Here’s the Reason You’re Losing Diners (plus, how to fix it)

The Saturday Night Flight

Picture a diner walking into your restaurant on a Saturday night. It’s busy, and they approach the host stand, where they are told it will be a 30-minute wait. They’re happy with that and add their name to the waitlist before taking their place in the lobby with other customers also waiting to enjoy a delicious meal. Thirty minutes comes and goes before they check-in and are told they are next. Then, a large party is seated before them. They check back and are told it’ll only be a few minutes more. At the 60-minute mark, they decide to leave. The immediate lost revenue from the guest leaving is only part of the fallout. They will likely tell others—may be on social media or by word of mouth—that this restaurant over-promises a shorter wait time than they are able to deliver. That’s a way to lose customers before they even walk into the restaurant. No restaurant wants that kind of press.

Low-Cost Solutions? They May be High-Risk

If your restaurant is using notebooks or a laminated table map with a grease pencil, you’re not alone. But, the risk of misquoting a wait time can be pretty high if these are your guest management tools. That’s where a restaurant reservation system comes in. These solutions provide a suite of tools that can be customized to fit the needs of any type of table service restaurant. A restaurant reservation system does a lot of things for your restaurant—wait times are only a piece of the puzzle. They allow you to manage waitlists online and text your guests about their places in line. You can also provide a place for guests to check their places in line and make reservations for a return visit. Since a restaurant reservation system is always gathering data, many restaurants use this data to build their guest books, create a more personalized experience for their guests, and take a look at any operational inefficiencies in their front of house.

Learn More About Guest Management

If you want to learn more about what a restaurant reservation system can do for your restaurant, visit our ConnectSmart®Host (Formerly DineTime) page. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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About the Author

Shari McCauley is the Product Training Specialist at QSR Automations, where she focuses on educating employees and customers on the benefits and uses of QSR technology. You can reach Shari at smccauley@qsrautomations.com.