Should restaurants still accept customers arriving 10 minutes before closing?
It is 8.50pm. The restaurant door says: ‘Closes at 9pm’. A couple walks in and asks for a table for dinner.
For the customers, the logic is simple: it is not yet 9pm, so the restaurant is open. Why refuse them entry?
For the team, those ten minutes do not tell the whole story. Service is coming to an end. Some preparations have been put away, cleaning has begun, and equipment such as the fryer, griddle and extractor will soon be switched off. There is also the till to close, the dining room to put in order and sometimes preparation for the following day. Accepting another table does not mean working ten minutes longer: it often means restarting part of the service.
So who is right?
A customer may reasonably think that a displayed closing time of 9pm means they can still enter at 8.50pm. We cannot blame them for not knowing how the kitchen is organised. And a curt ‘You're too late’ while the door is still open can leave a bitter taste.
But the restaurateur does not have to promise a full meal until the very last minute either. Closing time is not necessarily the time for last orders. Firing up the kitchen again, bringing the dining room team back into action and extending everyone's working day for a table arriving ten minutes before closing is no small matter.
At Wallonie Gourmande, we think the real problem is often the information given to the customer. If the kitchen stops taking orders before the restaurant closes, it is better to say so clearly. ‘Kitchen open until 8.30pm; restaurant closes at 9pm’ avoids many misunderstandings. Customers know what to expect, and the team can finish service without negotiating at the door.
That does not prevent a restaurateur from being flexible when possible. There may still be room for another table, a simple dish or a drink. But that flexibility should remain a choice, not an unspoken obligation.
What do you think? At 8.50pm, outside a restaurant displaying ‘closes at 9pm’, would you consider it reasonable to be refused a table for dinner?
