Would you ever be happy to pay up front for a meal out?
A London restaurant has decided that it will charge customers before they eat. Will it put people off?
In an effort to cut down on the number of no-shows, from June the Clove Club restaurant in London will be introducing a new system where diners pay before they eat. It uses booking software called Tock, which lets the restaurant sell tickets and take customer money up front.
The Michelin-starred restaurant currently charges a £65 fee per head for a no-show table, and to do this has to take card details when someone books, which can be awkward in itself.
This method of protecting the restaurant from no-shows will be replaced with the new bookings system.
Why pay before you eat?
There are plenty of situations where this arrangement would be normal – in some chain pubs, for instance, or at a takeaway restaurant. But at a high-end restaurant it’s not usually expected, and might receive some negative reactions purely for the amount of money you have to spend before you've even stepped in the door.
The Clove Club offers a five-course taster menu for £65, or an extended menu for £95. So parting with close to £200 for a meal out with one other person (plus drinks and extras later on) might provoke some negative reactions, or raise concerns over the fact that the restaurant already has your money so why would they pull out all the stops to ‘earn’ it?
I'm not insinuating in any way that this is the case for the Clove Club. It holds a Michelin star, and is located in Central London. Any no-show is a significant loss of revenue, so from the point of view of the business asking diners to pay up front is sensible. That doesn’t, of course, mean that it will be popular.
Update: Michelin starred restaurant Turners in Birmingham is now offering guests who book via a pre-paid ticketing service up to 20% off for a trial period until 22nd May.
How would you react to a restaurant asking you to pay at the reservation stage? Would you look for an alternative instead, or would you understand their position? Let us know your thoughts on paying in advance in the Comments below.
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