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Field notes

From running rooms, kitchens, and reception desks. Short, useful, no fluff.

21 Jul 2026Marketing
Marketing
The Guests You Already Have Are Cheaper Than the Ones You Don't
Winning back a guest who came twice and drifted costs a fraction of finding a new one. Most venues never try, because nobody is watching who stopped coming.
Guestavo4 min read
2 Jul 2026Compliance
Compliance
The 14 EU Allergens: What Restaurants Actually Have to Do
EU law requires allergen information on every dish you serve. Here is what the rule says, what counts as compliant, and where kitchens usually get caught out.
Guestavo4 min read
24 Jun 2026Operations
Operations
The First 90 Days: What a New Venue Should Actually Set Up (And What Can Wait)
The builders are gone, the kitchen passed inspection, and you open in three weeks. Here is what genuinely matters in the first three months, and the long list of things that can safely wait until month four.
Guestavo9 min read
11 Jun 2026Bookings
Bookings
How to Cut Restaurant No-Shows Without Charging a Deposit
No-shows cost the average restaurant thousands a year. Most of them are forgetfulness, not malice, and reminders fix the majority.
Guestavo4 min read
13 May 2026Events
Events
Your Quiz Night Is Packed and Your Tuesday Is Still Dead. Here Is Why.
Events fill a room for one evening. Turning those forty people into people who book a normal table on a normal night is a separate job, and almost nobody does it.
Guestavo10 min read
22 Apr 2026Operations
Operations
Running Two to Six Venues Without the Brand Drifting Apart
Some things must be identical across every site, and some things genuinely should differ. Getting that split right is most of what keeps a small group coherent.
Guestavo7 min read
25 Mar 2026Local SEO
Local SEO
Four Things a Restaurant Website Needs Above the Fold
Someone is standing outside your door at 19:40 checking whether you are open. Your homepage has about six seconds to answer that before they walk to the place next door.
Guestavo7 min read
4 Mar 2026Bookings
Bookings
No-Shows in Salons and Clinics: Why a Restaurant Playbook Won't Work
When a client skips a 90-minute appointment with a named practitioner, you lose the slot, the practitioner's hour, and the chance to refill it. Here is what actually reduces that.
Guestavo7 min read
11 Feb 2026Compliance
Compliance
GDPR for Restaurants and Salons: What You Actually Have to Do With Guest Data
A booking name, a phone number, an allergy note, a card on file. Every venue in Europe collects personal data, and most owners have no idea which parts of it need consent and which do not.
Guestavo9 min read
21 Jan 2026Marketing
Marketing
Email, SMS, or WhatsApp: Picking the Channel That Actually Gets Read
Every channel costs something different and gets read at a different rate. Here is when SMS earns its price, when email is perfectly fine, and what GDPR expects from you either way.
Guestavo7 min read
7 Jan 2026Operations
Operations
Rostering to Forecast, Not to Habit: Staffing Around Real Demand
Most rotas are copied from last week and adjusted when somebody complains. Your booking book already knows what next Thursday looks like, and the number you should be staffing to is sitting in last year's data.
Guestavo9 min read
17 Dec 2025Bookings
Bookings
Planning for Seasonal Peaks and the January Dead Zone
December pays for January, Valentine's fills one night, and most restaurants staff both by feel. A forecast built from last year's numbers beats a hunch every time.
Guestavo9 min read
3 Dec 2025Bookings
Bookings
Large Parties Without the Panic: Set Menus, Deposits, and Final Numbers
A table of eighteen is not nine tables of two. It needs a different booking process, a different menu decision, and a deposit conversation you can defend when the numbers drop.
Guestavo9 min read
26 Nov 2025Loyalty
Loyalty
Why Most Restaurant Loyalty Schemes Fail (And What Actually Changes Behaviour)
Ten stamps for a free coffee, a card that lives in a coat pocket until it goes through the wash. Most loyalty programmes fail for reasons you can fix before you launch one.
Guestavo7 min read
5 Nov 2025Operations
Operations
Walk-Ins and Waitlists Without the Chaos at the Door
A crowd at the entrance, a host guessing at quote times, and a table sitting empty because nobody could find the party who wandered off. All of it is fixable.
Guestavo7 min read
29 Oct 2025Menus
Menus
Menu Pricing: Why the Layout Matters as Much as the Number
A price column running down the right-hand edge turns your menu into a spreadsheet. Small changes to how prices sit on the page shift what guests order, before you touch a single number.
Guestavo8 min read
15 Oct 2025Marketing
Marketing
How to Reply to Reviews Without Sounding Like a Template
Guests can spot a copy-pasted reply from the first line. Learn the shape of a good response instead: acknowledge specifics, skip the defensiveness, and move the hard conversations off the public page.
Guestavo7 min read
1 Oct 2025Marketing
Marketing
Instagram That Fills Tables, Not Just Feeds
Ten thousand followers and a quiet Wednesday is a common combination. Here is how to photograph, post, and link so that social media turns into covers instead of applause.
Guestavo10 min read
24 Sept 2025Menus
Menus
Your QR Code Points to a PDF. That's the Problem.
A PDF menu behind a QR code is unreadable on a phone and impossible to change once service starts. An HTML menu fixes both, and search engines can finally read what you serve.
Guestavo7 min read
3 Sept 2025Local SEO
Local SEO
The Google Business Profile Setup Restaurants Actually Need
Your Google listing gets more views than your website. Here is how to set up categories, hours, photos, and the menu link so it earns its traffic.
Guestavo9 min read

Field notes

The Guests You Already Have Are Cheaper Than the Ones You Don't

The 14 EU Allergens: What Restaurants Actually Have to Do

The First 90 Days: What a New Venue Should Actually Set Up (And What Can Wait)

How to Cut Restaurant No-Shows Without Charging a Deposit

Your Quiz Night Is Packed and Your Tuesday Is Still Dead. Here Is Why.

Running Two to Six Venues Without the Brand Drifting Apart

Four Things a Restaurant Website Needs Above the Fold

No-Shows in Salons and Clinics: Why a Restaurant Playbook Won't Work

GDPR for Restaurants and Salons: What You Actually Have to Do With Guest Data

Email, SMS, or WhatsApp: Picking the Channel That Actually Gets Read

Rostering to Forecast, Not to Habit: Staffing Around Real Demand

Planning for Seasonal Peaks and the January Dead Zone

Large Parties Without the Panic: Set Menus, Deposits, and Final Numbers

Why Most Restaurant Loyalty Schemes Fail (And What Actually Changes Behaviour)

Walk-Ins and Waitlists Without the Chaos at the Door

Menu Pricing: Why the Layout Matters as Much as the Number

How to Reply to Reviews Without Sounding Like a Template

Instagram That Fills Tables, Not Just Feeds

Your QR Code Points to a PDF. That's the Problem.

The Google Business Profile Setup Restaurants Actually Need