This may not be case everywhere, but franchise restaraunts in my area/region have quit accepting reservations.
I’m talking about places like Red Lobster, Carraba’s, Outback, Steak n Ale, etc. Decent dine-in fare, none of these are formal attire, but why the change? All of these places took reservations in the past.
Initially I considered cancellations as a reason for refusing to take reservations, but these places have an hour wait at all times. I don’t buy the “it’s not fair to those customers waiting” idea. They should have had sense enough to call ahead. Are they trying to eliminate discouraging travellers from stopping? I would think local patrons would support a restaraunt more so than travellers.
Is the restaraunt services indusry part of some greater conspiracy to discourage responsibility, foresight and planning?
My WAG is that it somehow increases profits- why else would they do it?
I’d guess that reserving a table usually results in at least a few minutes where the reserved table is empty, while they wait on the party to arrive. If people are willing to wait in 30-60 minute lines to get in, why should a restaraunt leave any tables idle for even a minute, waiting on a reservation time?
> Initially I considered cancellations as a reason for
> refusing to take reservations, but these places have an
> hour wait at all times.
A minor side issue: Do they really have an hour wait at all times? The ones that I go to seldom have more than a half hour wait at their busiest times, while during other times (which is when I go to these places) they can seat you immediately.
I have noticed this in my area too. Neither Chilis or Bertuccis will take reservations, but you can call ahead to both to be put on the waiting list before you actually get there. Usually I will just eat in the bar if there are no children in our group.
If a restaurant takes a reservation and those people are late or don’t even show up, it loses valuable income. That table could be making money for both the restaurant and the waitstaff.
It is much more economical to promise to put someone on a waiting list. If you don’t show up at a certain time, your table will be given away to someone else. However you still stay on the list when you do decide to walk in the door.
What I find interesting is a lot of restaurants will inflate the waiting time to keep the lines small. They might tell you there is a 45-minute or an hour wait, but that isn’t necessarily the case. It just scares off people who are in a hurry. I am pretty good at sizing up a bluff and often I am told a wait is 45 minutes when it is more like 20.
Another interesting observation is that sometimes there is a huge line, yet many tables are empty. A businessman might say to himself “Why do they let tables go empty why people stand and wait, wouldn’t they want to get people seated?”
I asked a server at Red Lobster about that and she told me when the kitchens are overloaded they slow down the dining room by leaving empty seats. It seems to deal with a perceived promise on the part of the diner that eating will promptly follow seating.
What is upsetting is when people waiting do not have easy access to the bar. Usually the bar and the surrounding area are so packed with people that it is impossible to get to the bartender to order a drink. The bar is losing out on some serious revenue by having patrons completely block off the bar. There should be two clearly marked areas in a bar, one for servers and another for walk up patrons.
Applebee’s does call ahead seating, so that’s the only place we can take the kids (besides Denny’s, which is kinda gross.) Even a 15 minute wait is impossible with an energetic 2 year old and an autistic 6 year old. We would go out more often if we could make reservations, but the only places in our area that take reservations aren’t appropriate for children. The only other dining options around here that don’t involve a wait are those buffet-style places, and I just can’t handle eating food that sits there getting sneezed on and touched by the masses.
That said, it is true that timing is everything. Hubby and I went to Outback last week (sans kids - it was our anniversary!) at around 9pm and we were seated immediately. We’ve had luck eating dinner early, like around 4:30 - 5pm, and having lunch late, like after 1pm. It also helps to choose a place that’s not attached to a mall or a shopping center, if you can find one. Why does it seem like the only place new restaurants are being built is in mall parking lots?
There’s also a customer expection advantage here - if you are told the wait is 45 minutes and it’s actually 30, you feel good about the service. But if someone is told it’s 40 minutes and then it’s 45 minutes, a lot of people will get angry. So it’s in the best interest of the restaurant to overestimate the time.
I’ve seen waits of 2 1/2 to 3 hours at some popular restaurants on Saturday night.
Just my $0.02… If they tell me it’s more than 10 minutes, I just go to another place. The parking lots are full of them, and usually we don’t even have to get back into the car to get to the other place.
My inside source (at Denny’s ) told me that many customers call and make reservations at several places, then decide which one to go to later. But they don’t bother to cancel the unused reservations.
It’s simply easier, and more profitable, to just make lists as customers show up.
They do try to make accomodations for people with kids. The staff want’s to get them in and out asap.
Can’t really argue with that.
Peace,
mangeorge
Back when I was a host/cashier (It’s how I got started in the business) I would often send non-reservationist into the bar to wait out the rush.
The people seemed to like it because they had a good excuse to start boozing. The bartenders and wait staff liked it because they made a few more bucks than usual.
I soon adopted the 'bump ‘em into the bar for a minute’ routine to simply increase the traffic and profits for the bar (I got tipped out by all waitstaff and bar staff) even when tables were open in the restaurant.
Maybe it’s shady, I don’t know, most people didn’t mind a small wait and a chance to get loosened up before the big meal.
*Important note- This is only my experience and not one I’ve heard of other places actively employing. However, it’s happened enough to me at other places that I’m sure it’s going on.
I think another reason they’ve stopped taking reservations in many franchises is the level of service their staff can or are trained to provide. Many places, especially with the economy so strong, are employing teenagers and college kids who don’t give a rat’s ass about the level of service they provide, and try to make things as easy on themselves as possible (I say this as a former teenage college kid who served for five years). If you’ve got a bored 17-year-old hostess answering the phone to take reservations, especially if it’s loud or busy around her, there’s a strong possibility that the reservation will be lost or not documented at all. This is all my WAG, of course.
RainbowDragon wrote:
One of the reasons these tables may be empty is that the restaurant doesn’t have enough servers there to take care of those tables. For example, a typical section for a server is 5 tables. Each table added to that 5 means less time for each table to have the server’s time and attention, which in turn means a higher likelihood of slower service and botched orders. Some servers are great at taking on extra people, but some just freak out. Rather than run the risk of a patron receiving bad service, the management may opt to keep some tables empty; that way, when they are seated, the patrons get un-harried service.
Gosh, you just reminded me of one of the most horrible dining experiences of my life very recently. I spent the holiday season in Mexico (Leon, right in the middle), and the restaurants are fabulous – excellent food, and mature, experienced, professional, attentive waitstaff (being in Mexico, the price is always right, too). Well, we went on a short trip to Ciudad Juarez, a U.S. border town, and what did we see? Applebees! Not my favorite place by far, but I had to show off what an American restaurant is like, so we went (as a side note, it was identical to our in every way, other than Spanish descriptions on the menu – the dishes’ names were in English). And just like an American Applebees, the place was run by kids. Good food (excellent steak, actualy), but inattentive waitstaff: not willing to check on us; couldn’t order but a single beer; waiter never passed by; it sucked. We paid, and I left a $5 tip on the table instead of the $100 I would have (I do mean pesos, by the way - that’s like $0.50 instead of $10).
) told me that many customers call and make reservations at several places, then decide which one to go to later. But they don’t bother to cancel the unused reservations.