Caterer poll says: Charge no-shows

Restaurants should charge a fee to customers who book a table and then fail to show up, say users of the caterer.com Web site.

In last week's interactive poll on the site, 76% of voters said that restaurants should make a charge, while 24% did not think that this was the right approach.

One e-mail comment on the topic came from John Cruse, group head of catering at holiday firm Mark Warner. He said: "Unlike most retailers, a restaurant is selling perishable goods and time, neither of which can be kept in dusty stores to sell at a later date.

"This should be made clear to the customer at the time of booking, and they should be warned that failure to turn up for the meal will result in their having to pay 50% of the average bill, excluding wine."