Hey r/FoodToronto – Jacob from Chantecler in Bloorcourt.
Seems like most new restaurants in Toronto are doing “reservation drops” once a month.
People grab whatever they can, then swap or cancel later because it wasn’t the time they actually wanted.
From the guest side, what’s the upside to that?
Serious question.
If you like monthly drops, please let know the concrete benefit over a rolling window (30–45 days) with a clean waitlist and quick release of cancellations. Do drops help you plan, or just push everyone into panic-booking? All hype?
We’re past Michelin season and heading straight into holiday chaos. I’m choosing our winter setup now. Make the case and I’ll try it! What do you folks think?
– Jacob
(PHOTO FOR ATTENTION!)
by ChanteclerTO
37 Comments
To me, there is no guest upside. It’s just a way for people like influencers or those who think having a reso at a place is a social thing to discuss.
Your current setup is much more friendly to people who actually want to come to your restaurant, like me 🙂
I don’t like drops because it causes panic and what if I forget to log into the booking system on the third Tuesday of the month at 10am.
What’s wrong with the current format?
Open table/resy w public availability, click whatever time slot you want from what’s available…
is definitely easiest imo
I personally find it’s a shame when you can only snag a restaurant booking one day a month at a specific time. Love a rolling window, makes it way easier to plan, and more excitement in finding a last-minute available booking! My two cents. 😊
drops are annoying! it’s rather deterring.
Haven’t experienced this yet and glad I haven’t, if I can’t book online I’m probably skipping your restaurant
Love your restaurant! Please don’t do this. It sounds silly and gamified. Your current system for resos is just fine.
It’s anti guest. Wife and I are big foodies, more interested in good food and crushing a couple of bottles of wine than taking pictures.
If the restaurant involves being in queue for a reso 10 AM on a weekday, I don’t care if Escoffier is back from the dead cooking, we are out.
Too much of the Toronto food scene is catered to influencers. I hate it.
I don’t give nearly enough fucks for this chore.
Am not a serious foodie. And not even someone that books many reservations but I wouldn’t even bother with a restaurant that does this. Probably not your target tho.
Most people I know don’t bother with going back to the site at the booking time and just go elsewhere and then casually in conversation comment about how annoying the reso system is and talk about wherever else they went. We love chantecler, please don’t do this!
Please don’t do this. I love your restaurant!!
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https://i.redd.it/86nforsourwf1.gif
There is a time and place for drops. Most people associate drops with highly coveted Michelin starred or World’s Best restaurants. No shade to Chantecler (hosted a birthday couple of years ago and dined several times at both new and old locations) but you have none. As a neighborhood restaurant, I’d be irked if I had to pre-plan the night when I don’t want to cook to go to your restaurant.
For reference I tried the last two times to get a reso for Lake Inez’s mystery patio, I forgot once by 5 minutes (sold out in that time) and the other time was already booked out fast as well, it’s extremely frustrating as I love the restaurant, but experiences like this turn me off from visiting. It’s not fun or exciting, there’s no benefit for a guest other than annoying them really.
Hope I get a chance to visit your restaurant soon!
Drops blow don’t do it
I love Chanctler by the way.
Rolling window for sure. Also love you are using the food toronto reddit page to source info (we made it guys). Looking forward to checking out Chantecler soon.
Pls don’t. Think it depends on who you’re trying to attract. If the goal is buzz then I get the thinking behind it. As a guest though, I always hated that I live down the street from Edulis and couldn’t get a reso (pre Michelin) and knowing that I would have gone so much more often than I did, but stopped trying after 2 failed attempts.
I have zero interest in this. But I can book another night.
Reading all the comments, zero people like this. Is this all a marketing scam?
Zero average customer benefit. No one in their right mind is monitoring resto’s social media to grab a reservation. Perhaps only PAs.
For average folks it’s like this: « hey, honey, let’s go check out that resto? Sure, see if you get a reservation online. Two months from now? Try their phone. Next week? Sure, why not ». Or like me and my wife – we just book our hard-to-access resto for annual wedding anniversary one year ahead.
