Used, abused – and only we can change it
Restaurateurs are a misunderstood and abused lot. We are grateful for our customers, but must do something to change the public's perception of our business.
We sometimes allow ourselves to be trampled on because of the old slogan: "The customer is always right." Though we know they are sometimes wrong, we tend to give them the benefit of the doubt because restaurateurs have a natural inclination to hospitality. But this comes at a price.
A significant minority of the public persist in thinking of us as a kind of Ken Livingstone's GLC-style, free public transport vehicle. They think that they can get on and off the bus at little or no cost to themselves while still demanding the earth from our staff.
What do I mean? Here are just three examples.
The public feel they have a right to come into a restaurant, sit down with friends who might be dining, and order a glass of water or a plate of chips. They take offence when we gently tell them they must order something or we won't be able to pay our bills.
They book tables and don't cancel them. In all cases, they suffer no financial loss - but we do.
If they've had a hard day, some feel they have a right to be abusive to our staff.
Can you book a cinema, theatre or football match and cancel the day before without penalty? Can you join friends at these venues for the price of a bowl of chips?
All other leisure businesses with seats for hire (let's not get all sentimental, for that's partly what we are) require advance booking and impose financial penalties for cancellation.
Why are we different, when our case for being stricter with our customers is more compelling?
An empty restaurant seat cancelled at short notice costs us more than it does other businesses.
Fixed costs
An aeroplane is scheduled to fly and will have pretty much the same fixed costs with a full load as with a three-quarters-full load. A theatre will not reduce the number of actors in its play if a few of the audience don't show.
Yet if our customers don't show up, food will get wasted, and staff brought in on the expectation of being busy still must be paid.
Have you ever demanded part or all of your money back at a theatre because you didn't like the play or because one of the actors wasn't very good? Yet our customers have the legal right to do this if they say they didn't like the food, service, ambience, or attitude of the waiter. Of all leisure businesses, we stand apart in this respect.
No preconditions
The public do not understand our business because we are too afraid to try to make them understand. We are afraid to tell them that we are a business and not some kind of social charity, church or public convenience that is open to all comers with no preconditions.
We must find the courage to educate them. We must demand to be treated with the same respect as those other businesses.
Yeah, yeah, I know all about the old "we're in the hospitality business" argument, but it's a nonsense, really.
What's special about our hospitality compared to a hotel's, a theatre's, an airline's, or a package holiday company's, all of which insist on credit card reservations, or pre-payments with penalties for cancellations?
If we do nothing to change the public's perception of our business, we will find it increasingly difficult to keep people in our industry.
We don't want more people leaving us, like the waiter who recently left his job to become a traffic cop. When asked why he would do such a thing, he said: "The hours aren't any better than working in a restaurant, but at least the customer is always wrong."
Let's act while the going's good.
