Restaurants encouraged to introduce policy to ask diners for deposits

Restaurant owners are defending a new policy to ask diners for deposits.

Their association - the Restaurants Association of Ireland - wants it introduced to cut down on the number of no-shows - who book but don’t turn up.

Robbie Fox of Belluccis Restaurant in Dublin says it’s costing them money.

"I think it’s increasingly a problem with the use of online booking.

"A lot of restaurants would do 25% of their annual business in the six weeks leading up to Christmas so if somebody cancels with two days to go, the chances are you won’t refill that space."

CEO Adrian Cummins says simply ringing a restaurant a few hours before isn’t good enough.

"You have to give restaurants advanced notice because they have brought in their staff to staff up that evening, they have brought in the products to serve that evening as well.

"So they need some sort of notice and we’ve advised our members for them to dictate what that notice period is.

"We are not telling them that it should be 48 hours or 24 hours, it is up to that restaurant."

Digital desk