For richer folks – their PAs will chase it for them.
This « drop » thing is for social media psychos. Who purely exist on social media. Who generate content consumed exclusively by social media, where they have their own version of reality where everything is scarce and special and you only matter if you have it 🙂
To me – it would actually be a turnoff.
I’ve learned to live with drops but really dislike them.
Drops ruined the dining out experience in NYC. Don’t turn Toronto into the same nightmare please.
I have no interest in drops and only see this as something of value to so-called ‘influencers’ and people involved in social media marketing. There’s little to no benefit for the average diner and I’d just as soon avoid an establishment that went this route.
Chantecler is great, btw, we’ve enjoyed visiting since you first opened, hats off to you.
I know Chantecler as both a neighbourhood spot and also as a destination. Everyone loves it because it is accessible and not buzzy. It’s honestly one of a handful of restaurants that I know people reliably go to more than once, which I think is kind of rare in Toronto.
Drops seem like a gimmick and a bit of a turnoff. It doesn’t align with the Chantecler experience, I’d say.
Like many have said here Chantecler is a place I go to on repeat. Its where I can consistently have a really nice dinner out that’s friendly to foodies and non-foodies alike.
It’s not like a “one and done influencer type food experience” (which I have grown to be disappointed by every time I take up that kind of recommendation).
Drops feel like something to cater to that culture, and I would say what you do currently (like the rotating bartender pop ups) are more interesting and engaging than the artificial buzz drops create.
Hey! Love your restaurant. For me it’s easier because “30 days” is hard for me to think about. If I want a reservation on Nov 20, do I get it on Oct 19? 20? 21? At midnight or noon or when the restaurant opens? My local time or the restaurants?
If a restaurant says ‘reservations for November open October 15 at 2pm EST’ I know exactly what to expect and plan for, all of the guesswork and mental burden is taken out of it.
I eat in restaurants like it’s my job and while on one side I find it annoying for all the reasons people say here. The only time I like it is when it’s such a hard place to get into that I feel like I finally have a chance. But overall, I’d rather reserve – up to a few months in advance even. Peoples’ lives are busy and I plan social events with my friends months ahead.
I like the idea of encouraging/rewarding existing regular guests/fans with an “early release” with a few days in duration – they’re less likely to cancel or at least try their best to provide advanced notice. after that, release to the general public and/or with “drops.” if you don’t already have one, start a sign-up page for very occasional e-newsletters with… early releases, menu specials, “fan fare,” etc.
alongside “drops” being gimmicky, I think they are likely to create barriers (e.g. tech and brand) for those that (I think) are more likely to become regulars than for those who may likely come once and never again. I know that I’m rubbed wrong when somewhere (e.g. restaurants and retail) that I’ve been a regular at for years and year, yet don’t learn of “offers” to influencers, newbies, etc before or instead of me. It’s sort of like being punished and paying for the perks awarded to others :/
One method briefly attracts tourists and social media posers, the other attracts people that live in the city, want to come back and can afford to come back over and over. Marketing people often encourage behaviour similar to an executive that only wants to meet this years bonus targets and could care less about conditions in three years.
I think you have your answer! Lolol
It’s pretentious as fuck IMO. And makes it a lot harder for guests to book because who’s keeping track of when each restaurant opens their resos for the next month? Nightmare haha.
Ohhh hi Jacob! As a diner, I don’t love The Hunger Games aspect of reso drops. It also means that I need to plan maybe 4-6 weeks out. Not the biggest deal, but it does automatically exclude these restaurants for more last minute dining (assuming sell-out).
I get the need for hype though. Can you do this for special seats, perhaps? Don’t recall you have a chef’s rail or anything, but something along those lines of premium seating.
Also, who is your audience? What’s the expected return on this move, etc etc. If the math works out, then great. But sometimes the only way to know is to try.
Legitimately makes me not want to bother
Please don’t!! I love your restaurant and the reservation system not being an ordeal is a huge plus.
I wouldn’t book if I had to jump through hoops. Plenty of other options out there.