Restaurant deposits are here to stay – even if the cost-of-living crisis eases

Restaurants are a part of the hospitality sector. And yet, increasingly, they are doing something many might regard as less than hospitable: demanding deposits or even pre-payment for a meal. Not that the industry is oblivious – there isn’t a chef or restaurateur I have spoken to, who is happy about it. As one said to me, “It risks leaving a nasty taste in the mouth before you’ve even got to eat.” But they can see no other way. Trading conditions are already tough, as businesses battle the cost-of-living challenges that are affecting all of us: increased food and energy costs, and rising rents and wages. The growing number of people not honouring restaurant bookings only makes things worse for businesses. Something has to give.

I spend an awful lot of time typing debit and credit card details into online forms for restaurant bookings. I have no problem doing so. I want restaurants to thrive, and if paying a deposit helps them to do that, then so be it. But I know I’m going to turn up. Or if there’s an emergency, I will cancel in good time. The mystery is why so many people think it’s OK simply not to do so. One explanation is that the online booking systems that save restaurants money, by doing away with the need for staff to take phone calls, also remove a point of human connection. Perhaps it’s easier to become a no-show if all you’ve done is fill in a form rather than talk to an actual person.

It would be nice to think that the challenges facing the restaurant sector will ease soon – that the cost of ingredients and energy will fall, staff shortages reduce. If that happens, chefs and restaurateurs will feel able to stop asking for deposits or prepayment. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen. It’s not simply that customer behaviour is unlikely to change. It’s that, once embedded, innovations in business are rarely abandoned. The drudge of giving over your card details when you book a restaurant is here to stay.