How do we try to combat no-shows at Sacrée fleur?

A client who doesn't show up for an appointment has been a hot topic in the medical field recently. It's also a real issue in tourism. Hotels solved the problem long ago by requiring a credit card to confirm a customer's reservation. This practice has become commonplace. Restaurants, however, are still a long way from this, although more and more establishments are now choosing to mitigate the risk by taking a card imprint or prepayment at the time of booking.

At Sacrée Fleur, we haven't reached that point (even though it's sometimes tempting to implement such a system). We're sometimes criticized for our reservation system (the customer sends an email and we reply quickly and personally), but it's precisely thanks to this system that we can try to reduce the number of no-shows in our restaurant.

1. So, the first method: booking by email, which gives us a way to get in touch with the customer and remind them precisely of the rules we apply for bookings.

2. Then request confirmation by email before the day and time of the reservation (without confirmation, the table may be reassigned)

3. Be able to follow up with the client if we haven't heard back from them.

4. Remind people in these messages that we keep tables for a maximum of 10 minutes

5. Identify customers who do not notify us in advance of their absence

Although many do it, we voluntarily avoid certain methods like overbooking and managing a waiting list because Sacrée fleur is a small restaurant with a small team and cannot manage these aspects.

Finally, it's being pointed out everywhere that no-shows result in lost revenue, but it's especially heartbreaking to have to refuse entry to customers because others don't honor their reservations and don't inform the restaurant owner in time. It's a matter of respect...