The damage isn't just the missing cover. At 9 pm on a Saturday, an empty table is a double loss: the customer you could have seated instead booked elsewhere hours ago. At an average spend of €35 a head, a four-top that doesn't show is €140 in one evening; six tables a week tops €40,000 a year.
Why does it happen? Because booking costs nothing and so does forgetting: the customer books three restaurants for the same evening and picks one at the last minute, or simply stops thinking about it. The countermeasures that work — deposits on groups, a reminder the day before, a waiting list — act on this mechanism, not on bad manners.
Frequently asked questions
- What's a normal no-show rate?
- It depends on the day and the area, but 10-20% of bookings is a realistic range for a restaurant with no countermeasures. With a deposit and reminders it often drops below 5% for groups.
- Are a no-show and a late cancellation the same thing?
- No: a no-show arrives with no warning at all; a late cancellation arrives when it's too late to refill the seat. A reminder that asks for confirmation turns many no-shows into timely cancellations, which is already half the battle.