Introduction example: With the automatic collection of cancellation fees and attentive support, our worries about online reservations disappeared. (Munch's Burger Shack)

My past fear of making reservations online

— What age group do you usually get the most customers from?
There isn’t a huge skew toward any particular age, but we see especially many people in their 30s and 40s. Since we’re located in an office district, businesspeople tend to use our place often.

When you think of hamburgers, I imagine many people picture them as something popular with men. However, one of our characteristics is that we actually have many female customers.

— Roughly what percentage of your customers make a reservation before coming to the restaurant?
We don’t take reservations for lunch; we only accept reservations for the evening. Our opening hours are also shorter than typical restaurants, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., so it’s hard to make a simple comparison, but about half of our customers come with a reservation.

— How many staff members usually run the shop?
Normally we have 8 people, and on busy days like weekends we have 9 or 10. With this number of staff, we also handle takeout and delivery.

―――Up until now, how have you been managing reservations?
Recently, we’ve been managing reservations in a very analog way: writing all the reservation details down on paper and drawing a line through them when the customer comes in.

We used to use a different online reservation system, but when we stopped our dinner service for about a year during the COVID pandemic, we ended up stopping reservations altogether.
As customer traffic gradually started to recover, we resumed taking reservations.

— Are there any other reasons you stopped taking online reservations?
To tell the truth, I was actually afraid of online reservations.

It’s great that we can accept reservations automatically, but we get quite a few no-shows on the day… Since we keep seats open for reserved customers, it means we can’t seat our regular walk-in customers in those spots.

The automatic cancellation fee collection feature is a powerful ally for restaurants.

―――While you felt uneasy about online reservations, what was the deciding factor in choosing to implement the Respo reservation ledger?
The fact that it has a feature to automatically collect cancellation fees.

Up until now, even if a customer canceled on the same day without notice, we had no way to charge a cancellation fee.

Of course, it’s not all about collecting cancellation fees, but we’ve had bitter experiences in the past… It also helps deter no‑show cancellations, and I feel it’s a very reassuring system for restaurants.

―――At Munch's Burger Shack, you’re also making active use of AutoReserve by adding the reservation URL to your Google Business Profile. Could you tell us what has been good about introducing the Respo reservation ledger?
It’s great that we can centrally manage reservations received both online and by phone on a single tablet.
Another advantage is that we can now tell customers, “You can make reservations online even outside business hours,” which has reduced the burden of handling everything by phone.

— Do you have expectations that managing reservations will keep getting easier and easier?
Yes, I do.

With online reservations, there’s no risk of missing any information. At our shop, basically all staff members handle reservations, so when it got especially busy, we would sometimes forget to ask for something—like the customer’s name, phone number, or arrival time.

With the Respo reservation ledger, the details of online bookings are automatically recorded in the ledger, so you don’t have to worry about missing any information—which is really nice.

—If we can eliminate human error, overall productivity and efficiency will improve too, right? By the way, has the image of “online reservations = scary” disappeared for you?
Yes, it has. Thanks to AutoReserve and Respo, I feel like I’ve been freed from that fear!

Their support is courteous and reliable, so it’s been a great help. The support we received during implementation was absolutely flawless.

―――How was the usability of the Respo reservation ledger?
You might feel a bit confused at first, but once you get used to it, I think you’ll be able to operate it smoothly.

There are still many features we ourselves haven’t fully mastered yet, starting with customer management, so we’d like to make better use of them from now on.

― We customize it to match your shop’s needs, so feel free to contact us if there are any features you need!
Thank you very much. I look forward to working with you!

— By the way, did the Respo reservation ledger catch on smoothly with your staff?The younger staff members got used to it right away.

I think it depends on the person, but the generation that isn’t very familiar with digital devices took more time than the younger generation. Even at our shop, during the first few days we used it by helping each other out among the staff.

―――When you implemented the Respo reservation ledger, how satisfied were you with the support?
The support has been very courteous, and I have no complaints at all. Whenever something comes up, they respond right away, which is very reassuring.

However, as we get used to using it at our store from now on, we’re worried that the support might be discontinued…

―――Thank you very much for your kind words. Not only now but also going forward, we will continue to provide support so that Munch's Burger Shack can use our services comfortably, so please rest assured.

Aiming to be a restaurant loved for many years, and in the future to nurture staff who go on to open their own places.

— Lastly, could you tell us about the future prospects for Munch's Burger Shack?
Munch's Burger Shack originally started out as a food truck. In 2011, we switched to operating a physical store, and it’s now been 11 years since we opened our shop.

People often ask me, “Why don’t you open more locations?” but right now I don’t have any desire to expand into multiple stores. There are obstacles like COVID-19, but I want to keep the quality and service high and make this current shop one that will be loved for a long time.

— That’s a wonderful way of thinking.
Some of our staff are thinking, “I’d like to go independent in the future.”
We also have a strong desire to properly train those staff members here at Munch’s Burger Shack so that, when they have their own place, they can run it steadily and successfully.
Rather than expanding our own restaurants, we hope to send outstanding chefs out into the world from our shop.

We will continue to give our full support so that the future you envision for Munch's Burger Shack becomes a reality. Thank you very much for today!

Store Information

Munch's Burger Shack

Address: SMART Building 1F & 2F, 2-26-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Phone number: 03-6435-3166
Store details:https://autoreserve.com/restaurants/R82DJJhXAxxbfbXnz6am