Award-winning restaurant is the latest to impose charges for ‘no-show’ diners
Restaurant Mark Greenaway follows The Kitchin and Aizle with charge
It is one of Scotland’s most prestigious restaurants, which has been garlanded with awards since opening at the turn of the decade.
But now one of the country’s leading chefs has become the latest to introduce penalties for diners who reserve a table only to fail to show up, describing their mentality as“lunacy ”.
Mark Greenaway, whose eponymous eatery in Edinburgh holds three AA rosettes, said that as of next month he will require customers to provide their debit or credit card details to confirm bookings via Stripe, a secure online payment processing service.
If they do not show up for their lunch reservation, parties will be charged £30 per person, with the penalty rising to £50 a head for so-called “no-shows” at dinner.
Mr Greenaway, one of a growing number of Scottish restaurateurs to introduce the penalty, said the move was essential to “safeguard the future of the restaurant”.
“It’s something we’ve been putting off because we’ve never wanted to do it,” he told The Scotsman. “We’re a small restaurant and the credit card companies will charge us for doing it, but it’s reached a point where we have no choice.
“It’s not fair on us, it’s not fair on the staff and ultimately, it’s not fair on those customers who are trying to a book a table but can’t get one.”
Mr Greenaway said in some instances as many as 22 customers have failed to show for a dinner service. In December, the restaurant trade’s busiest month, there were 51 noshows, a trend that has persisted.
Mr Greenaway said some diners were booking multiple restaurants for the same night to give themselves options.
“We’ve only got 11 tables, and all week we’ll tell people that we’re full for the weekend,” he said. “Then Saturday night comes around and we can be left with three, sometimes four empty tables. That’s the difference between us making money that week or losing it.”
Restaurant Mark Greenaway is not the first upmarket restaurant in the capital to penalise no-show diners. The Michelin-starred chef Tom Kitchin charges people £80 if they fail to appear for a reservation at his Leith waterfront restaurant.
“It’s reduced no-shows massively,” Mr Kitchin said. “People are aware of the charges and don’t take us for granted. We’re pretty cool and understanding, but a phone call goes a long way to let a restaurant know you can’t make it. It’s just common courtesy.”
Aizle in St Leonard’s Street, which is recommended in the latest michel in guide, charges no-shows a “100 per cent penalty fee per person”, meaning a party of four booked for a £55-a-head five-course tasting menu face a fee of £220 if they do not take up their table.
Other restaurateurs, however, have yet to be convinced. Andrew Fairlie, whose restaurant at Gleneagles is the only one in Scotland to hold two Michelin stars, said: “We take as many contact details as possible and phone guests on the day of their booking to confirm, so we have very few no-shows.
“The administration attached to asking for credit card details and all the rest of it is so onerous.”
Booking a table for a meal may seem like a small thing, but it is not. It essentially involves giving your word that you are going to show up at the appointed hour and buy some food. Failing to do so, without calling to let staff know, means you have broken this agreement, broken a promise, and done so in a rude way that shows scant regard for the people running the restaurant. For them, bookings are, fairly obviously, crucial.
But to make multiple bookings simply to give yourself the flexibility to eat wherever you like at a moment’s notice seems particularly dishonest; it means that you are telling lies to a number of restaurants, for no other reason than your own convenience.
Unkept appointments also cause problems for GPS surgeries, dentists, physiotherapists, hairdressers and a host of other businesses. It wastes their time and costs them money, while inconveniencing other customers and clients who have to wait longer.
So no-one should criticise chef Mark Greenaway for introducing a deposit scheme at his eponymous restaurant in Edinburgh, so that people who do not keep their bookings can be charged a fee. Mr Greenaway said he was forced into the move to “safeguard the future of the restaurant” after persistent problems. Other restaurants have taken similar steps and it is a fairly common practice among hairdressers; this is a trend that is growing. There have even been calls for a £10 fee to be charged to see a GP, partly to cut the number of missed appointments.
But all this is a rather sad state of affairs. If people were more honest and more considerate towards their fellow humans, none of this would be necessary.
It is rather unfashionable these days to talk of honour; it almost seems as though it has become an outdated concept.
But if there was greater social pressure to act honourably, society would benefit immeasurably – and things like deposits to book a restaurant table would not be necessary, with occasional lapses going unpunished.
So the next time you are booking a table, make sure to keep the number on your mobile phone just in case you discover you are unable to go.
A quick call is all it takes to let them know you will not be able to make it and that someone else will potentially be able to enjoy a night out in your place.