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27th November 2017
02:42pm GMT
With Christmas fast approaching, 'tis the season for dinner and drinks with your friends and family, and restaurants across the city are often booked up weeks in advance.
One Dublin restaurant owner however, is asking people to have some consideration for family-run restaurants when it comes to not turning up for a restaurant reservation.
Kevin O'Toole of the lovely Chameleon restaurant in Temple Bar (a romantic hot-spot of Indonesian tapas-style food) took to Twitter today to remind people that not showing up for your booking at a restaurant is more than inconvenient for owners - it's potentially seriously damaging.
On Saturday, a total of 10 no shows.
— Kevin O'Toole (@ChameleonFood) November 27, 2017
On Sunday, a total of 16 no shows.
As a small family run restaurant, this hurts, we refused people on Saturday. There's no need for this. Please be nice this Christmas.
Speaking to Lovin Dublin, Kevin said that he's noticed there's been an increase of no-shows in the last few weeks.
Whether that's to do with the start of the festive season or not, he urges people to be mindful that restaurants, in particular smaller, family-owned ones such as Chameleon, have to plan their costs and spend accordingly, with restaurant reservations a clear example of how many staff they'll need on a night and how much stock to order in.
Kevin noted that he had to turn several walk-ins away from the door over the weekend, as tables were booked, only for the reservations to then not turn up, leaving the restaurant out of pocket.
While he's optimistic that a good 99% of people in Dublin are thoughtful enough to simply phone ahead and let the restaurant know that they won't make their booking after all, he's calling for the public to have some consideration for businesses over Christmas.
While Chameleon does take deposits for large tables over six people, Kevin is hesitant to introduce that for smaller bookings as it might discourage people.
Party of 10 now down to seven? Call and let staff know, even if it's only a ten minute warning. And please, cancel your booking if you know you won't make it. It only takes 30 seconds and saves a lot of hassle for everyone else.
Header image: William Murphy/Flickr
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