It has become a familiar refrain on Twitter: the outrage of hard working chefs and others involved in the beleaguered hospitality industry when customers decide to "no show", often at the very last minute. When you do this, or even when you cancel within 24 hours, you are not only depriving a business that is most likely already on its knees of valuable income, but you are costing the business money. Staff have been allocated, food has been purchased, and other customers have been turned away. Forced to limit capacity due to social distancing requirements, and operating with increased labour costs as a result of having to provide table service, pubs and restaurants are having to operate in a very difficult environment. Many will not survive this crisis, even though they ran profitable businesses pre Covid. Just look at some of the highly successful restaurants that have shut their doors permanently. In almost every other industry you buy a reservation or a ticket, usually at full price, and if you decide not to turn up, or to cancel at the last minute, or to turn up with fewer people than you booked for - it's totally your prerogative - but you take the hit. In this industry, it's the business that takes the hit. Small wonder then that many pubs and restaurants are now charging deposits against their tables, to be offset against the total bill at the end of the evening, or to be forfeited if you don't come. #noshows #deposits
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