Foursquare Group launches ‘Save My Seat’ campaign to support the hospitality industry and put an end to no shows that is affecting businesses up and down the county.
Foursquare Group helps independent hospitality, retail and leisure businesses to succeed. Their aim – through various products, tools and advice – is for independents to start, run, grow and protect themselves in a successful, easy and effective way.
Throughout the pandemic, the Group has supported the hospitality industry to ensure as Liam Jones founder of Foursquare Group puts it; “we help the industry that we serve”.
From its UK first ‘Pay What You Can’ Covid-safe scheme allowing restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs to literally pay what they could afford for the package that ensured they’d be meeting all of the government’s ever-changing guidelines, implementing new strategies to uphold high standards and navigate through a really stressful time, to its ongoing support, regular updates and constant review of the pandemic and the information surrounding it since March 2020, Foursquare Group always has its indie clients’ interests at the core of the business.
As the industry begins to reopen on Monday 12th April with the first phase of Boris Johnson’s roadmap allowing for hospitality venues to welcome guests outdoors for restricted seated service only, Foursquare Group is now calling on the public to support them in protecting our much-loved eateries and favourite drinking spots so that they can bounce back from the devastating reality of Covid-19 and ultimately, stick around.
The Group has launched a campaign named ‘Save My Seat’, hoping to inspire the public to pay deposits when they make a table reservation in a bid to combat the 20% of restaurant bookings that aren’t fulfilled every year. This costs the hospitality industry around £16bn which is disastrous for many venues in normal circumstances, but with the additional pressures of Covid, it’s a much more pressing issue.
Hospitality venues use their booking information to schedule staff and ensure that they have enough stock to meet their orders. When a customer fails to arrive for their allocated booking, it’s almost impossible for a restaurant to resell that table without notice. Which means that the restaurant is left carrying the burden of that cost.
Pre-Covid figures for no shows were around 1 in every 5 bookings which directly impacted the restaurant industry to the tune of £16bn a year. Adding in the obstacles of Covid and operating at a limited capacity due to social distancing, it’s easy to see how every no-show has a direct impact on a venue’s bottom line.
According to a recent survey by guest experience management company HGEM, almost two thirds of customers were happy to pay a deposit when booking a table at a restaurant. And with that in mind, Foursquare is encouraging the public to #SaveMySeat and normalise paying a deposit when booking at your favourite spot.
Louise Kissack, Foursquare’s Non Executive Director of Hospitality, said:
“As we enter yet another phase of the new normal, we’re on a mission to normalise deposits. We’re launching our #SaveMySeat campaign to help customers understand that when your local independent restaurant asks you for a small deposit on booking it’s simply their way of safeguarding their business and protecting their future.
“After all, we want our favourite places to be around for us to enjoy for many years to come!”
