3 minute read
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Where the Hell Are You?
In the last episode of Bitchin’ in the Kitchen, we already covered the New Year’s aftermath. But rarely discussed is the aftermath of St. Valentine’s Day, a day highly anticipated by many overzealous lovers yet a nightmare for some, namely restaurant business owners, F&B managers and chefs.
We asked Saki Hoshino, chef and partner at 80/20 Bangkok, Nicola Bonazza owner of Enoteca Bangkok (Michelin Plate) and Thitid Tassanakajohn (Chef Ton) of Le Du about their professional experiences with overbooking, no-shows and how they combatted the challenges. We even discovered how the Valentine’s Day booking debacles have influenced major changes in booking systems in the restaurant industry.
Nicola Bonazza, Saki Hoshino
Please give me an example of a nightmare booking or no-show for Valentine’s Day that you’ve experienced in the past.
Nicola: Luckily, it’s been a long time. I haven’t had any experience as bad with no-shows, but yes, of course, every year there is a certain amount of them. But actually, cancellations and no-shows are becoming more and more annoying on a normal day. Valentine’s Day, however, is especially risky!
Saki: Two years ago, before we renovated the restaurant, we were fully booked on Valentine’s Day, but on the day almost half of the bookings didn’t show up. Fortunately, we got some walk-in guests but we were not happy with the situation. Most of the guests didn’t call for no-show, too. It sucks not just for us but for the team because we prepared the special menu according to the bookings.
Ton: A while ago on Valentine’s Day, we reconfirmed the reservation at 4pm, still they didn’t come after being a half-hour late of their reservation, we called them again. The lady just said, “Oops! Sorry, we are in the other restaurant already. We forgot to call you…”
What have you done to combat Valentine’s Day booking or no-show issues, if at all?
Nicola: What I do is a reservation through the webpage or on Facebook. I have an automatic system that asks for a deposit of B500 per person. Plus, on this, I go into overbooking. So, I take more booking counting on the fact that some of them will not show.
Saki: Valentine’s Day or normal days, we started taking credit card guarantee since we reopened. We offer a tasting course meal, order ingredients and prepare everything fresh according to the number of reservations. Not only is it hard work, but it’s also about the wasted ingredients, too. Food waste happens based on no-shows especially in fine dining.
Ton: Now we use a credit card guarantee system. No more phone bookings!
Thitid ‘Ton” Tassanakajohn
How have the changes to booking systems improved your situation and how have some people reacted to the new system?
Nicola: The situation improved, yes. Many who try to book via the webpage and discover that they have to pay B500 of deposit, don’t book. The majority of those are from overseas.
Saki: We know some guests don’t want to put credit card guarantee or deposit but it’s fair for restaurants to do so to avoid issues like food waste and be willing to give seats to other guests who really want to come to dine. Otherwise, we just pray that all the guests will show up every day.
Ton: It helps a lot. 95% better! For real!
Did you learn anything from that nightmare Valentine’s Day no-show experience?
Nicola: We learned to be prepared, for all cases of bookings.
Saki: The situation on Valentine’s Day two years ago made us think of the solutions for no-shows for sure. But no-show applies to normal service days, too. I think many restaurants are having the same problems.
Ton: This sh*t will not happen again! (laughing out loud)
