A Cork restaurateur has urged people to 'cop on' and tell restaurants if they're not going to show up for a booking.
Claire Nash from Nash 19 says her own restaurant was "obliterated" with no-shows on Friday, with around 40% of those who'd booked a table not showing up.
Restaurants were allowed reopen for indoor dining on Friday, after over a month of strict level five restrictions.
Concerns were immediately highlighted that many businesses were dealing with large amounts of cancelled bookings.
Adrian Cummins of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said he'd heard from one restaurant owner that 18 customers had not shown up on the first evening back open.
⚠️Update-No Shows
Restaurant Owner (54 seater) text me late last night to highlight the fact he had 18 noshow customers on his first evening back open
All guests had confirmed their arrival when phoned in the morning
“We had not requested deposits due to the times we are in”— Adrian Cummins 🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@adriancummins) December 5, 2020
Ms Nash told The Hard Shoulder she had a similar experience.
She said: "I think what happened was that people with pent-up enthusiasm to get out again got on the old keyboards, and booked here, there and everywhere.
"We were obliterated with no-shows on Friday. We were super excited to be open - we had our new menu, new wines, a big enough ask to get our staff back... then we had a load of no-shows."
'Excruciating' situation
Ms Nash said about 40% of bookings on Friday didn't show up, and 'around 30%' on Saturday.
She noted: "On Sunday, we only had two tables no-shows - they probably heard my ranting and raving."
She told Kieran that the situation is 'excruciating', especially since they're already down to around 60% of their usual number of tables due to the need for social distancing.
However, she said they're not going to start taking deposits - saying 'it's not the nature of our beast' due to slightly shorter sitting times than some other restaurants.
She explained: "We don't have the administrative resource for it anyway. What we are doing now is to half book the restaurant for reservations, and the rest is going to be regulars, walk-ins, lovely shoppers.
"I'm going to be on the door myself... We've only three weeks to go [until Christmas], and we have to make the most out of it. Hopefully we won't be closed down again."
In terms of her message to no-shows, she said: "Would they ever cop on. They just need to ring and think of us - what we're trying to do.
"Just give us a quick buzz to say they're not coming... even if it's half an hour notice, we would turn that table again."
She also urged people to be 'loyal and faithful' to the restaurants they love.
