'We don't want you back' - NI restaurants forced to take action against 'selfish' customers

Like virtually every other part of the economy, restaurant owners are trying to be as nuanced and as entrepreneurial as possible as they begin the slow and often frustrating process of operating in the hospitality sector at the same time as a deadly pandemic.

Social distancing means a reduction in the total number of diners a restaurant owner can have in his or her eatery at any one time.

Pre-Covid-19 the sight of empty tables in a restaurant was enough to make some owners anxious.

Restaurant owners have so many extra hurdles they must now overcome therefore the image of an empty table is something that must be avoided at all reasonable cost.

Restaurants, bars and hotels opened for the first time in Northern Ireland on Friday.

Within the first few days some local restaurants took to social media to vent their frustration with customers who made reservations but who failed to show-up or cancel.

Desperat times call for desperate measures - one such measure some owners are choosing to deploy is the 'one-strike-and-you-are-out policy'.

"New one strike rule and you are out," wrote one NI restaurant owner on social media.

"If you don’t have the manners to cancel your booking on a table of six - we could have sold four times over - we don’t want you back," added the local restaurateur.

The message was warmly received by both new and existing customers.

"It's so unfair on a small business that people would do that, without even having the manners to call," remarked one man.

"Absolutely disgusting when places are just opening," said a woman.

"I bet if she [the no-show customer] had paid a deposit she would of turned up," she added.

"People are so unbelievably selfish - you'd think with what businesses have been through people would have more cop-on," said another man.

In this instance the restaurant owner blocked the customer from making any future online reservations at the restaurant.