Practical advice to manage your reservations, reduce no-shows and grow your restaurant.
All reservations, walk-in only, or a deliberate mix of both? Each model wins in a different restaurant. Here is how to choose yours, how many tables to hold back, and why overbooking is a trap for restaurants even though it works for airlines.
Eat-in at 20%, cold takeaway at 0%, and a dozen traps in between. A plain-English guide to VAT for UK restaurants, with worked examples in pounds.
February 14 does not get a do-over: demand lands on a single night. Here is the complete method for peak dates, from the set menu to the D-30 run sheet, including protection against the year's worst no-shows.
Tripadvisor has lost ground to Google, but writing it off would be a mistake, especially if you serve tourists. Here is what still deserves your time: the listing, the ranking, fake reviews, and what you should think twice about paying for.
Tock and Resy both belong to American Express and are now sold from the same pricing page. Here is what actually still separates them, with verified prices, and when neither is the right fit.
Since 1 October 2024, UK restaurants must pass 100% of tips and service charges to staff, keep records and publish a written policy. Here is what the Tipping Act really requires.
The tip credit, tip pooling, service charges and the new federal tips deduction: the rules a US restaurant owner actually has to follow, with the primary sources.
TikTok sends real diners to real restaurants, but virality is a lottery ticket, not a strategy. Here is what actually works for an independent: three repeatable formats, a sustainable rhythm, and a booking link that catches the demand.
Mother's Day is the biggest dining day of the year in the US, and Thanksgiving fills restaurants with large family parties and pre-orders. Here is the owner's calendar, date by date, with menus, deposits, staffing and a timeline checklist.
One sells reach: the largest diner network in the industry, billed per seated cover. The other sells depth: a guest CRM priced by quote. Here is an honest, dated SevenRooms vs OpenTable comparison for US and UK restaurants, and a simpler third option.
Six hundred restaurants join NYC Restaurant Week every edition, yet plenty of owners swear they will never do it again. Here is the honest math behind prix-fixe weeks, who actually benefits, and how to turn a one-time deal hunter into a regular.
Is a Google listing enough, or does your restaurant need a real website? An honest answer, the pages that actually matter, realistic price ranges, and the classic mistakes that cost you covers.