Managing bookings by phone
Managing restaurant bookings by phone is probably the best known and most widely used method. However, even if taking bookings by phone has the advantage of being easy to set up and accessible to everyone, it does have its limitations.
Taking phone bookings is extremely time consuming. Your staff have to be on hand at all times – sometimes at the expense of customers already seated.
It is estimated that over a third of customers book a restaurant between 12 noon and 2 pm and between 7 pm and 9 pm, i.e., during peak dining hours. Having to answer the phone while dealing with customers in the dining room can disrupt the service flow and impact on its quality.
This creates extra stress for your staff, and it is not uncommon for this stress to come across through the telephone.
Managing your restaurant bookings by phone can also be tricky in that misinterpretations, mix-ups and errors can occur over the date, time, name, number of people, etc. – especially if the caller does not speak French.
In addition, you have to be extremely organised to record bookings taken by phone and plan your seating plan properly.
Lastly, calls made outside your restaurant’s opening hours are likely to be missed and booking requests will inevitably be lost. We have found that, on average, 10% of calls to restaurants go unanswered.
Although it is still important to be available by phone, it is not recommended that you rely exclusively on this method to take customer bookings.
