Restaurant reservations have just overtaken walk-ins — but the owners aren’t happy

Online restaurant reservations are growing in popularity, with advanced table bookings overwhelmingly surpassing walk-ins in 2022.

It's a marked shift from 2019, when Canadian eateries saw more walk-ins than reservations, according to data from online restaurant-reservation service company OpenTable.

But the growing trend could be hurting the restaurant industry, owners and industry experts warn. The surge in online reservations has led to more no-shows, which can be detrimental to establishments in an industry that has only begun to recover from the pandemic, and faces extraordinary pressures amid rising inflation and cutbacks in discretionary spending.

For some restaurants, if a table doesn't show up, it could mean the difference between breaking even and being profitable in a shift," said Matthew Davis, country director at OpenTable Canada, adding the issue has become more pronounced than in previous years.

The number of no-shows has been unbelievably high" over the past few months, said Jennifer Gittins, co-owner of the Dutch-Indonesian food bar Little Sister, which has two locations in Toronto. Before the pandemic, about five per cent of people who booked a table would not show up. Now, she estimates it's closer to 15 to 20 per cent.

It does hurt because you're basing your night on the number of reservations you receive and you're turning people away," said Gittins. I'm really surprised, having come out of the pandemic, that people would do that."

Gittins even calls customers two or three days before their reservation date to remind them of their booking. But that doesn't seem to prevent no-shows.

Other restaurants go further and ask diners who book a table to leave a credit card on record. If they fail to make the reservation, they are charged a nominal fee. The system doesn't cover the cost of the money lost from the no-show, but does serve as an incentive for patrons to show up or cancel their booking if they cannot make it, said Davis.

It's a commonplace policy in New York City but has only begun to take hold in Toronto.

Toronto restaurants are slow to adopt this approach, but the pandemic has certainly sped it up," said Davis. As more restaurants face this challenge of no-shows and given the current conditions of the economy, many will begin to adopt this as a tool."

Gittins has been debating implementing the policy at Little Sister over the past few months. It's a double-edged sword, she admits, because it sort of goes against the whole concept of hospitality."

For now, she will start with charging larger groups that make a reservation but do not show up.

Davis said there are many no-shows because some diners feel bad calling an establishment three or four hours before a booking to cancel their reservation. As an ex-restaurant manager, I would much prefer that than someone no-showing because I can at least fill that table again," he said.

He's also noticed diners who make multiple reservations for a single time slot. They typically wait until the last moment to decide where to dine and fail to cancel their other reservations, said Davis. While OpenTable does not allow guests to make multiple reservations, it is possible if customers use different reservation systems.

It's so important to educate people on why it's not a good idea to do that, but instead make a reservation in good faith and show up, essentially," he said.

Davis noted OpenTable has added features to help restaurants prevent no-shows. Establishments can flag a diner as a potential no-show based on previous reservation activity. The company also suspends diners who don't show up for a reservation four times per year.

Three years ago, only about 40 per cent of tables at restaurants that use OpenTable were booked in advance, while 60 per cent were left for walk-ins, according to the company. Now, the majority of seats at these full-service restaurants are reserved beforehand.

Asad Amin, senior vice president at the market research agency Ipsos, said pent-up demand for dining out is driving the surge of advanced bookings at full-service restaurants. People feel the need to pre-plan to ensure that they can get reservations to favourite restaurants or popular restaurants," said Amin.

Stephanie Dickison, a restaurant industry expert, believes the way restaurants operated throughout much of the pandemic also drove the change in consumer habits and made individuals more accustomed to placing reservations. When restaurants began to reopen, many establishments required reservations so they could better plan a service, she highlighted.

But as Canadians begin to eat out more often, Dickison hopes that will inject more spontaneity into the restaurant industry and lead to a return of more walk-in dining experiences. The balance between the two is key, she said.

Joshua Chong is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach Joshua via email: jchong@torstar.ca