No-shows costing restaurants thousands in lost takings

Restaurant owners in the Channel Islands have said people not showing up after booking tables is costing them thousands of pounds.

Some are taking measures to try and prevent no-shows including taking down credit card details and asking for deposits.

When customers do not turn up it costs the restaurants money, and can also lead to good food being thrown away, restaurateurs said.

Sam Jarrold, managing director of Fukku, a Japanese restaurant in St Peter Port, Guernsey, said the business lost £50,000 from no-shows in a year "which is significant when trying to maintain a business that already has very fine margins".

He said: "It's becoming harder to make restaurants profitable.

"If we had enough tuna for 30 people on a Saturday night, we're not open again until Tuesday, so we may be binning food which is sad."

As a result, Jarrold said he was considering asking customers for a deposit, or introducing a policy where they pay an amount up front.

Balthazar Bar and Restaurant in Guernsey already uses a deposit booking system.

Owner Steve Le Poidevin said this helped the business "eliminate the problem" of no-shows.

"We don't have a huge problem, since we changed the booking system so people have to put a credit card in to secure the booking, and that works really well for us now."

Le Poidevin said implementing deposits to secure a table booking is becoming "standard practice".

"More and more places in Guernsey are doing it, you can see it in the UK, the trend is new and now everywhere you go in the UK they are going to take card details," he said.

Le Poidevin added he hoped customers understood the deposit system wasn't something they wanted to do, but "a no-show can make a big financial hole in our evening".

In Gorey, Jersey, The Moorings Hotel and Restaurant has been taking credit card details to guarantee tables for groups of six and more.

Co-owner Iselin Jones said, the Moorings "had to learn the hard way" when they saw 15 to 20 last minute cancellations on Boxing Day three years ago.

Jones said: "Bank holidays are difficult to make profitable, because they're so costly to run, so that day was a complete washout.

"When it comes to special days and bank holidays, like Mothers Day, we take deposits from everybody, because demand is so high that we could fill them"

"You just cannot afford not to take a deposit," Jones added.

In St Peter Port in Guernsey, operations manager at Hook, Harriet Le Page said last minute cancellations can have a significant impact because Guernsey does not have the same level of passing trade as larger cities in the UK.

Hook is moving to a new booking system which will allow it to continue taking customers' card details to help deter no-shows.

Le Page said this wouldn't require smaller groups to pay a deposit, but "just knowing and having that security for the reservations is a really great thing".

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