Deciding to take a stand against unhealthy consumer culture — Cat Down Cafe cancels reservation service

▲Reflections and insights after Cat Down Western and Quick-Fry Café cancels its reservation service

Reported by Huang Shiyuan / Comprehensive report

The reservation book was filled to the brim, and the phone rang non-stop with booking requests — surely a sight most restaurant owners love to see. This used to be the case at Cat Down Western and Quick-Fry Café, but two months ago, the restaurant’s owner, Chen Lukuan, decided to cancel the reservation service. He believes that consumers now make too many unreasonable demands, and that the sick consumer culture of putting reservations and guests on a pedestal needs to change. He decided to let Cat Down take a bold step forward, hoping everyone can unite to bring about change.

Chen Lukuan recently wrote a blog post on the “Cat Down Project” titled “Cat Down’s 6th Anniversary Series Part 2: A Work Memo for Fellow Restaurant Operators Regarding the Cancellation of Reservation Services and the Right of (Unwanted) Guests to Reserve.” In the article, he mentioned that because of the reservation service, someone had to carry their phone around all day just to answer booking calls and carefully write down each guest’s basic information.

But what they got in return was being forced to accommodate all sorts of “completely unreasonable restaurant service demands” from guests — letting kids cry as if there were a fire, letting birthday cakes create tons of trash, not respecting the restaurant staff, and not even leaving a symbolic “tip.” There were also frequent no-shows who didn’t follow the rules and then gave attitude when they arrived.

When Cat Down Western and Quick-Fry Café canceled its reservation service, fellow industry insiders thought it was a joke. In truth, before making the decision, Chen Lukuan had repeatedly weighed the pros and cons. But with loyal regular customers and many others who respected the restaurant, he decided to take the plunge. Two months later, business hadn’t dropped much — in fact, revenue hit a new high around the Lunar New Year. And without having to deal with so many difficult customers, relationships between Cat Down and its patrons grew even deeper.

“Cat Down’s 6th Anniversary Series Part 2: A Work Memo for Fellow Restaurant Operators Regarding the Cancellation of Reservation Services and the Right of (Unwanted) Guests to Reserve” (Full text, source: Cat Down Project blog)

When we first announced the cancellation of our long-running phone reservation service, every familiar colleague thought I was joking.
After all, who would joke about a business that’s doing just fine?

But seriously, once we actually did it, everyone was shocked — including those clueless callers on the phone.

Compared to the saying “If you’re serious, you lose,” I chose to be serious this time — and win against everyone (including the guests).

Just imagine: the reservation book that used to be packed solid from 5:30 every day, week, month, and year, suddenly turned blank — just pencil lines and a few hollow time slots. A blank A4 sheet of paper with no idea where the next customer will come from. One rejected call (and potential sale) after another. One guest after another thrown off by the sudden “unfamiliarity.”

For six years, I’ve often wondered: are we small restaurant owners out of our minds? We’re just naturally smaller players (restaurants) — why force ourselves to do things beyond our capacity, sit on toilets that don’t fit, and end up feeling all cramped? Yes, I’m talking about the so-called “services” we provide. The worst and most infuriating of them all — you know exactly which ones I mean — are those “reservation guests” who call and immediately act like they’re VIPs, important dignitaries, or some big shot when they arrive.Even worse are those who not only act that way, but also frequently no-show, don’t inform us, and then give us all sorts of attitude when they do show up.

What are we even doing this for?Every day, someone has to carry their phone around all day just to answer these reservation calls, as if they’re a lifeline counselor. Every night, no matter how busy, they still have to carefully jot down each guest’s info and explain all the rules.And there’s one strange thing about every call:It’s as if every restaurant in Taiwan, every eatery in Taipei, is expected to have a dedicated customer service hotline, forced to deal with guests’ ignorance, stupidity, random questions, kids’ matchmaking dilemmas, boyfriend-girlfriend birthdays — all “completely unreasonable restaurant service demands.”And what do these people really respect about the restaurant? What do they give us in return? They let their kids cry like there’s a fire, let birthday cakes create piles of trash, and even though they know they’re asking for extra “services,” they can’t even spare a NT$10 tip. (Okay, one word was censored.)

What are we even doing this for? What the hell?! Yeah, we do it for business, for cash flow, for paying salaries, for proving ourselves. We’re obsessed — hell-bent on paying tribute to this grand, ancient, imported, glamorous industry through some kind of sacrificial devotion. (I won’t curse in this article. Don’t even think it.)

I know everyone usually vents with a few choice words when dealing with this stuff.But here’s what I want to say: if we all think this limitless “service” is absurd, then why doesn’t anyone speak up, encourage others, and unite to change this (damn) actually sick consumer culture? So, on the occasion of our sixth anniversary, I decided to let Cat Down take a brave step.

But the possible pros and cons kept tormenting me over and over.Until one very important factor made me decide to go for it: our many loyal, wonderful regular customers — and my belief that there are still many good people out there I haven’t met yet, who follow the rules, have patience, manners, respect for restaurants, and know how to communicate logically. So I went ahead and did it.With real rock ‘n’ roll spirit. In running a restaurant, I believe we can choose not to compromise — just for a while. Here’s a question I’m throwing out to you, my fellow operators. So I canceled our reservation service — that is, I canceled the so-called “right” of those called guests to reserve.

I say “right” because 90% of the guests I’ve met seem to think they have the right to reserve a table. But honestly, who even came up with that idea? Did they pay a deposit?

And what about the results after two months? Let me put it honestly, from the bottom of my heart: we achieved our highest revenue during the Lunar New Year period in six years.And the outcome? Aside from having to constantly and reluctantly explain why reservations aren’t available, and getting into verbal spats with those who think they’re so important they should be allowed to wait in line — everything else has been great. When business is booming, everyone behaves, everyone’s happy. Service quality doesn’t suffer due to phone calls. And when business is slow, no one feels rushed or limited by dining time.Our regular customers have an easier time getting a table, those who love us can come more often, and as for those who used to constantly bother us—people who made reservations without even knowing what we serve or without any real intention to dine or drink? They’re almost all gone!

In short, by not having to deal with so many odd guests, our relationship with the customers who truly understand and appreciate this place has grown even deeper.And honestly, I think that’s pretty cool. Especially when you look at the numbers. I feel like Maoxiaqu has done something for the first time again. And this time, we won in spirit (at least we still had our year-end party to enjoy). But I’ll be honest—I did offend a lot of people. Still, the costs and gains, I think, are something no one in the history of Taiwan’s F&B industry (yes, I said it, the history of Taiwan’s F&B industry) has ever known or experienced. Who dares to put their business through a sauna of uncertainty for no reason? Feel free to introduce such people to me—I’m sure we’d have tons of real F&B insights to exchange.

We all know we’re living in the era of big data. That’s my latest take after six years here. Among all those young peers out there, how many truly understand and can judge all the causes and effects behind the business numbers? At the end of the day, how much of what you think you know actually reflects the reality on the ground (management-wise)?

So, can you create something truly original, or are you stuck just mindlessly copying others? Or to put it another way, what unreasonable aspects of the current situation can you change?

On Xuzhou Road, I still don’t know how far we can go in the future, but at least, this is one bold attempt at change that this place dared to make.

Maybe you should give it a try too.
Right? Why not?

It’s a lot of fun.