Recovered 3200 PLN per month thanks to automatic reminders
The owner was losing money on bookings that guests forgot about (No-show). We introduced automatic SMS requests to confirm arrival 48h in advance.
The owner of a fish fry joint in Mrągowo was losing real cash through empty tables in the middle of the season. Guests booked places for dinners, but every evening several people simply didn't show up. We fixed this with a simple notification system that monitors deadlines for the service.
The challenge
At the Masurian Fish Fry Restaurant, the problem was guest discipline. Every week they recorded an average of 11 cases where a table for 4 people stood empty for a whole hour because no one canceled the booking. With an average bill of 124 PLN per person, budget losses were visible to the naked eye. Waiters didn't have time to call each one individually because they preferred to focus on serving fresh fish and serving guests on-site.
Our approach
Our 2-person team spent three afternoons observing work at the bar. We saw that bookings are recorded in three different places: in a paper notebook, on Facebook, and in the manager's phone. Facts on the table: we had to tie it all into one view that sends reminders itself without clicking ten options at once.
The solution
We implemented a light table management system tied to an SMS gateway. Now 48 hours before the planned visit, the guest gets a short message asking if they confirm arrival. If they don't click the confirm button within 4 hours, the waiter gets a notification on the tablet and can immediately give the table to people waiting in the queue at the entrance. It simply works and doesn't require any additional work from the crew.
Results
The system paid for itself already after the first month of operation in peak season. The owner stopped worrying about empty places because now he knows exactly who will come and who needs to be replaced. No time to waste on Excel errors when automation can do the job for us.
Timeline
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June 12, 2024Loss analysis from the booking notebook and process audit
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June 15, 2024SMS gateway configuration and calendar connection
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June 19, 2024Training 3 waiters on using the tablet at the bar
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June 30, 2024First report and verification of recovered amounts
"To be honest, at first I was afraid guests would find these SMS intrusive. It turned out they are grateful themselves because in the holiday rush it's easy to forget about a table. A concrete sum stays in my wallet."