Power Report: Turn up or pay up, restaurants rule

Luxury cars. Penthouses. Designer clothes. Lots of bling. Consumers reveal their taste for the high life in many ways.

Now there's another sign; happily making down-payments to secure seats at high-end restaurants.

Indeed, diners wanting a table, even for one, at some of the country's top fine-dining venues have to pay upfront for the pleasure.

At least six acclaimed restaurants in Cape Town and Johannesburg demand up to R750 per person as a deposit when making a reservation. If diners don't bother to cancel in advance, or just don't pitch, they forfeit the full amount.

Although the practice is (thankfully) not yet evident at Durban's finer establishments, the trend is growing.

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Cheeky? Poor etiquette? Perhaps. As one furious diner told me, none of the restaurants she'd dined in worldwide, including Michelin-star ones, had ever asked for a deposit.

But the renowned restaurants that have started the trend are unapologetic. They are tired of bad-mannered locals and tourists who book tables and then fail to arrive. And they're no longer prepared to take the financial hit.

La Colombe, in Constantia, ranked 76th in the latest edition of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Award (which, despite its name, lists the world's top 100 eateries), introduced a R300 deposit per person on bookings in January this year.

The waiting list to sample award-winning chef Scot Kirton's four- to eight-course set menu (ranging from R690 to R1,650) is three weeks - and that's in midwinter.

Said Kirton: "As a 60-seater restaurant, you can imagine if one table of six is a no-show. We lose about 10% of our revenue during that service, and the same applies to two tables of two or a four-seater.

"Sadly, this used to happen on a regular basis, for various reasons, and is still a significant problem for many top restaurants - especially in high season."

Since La Colombe introduced an online reservation and deposit policy, its no-shows were "essentially down to nil", he said.

Not surprising, then, that the city's other award-winning venue, The Test Kitchen (rated 22 in the world and the best restaurant in Africa on the 2016 list) and sister restaurants The Pot Luck Club and The Shortmarket Club have recently followed suit. All charge R250 per person deposits for lunch and dinner bookings.

The deposits go towards paying the bill.

In the ideal world, restaurants would not need to do this as guests would have the decency to let the restaurant know if they would not be arriving

Owned by celebrated chef Luke Dale-Roberts, The Pot Luck Club started charging a deposit in April, The Shortmarket Club in June and The Test Kitchen, where the set dinner menu starts at R1,200, 10 days ago. Refunds for cancellations or changes within 24 hours of bookings are "at the sole discretion of the restaurant".

Said Ian Manley, publicist for Dale-Roberts: "The number of last-minute cancellations and no-shows required a change of policy.

"The new procedures ensure that those who truly want to dine at Luke's establishments are secured tables."

It costs substantially more if you fancy dining at Dale-Roberts's new inland venue, at the luxurious Saxon Hotel in Sandhurst, Johannesburg.

Booking deposits at Luke Dale-Roberts X The Saxon restaurant are R750 a person.

High-tea bookings at the hotel and Sunday brunch at its signature restaurant, Qunu, require full upfront payment.

Saxon spokeswoman Nicolette Fortuin said its restaurants ran on "full capacity and demand, with certain outlets managing waiting lists for up to two months at a time. Guests seated in a restaurant with empty tables, who have been on a two-month waiting list or were unable to secure a reservation for a special occasion, are left questioning the booking process if this process is not effectively managed."

It had become increasingly necessary to request prepayment not only to protect its business, but also to ensure it provided potential guests with "a realistic opportunity to experience our outlets".

Johannesburg's Cube Tasting Kitchen charges full payment upfront or 50% (should prospective diners complain) for tables of more than six wanting to enjoy its R770 10-course offering.

Most restaurants requiring such deposits use an online booking system called Dineplan, which offers secure third-party payment facilities. The cancellation policy is clearly displayed on the site when a booking is made.

"Deposits charged by restaurants are becoming more popular," said Dineplan director Greg Whitfield.

"No-shows are incredibly costly for a restaurant. Restaurants that are more sensitive to no-shows are smaller restaurants, those that don't have many walk-ins, those fully booked far in advance and those that prepare their food in advance according to the number of people they are expecting."

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He'd heard the story of companies entertaining clients and booking at three restaurants for the same evening, and then on the evening deciding which one to go to, without cancelling the reservations they didn't need.

"In the ideal world, restaurants would not need to do this as guests would have the decency to let the restaurant know if they would not be arriving. Unfortunately, this is not the case," said Whitfield.

But it's clearly not all plain sailing. The Restaurant Association of South Africa has fielded loads of complaints about the deposits in recent months. And many of the association's 3,000-odd members are equally unimpressed.

Said CEO Wendy Alberts: "I understand the need for an exclusive fine-dining restaurant with long waiting lists to charge a deposit to avoid no-shows, especially in this economic climate. But it's not going to become industry practice, that's for sure."

She said members against the system argued that it limited diner spontaneity, went against the industry's commitment to hospitality and ran the risk of turning dining into a "grudge buy" that could push customers away.

The association's lawyer, Andre Pienaar, said it was not advisable for any consumer to hand over their credit card details without prior agreement on the cancellation/no-show policy being reached.

"We strongly advise restaurants to draft and implement a cancellation policy and have the consumer sign a 'confirmation of reservation form' or similar, which brings the restaurant's cancellation policy to the attention of the consumer," he said.

Contact Megan Power

E-mail: consumer@sundaytimes.co.za

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