Easter weekend: “No-shows” cause huge losses for restaurant owners

Easter weekend is very lucrative for restaurateurs, but this year, no-shows spoiled the party.

This is particularly the case at Café de la Gare in Rosemere, in the Laurentians region. The small restaurant, which only has 37 seats, was full. However, many people canceled within 24 hours or did not show up.

“We're thinking about creating a deposit system. Definitely the most complicated thing for a small place is the administrative side of it all because obviously [on n’a] Not much staff […] The main issue is [si] Clients are ready. I think we're moving more and more towards that, but we certainly have a lot of hesitation.

For the owners, this is a lot of losses because in addition to having to order more food, they have to turn away customers. We should also keep in mind that Easter is “one of the good weekends for restaurants,” according to Martin Vezina, vice-president of public and government affairs at the Association Restauration Québec.

“This year, we surveyed our members last week, and 15% told us they were full [et] “Nearly half of them told us it was still an important celebration, and that it still brought in a lot of traffic,” he explained.