Restaurant owner frustrated after customers don’t show
PISTACHIO BOSS NOW CONSIDERING TAKING CARD DETAILS AT THE BOOKING STAGE
A RESTAURANT owner, who had to delay opening for a year due to Covid, is losing business due to diners booking and not turning up.
More than half the customers who had reserved tables at Pistachio Bar & Kitchen for Saturday night – usually one of the busiest nights of the week – failed to show and didn’t even bother contact the Sherwood restaurant to cancel.
The no-shows happened despite the owners ringing back to confirm bookings.
Orash Sadeghian-naini, who runs the Persian tapas restaurant with wife Rhiannon, said: “We only have 13 tables and seven tables didn’t turn up. That’s around 20 people.
“Even more frustrating is that we turned away so many bookings beforehand. We could have filled those tables if we’d known they weren’t going to show. It’s a kick in the teeth.
“It happens on occasions but it’s never been that bad before. People forget but it does seem to be a running theme. We’ve just got to look at ways of eliminating that from happening.
“Sometimes I think it’s too easy to book a table online on our booking system. I’ve been speaking to other restaurants and bars and they’ve been having the same thing. Some people are now taking card details.
“People don’t understand the implications of what it means for a small independent business. Being a fresh food-oriented kitchen prepare enough food for that shift and being closed Sunday and Monday a lot of that food has gone to waste.
“We get extra staff in on a Saturday. It’s not just the takings we’ve lost. It has a knock-on effect all the way down. It affects the stock, it affects the wastage, it affects the staff. All it takes is a quick phone call.
“It’s frustrating. I don’t like the idea of having to give card details away if I was to book a table – it’s more longwinded. But if people do that I think they’re more willing to come, so it might be an avenue we have to go down.”
Very occasionally diners have turned up by mistake at Pistachio in Sneinton, run by Orash’s father Babak, and vice versa, in which case they ring each other but that didn’t happen on Saturday.
“We have looked at a booking system where it will take your card details – it doesn’t take any money, but in the terms and conditions it states if you don’t show up there will be a deposit taken from your card. If people have to do that they are more aware,” said Mr Sadeghian-naini.
No-shows have always been a problem for restaurants but the frustration has been heightened by the lack of trade during the Covid pandemic and Pistachio Bar & Kitchen isn’t alone.
In July, Le Mistral in Sherwood had a similar problem when a table of six failed to show on a busy Saturday lunchtime, accounting for a fifth of the restaurant.
And The Red Lion, in Thurgarton, had 22 no-shows on Father’s Day in June.
We could have filled those tables if we’d known they weren’t going to show. It’s a kick in the teeth Orash Sadeghiannaini