Some restaurants charging for no-shows this Mother's Day
Diners charging for Mother's Day no-show fee
If you plan on eating out this Mother's Day, make sure you make that reservation, or it could cost you.
ORLANDO, Fla. - If you plan on eating out this Mother's Day, make sure you make that reservation, or it could cost you.
Anna Derenthal, who is a server at The Tap Room at Dubsdread in Orlando, is looking forward to working on Mother’s Day because she can make more money. But lately, more and more customers have been no-shows at their holiday buffets.
"I do like working these buffets," Derenthal said. "It’s frustrating when we think we’re going to make more money than we do, and then we’re here all day, and we don’t make as much because people don’t show up."
The restaurant's owner, Steve Gunter, said 300 people either canceled or failed to show up for their Easter brunch.
"It was very tough on our business because we threw away thousands of dollars of food. It's tougher on the workers."
Now, customers have to provide a credit card number when making a reservation for a special holiday buffet.
"Everyone has signed a slip saying you may charge my credit card if I don’t show up, and we still sold out. We have a waiting list of about 250 people right now."
Gunter said this only pertains to special holiday buffets and not regular days.
"It is mostly just for the special events because there’s a larger quantity of people going out."
Tasty Chomps food blog founder Ricky Ly says he’s seen more restaurants doing the same.
"I definitely saw more of that in our listings. Several hotel restaurants and local restaurants and I definitely understand why they do that."
Customer Shannon Fletcher tells us, "It's understandable. Prices of things are going up everywhere, but we want to keep this restaurant in business I love it."
Derenthal feels better knowing she can count on customers paying up, adding, "We have a little more security."