A restaurant owner in France has left customers seething after he introduced a new fine to ‘make people responsible’ for a common dining habit many have likely been guilty of.

Olivier Vincent, chef and manager of at L’îlot, a 20-seat eatery in Amboise, had grown increasingly frustrated with patrons constantly arriving with parties that either exceeded or fell short of the number of people they had booked for. 

Disgruntled by what he described as a ‘weekly’ problem, the chef announced that those showing up with a different-sized group to their reservation would be fined.

In a post shared to Facebook last week, he stated that those who don’t abide by the rule would be charged €15 (£12.75) per head.

On Wednesday, he wrote: ‘The restaurant L’îlot announces a change. From now on, if you do not come with the number of guests for which you reserved, you will be charged 15 euros per missing or additional person. Thank you for your understanding.’

‘We’re here because we need to make people responsible,’ he lamented.

Under the new rules, a party of nine with two no-shows would face a €30 surcharge in addition to the bill for their food and drink. 

According to the chef, the issue had been ongoing, but reached its final straw after one customer exchanged several messages trying to change the booking, reported the French paper, ici.   

A restaurant owner in France has left customers seething after he introduced a new fine to 'make people responsible' for a common dining habit

A restaurant owner in France has left customers seething after he introduced a new fine to ‘make people responsible’ for a common dining habit

The Facebook post read: 'The L'îlot restaurant is announcing a change. From now on, if you do not come with the number of guests you booked for, you will be charged 15 euros per missing or additional person. Thank you for your understanding'

The Facebook post read: ‘The L’îlot restaurant is announcing a change. From now on, if you do not come with the number of guests you booked for, you will be charged 15 euros per missing or additional person. Thank you for your understanding’

‘After about ten emails with one person, she told us there would be eight, then nine, and finally, they arrived at seven without warning, without apology,’ Olivier told the outlet. 

Expressing his frustration, Vincent emphasised the need to have the correct numbers on a booking, insisting customers who have ‘their phones on them 24/7’ only need to ‘call to say if we will be less, or more, or that we are not coming’.

‘If we are here, it is to work. It is not to have tables, not to have customers. We organise ourselves so that everything is serene. We have staff,’ he continued. 

‘We work with fresh products. We do not pay employees and suppliers with Monopoly tickets. My restaurant is a business.’ 

The venue, described on Google as serving ‘inventive gourmet plates’ in a ‘down-to-earth restaurant with an open kitchen’, has a respectable 4.7 stars on review sites.

Customers have praised the ‘intimate’ setting, a feature that Vincent emphasised is one of the reasons it must keep strictly to it’s booking numbers.

Responding to the Facebook post, which was viewed more than 27,000 times in the first 24 hours, several expressed their irritation at the new rules.

A translated response from one read: ‘A bit of a limiting business practice if there are only one or two people missing from a large table. Emergencies exist.

 

Olivier Vincent, chef and manager of at L'îlot, a 20-seat eatery in Amboise, central- France, had grown increasingly frustrated with customers constantly arriving with parties that either exceeded or fell short of the number of people they had booked for

Olivier Vincent, chef and manager of at L’îlot, a 20-seat eatery in Amboise, central- France, had grown increasingly frustrated with customers constantly arriving with parties that either exceeded or fell short of the number of people they had booked for

Responding to the Facebook post, which was viewed more than 27,000 times in the first 24 hours, several expressed their irritation at the new rules

Responding to the Facebook post, which was viewed more than 27,000 times in the first 24 hours, several expressed their irritation at the new rules

‘You’re not going to get great publicity for yourself. Even if abuses exist, you are going a bit far. Imagine an on-call doctor who can’t join their family for dinner, or someone who has a family emergency.’

A second furiously wrote: ‘A last-minute unforeseen event… Getting left outside the restaurant (it’s happened to me before)… Well, I might as well go somewhere else then. It seems pretty counterproductive to me.’

‘Keep it up, restaurateurs in France…and soon your customers just won’t come anymore…besides, why go to a restaurant in France to pay an exorbitant price for something that isn’t good,’ another said.

Though some keenly agreed that it was a matter of ‘respect’ to call restaurants to let them know of a changed booking.

‘I totally agree with you! It takes 2 minutes to notify someone of a change,’ one wrote, while another agreed, saying people weren’t aware of the hassle for the chef who prepares the meals.’

It is common for restaurants in France to charge patrons who fail to arrive for their bookings at all, but l’Îlot is among the first to fine for unannounced changes to party size.

MailOnline has reached out to L’îlot for comment. 

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk