Dine-and-Dash Incidents Becoming More Frequent, Restaurateur Claims
A UK restaurant owner reports monthly dine-and-dash incidents, attributing the rise to social media appeals as an effective, albeit unconventional, debt collection method.
Dine-and-dash incidents, where customers leave establishments without paying their bills, have become a more frequent occurrence in recent years, according to one UK restaurateur.
"Backstedt-Calvert added dine-and-dash incidents had gotten 'worse and worse' in recent years. He said: 'Five years ago, I don't want to say it was uncommon, but now across our restaurants it's probably once a month now, in the last year.'"
The owner of The Old Custom House in Penarth, a restaurant that experienced a £115 dine-and-dash incident, stated that such occurrences now happen about once a month across their various establishments. The specific incident involved a bill for items including £52 Dover sole, eight Cokes, and calamari.
Restaurants have found social media appeals to be "really good success" in locating individuals who leave without settling their accounts, the restaurateur noted. "Rightly or wrongly so, we always choose to take this to social media first," he said. "Ultimately, the restaurant want the bill paid. The best resolution that can happen from this is having that bill paid. Putting it on social media you're going direct to the source, and there's a good chance people will come forward from that."
This approach aims to achieve the primary goal of recovering the outstanding payment, with social media acting as a direct channel to identify and engage with the individuals responsible for the unpaid bills. This method has proven effective in prompting customers to come forward and settle their debts.