How to reduce waiting times in your restaurant
15 de July, 2025
Managing waiting times in a restaurant is one of the many challenges in this sector. Waiting for a table or for food and drinks to be served is one of the main sources of customer dissatisfaction.
And while some people may be more understanding and tolerant, it is inevitable that waiting too long will negatively influence the customer experience.
Ultimately, waiting times affect not only the customer experience, but also the profitability of the establishment.
Come and discover with us some practical tips for reducing waiting times in your restaurant.
1 – Accept reservations
Some restaurants choose not to accept reservations, usually to avoid the risk associated with no-shows. However, not accepting reservations is one of the factors that most contributes to increasing waiting times and therefore to damaging the customer experience.
The possibility of reserving a table gives customers more security and predictability.
2 – Have an online booking system
When accepting reservations, the act of booking needs to be easy and accessible for customers. Restaurants often don’t have the capacity to answer all the phone calls, which is why online reservations are a simple and useful alternative for both the public and restaurant managers.
You can activate a reservation system on your restaurant’s website or, if you don’t have a website, you can enable reservations on online platforms such as TheFork, DIG-IN or Google, for example.
These tools allow you to anticipate how many tables will be occupied at each service and can also be a useful aid in attracting customers at times of low demand (for example, with promotional campaigns).
3 – Train teams well
The service and kitchen teams should work like a well-oiled machine. If everyone knows exactly what to do, and when to do it, they can work more collaboratively and efficiently, which will have a positive impact on waiting times.
For example, if a dish is already ready in the kitchen, but this has not been communicated to the waiters, the customer’s waiting time is increasing unnecessarily, and it is likely that the food will already be served cold.
Menus should also be made available quickly or, alternatively, you can have menus on the tables via QR code.
At the end of the meal, staff should also pay attention to whether people are ready to pay. This will leave people feeling more satisfied and free up tables for other customers.
Reducing waiting times in a restaurant is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail and a willingness to adjust procedures and adopt new technologies.
By implementing these strategies, you will improve the operational efficiency of your restaurant and provide a pleasant and consistent experience for your customers.
The key is to find the perfect balance between speed and quality, ensuring that every visit to your restaurant is remembered positively.