems obvious: the absolute digitization of all processes, but, Basically, a much more important problem. It's called education.