Three Reminders to Increase Bookings of Your Restaurant

Online reservations are no longer a new technology for both restaurants and customers. When searching for restaurants, customers often choose those that offer online booking. However, many restaurant owners have noticed that customers haven’t increased even after adopting a reservation system.

Despite investing in technology and training staff, there’s no noticeable impact on revenue. Why is that?

Don’t worry. It doesn’t necessarily mean your system is having an issue. Here are three things you might not have considered:

Reminder 1: Do customers know your restaurant offers online reservations?

"Making it easy for customers to find your reservation link" is fundamental, yet many owners overlook this step.

For example, a colleague told Jack about an excellent stir-fry restaurant and planned to visit with friends this Friday. After searching online, he found that the restaurant only listed a phone number on Google Maps, so he assumed they didn’t offer online reservations. Since it was outside business hours and no one answered the phone, he couldn’t make a reservation and chose another nearby restaurant.

Many restaurants unknowingly lose customers this way.

So, what should you do? It’s simple: place your reservation link in these three locations:

Add the reservation link to Google My Business.

The phone number Jack found online is actually listed in the "Google My Business" system. Since this information syncs with Google Maps, it’s easy for customers to see. Therefore, in addition to the phone number and Facebook page, please include the reservation link in Google My Business as well. (Google My Business Link Setup Official Guide)

Add the reservation link to Instagram or Facebook.

Choose the platform you are managing, and place the reservation link in sections like "About Us" or "Bio" so that people who find your account can quickly locate it. Include the reservation link in every post or story to guide customers directly to book. THIS REALLY WORKS.

Add the reservation link to your LINE Official Account.

You likely have a loyal customer base if you have an official LINE account. Regular customers love discounts and appreciate brands that make things convenient for them. Add your reservation link to the LINE OA Rich Menu, along with your occasional warm greetings and promotional messages, so they can immediately book a reservation when they receive a notification. This is an excellent way to increase exposure, so why not add it now? *(LINE OA Rich Menu Setup Official Guide - Mandarin description)

“We start business at 5 PM, and during dinner service, we’re pretty busy with only three staff members, all working in the kitchen. It’s inconvenient when the phone rings, especially for reservation calls requiring detailed information. You’re often in a rush to jot down details and then hurry back to preparing meals, but after hanging up, you might not even understand what you wrote. Said Mr. Zheng, The owner of 五花肉食堂

Now, customers find our information on Google, see that they can check availability, make reservations online, and do it all themselves."

Reminder 2: How do you set reservation times to ensure customers can dine in?

This might seem simple but is often overlooked by restaurant owners, who might set intervals based on 30-minute blocks. The result is that when customers arrive, there are no seats available, or too many customers show up at specific times, overwhelming the kitchen. It would help if you considered factors like limited seating, the time diners need, and more:

How long is the operating time for each meal period? → Determine the earliest and latest reservation times.
How many seats are in the restaurant? → Decide how many reservations can be accepted per round.
How long is the dining time? → To avoid situations where reservations are made but no seats are available on-site, calculate the turnaround time before opening reservations.
Which is more common: walk-ins or reservations? Is the ratio of customers more stable?

You can offer more time slots to distribute the kitchen’s workload if there are more reservations.

If there are more walk-ins since their arrival times are unpredictable and often peak around 12:00 PM or 7:00 PM, limit the number of reservation slots and consider opening up less popular times like 11:30-11:45 AM or 5:30-6:15 PM.

From a revenue perspective, the more reservations, the better. However, owners also need to consider the on-site situation. Factors like who your target customers are, their behavior, how long it takes to prepare meals, whether there’s enough staff to handle all the reservations, and when walk-in customers typically arrive on weekdays and weekends all affect how you should set and manage reservation times.

Take the time to figure this out; your restaurant will be better equipped to handle customers smoothly.

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Reminder 3: Does making a reservation mean the customer will show up?

Do you know why customers cancel? When they make a reservation, they often still consider other restaurants. You might not see them on the day, even if they've submitted a reservation.

It’s a harsh reality, but don’t take it personally. You need to "increase their anticipation of dining at your restaurant."

When customers make a reservation, show them the latest menu.

Seeing the menu helps them imagine the dining experience, and they may start planning what to order. They won’t easily change their mind as long as they're excited. But it’s important to show them the "latest" menu. Otherwise, if they arrive and find out the dish they were looking forward to isn’t available, it could directly impact their opinion of your restaurant.

Use your LINE Official Account to introduce yourself to customers.

When you successfully add a customer as a friend, your first message shouldn’t be "Welcome to our account," but rather an introduction to your restaurant’s most popular, unique, and must-try dishes. The system can pre-set and automatically send these messages, so you don’t have to worry about adding to your workload.

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