Covid in Scotland: Restaurant no-shows a 'huge dampener' for trade
- Published
Lucy Castle said deposits would be needed at the Braided Fig if things did not improve
A frustrated restaurant owner has described customers not turning up for their bookings as a "huge dampener" as she tries to save her business.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes in Scotland reopened on 26 April after a four month-long winter lockdown.
However, Lucy Castle, of the Braided Fig in Aberdeen, said no-shows were proving to be a major issue.
She said dozens of people did not turn up at the weekend, and now deposits would have to be considered.
Mrs Castle, like many others in the hospitality industry, was delighted to open the doors again last week.
"It has been really great", she told BBC Scotland News.
"Our customers have been fantastic and our team has really pulled it together and got back into it really quickly which is all you can ask for really."
However, after a financially challenging year, things have not gone smoothly.
"We've counted over 50 no-shows from Friday to Sunday so the weekend was hit the most with it", she said.
"Most of them were indoor bookings too, so it's not even weather dependent.
"It has put a huge dampener on things for us.
"From what we're gleaning from other places, it seems what folk have done is booked maybe one or two different venues, or been on a waiting list and not given us the courtesy of letting us know that they're not going to make it, so that we we can call out waiting list and let them know."
'Huge disappointment'
She said there were "no coffers with lots of money in it" and they have, in effect, been closed for a year.
"We've had no income for that time, it's been incredibly difficult."
People have been flocking to reopened venues
She explained: "When people don't show up it's not just the money that they don't spend.
"It's also the staffing that we've brought in because we're full, and the stock that we've brought in anticipating a busy food service.
"Alcohol will not go off, we will sell that, but the food has a date, the food goes to waste. That's a huge disappointment."
Some venues have introduced deposits in a bid to combat no shows.
'Very uncertain'
"We're discussing it now", Mrs Castle said when asked if she would adopt a similar approach.
"We'll go for this weekend coming as we are, but if things don't improve then yes we are going to have to implement that.
"It's not something we want to do. Because we're a small place, we need the customers to be coming in and we don't want to put them off. A deposit for a table of two people is quite off-putting.
"At the moment it seems that's how we're going to have to go."
As for the future, she does not yet know what it will hold.
"I would say at the moment the future is completely uncertain for us. We're re-opened just through sheer stubbornness I would say, partially with a sense of responsibility to our team and also to the restaurant itself.
"It's been in Aberdeen for 20 years nearly and we feel passionate about keeping it.
"It's a special place to us. But it's very uncertain right now."
- Published26 April 2021
