People love to eat. That’s especially true on vacation, when new sights, smells and tastes are always on the horizon. On group trips, meals can be the highlight of the day, but booking meals for a large group is harder than it may seem.
Finding a place for a group to eat involves much more preparation than simply calling a restaurant to reserve a spot. To guarantee a dining experience that’s sure to leave your guests satisfied, you need to prepare and approach group dining with a strategic mind.
Identify restaurants interested in group business
Occasionally, you may find a restaurant you want your group to visit only to discover that the establishment doesn’t like group business. Not all dining facilities want to serve large groups because of issues with cost, space or time. Rather than searching Google and navigating restaurant reviews, contacting the tourism office in your destination is a great way to get a feel for which restaurants will be inviting. Calling restaurants one by one can take up a ton of time, but DMOs will share everything you need to know about local restaurants, from menus to group seating details and more.
Move a restaurant from “no” to “yes”
When it comes to group reservations at restaurants, “no” doesn’t always mean no — you may be able to persuade an establishment to accommodate your group with some creative problem-solving. First, ask about times when the restaurant is either closed or has less guest volume; they may be willing to feed your group during one of these quiet periods, especially if they can do so with minimal staffing. Some restaurants may also be willing to open at an unusual time or accommodate a group booking if you can guarantee a certain amount of spending in advance. That way, they know they’ll be making money, not losing it.
Decide whether the meal is included
Group trips vary widely in which meals are included in the prepaid trip package and which aren’t. There are plenty of benefits and downsides to both, but it is important to know what your strategy is for any particular meal before contacting restaurants. This affects the logistics of the meal, especially at the end of a dining experience when it’s time to settle up. Paying checks one by one is a tedious process, whereas a prepaid, included meal avoids this step completely and allows your group to move onto the next activity as soon as possible. Letting the restaurant know in advance is courteous and can go a long way when building relationships with the management.
Prepare the menu
To make a dining experience truly memorable, you should work with restaurants to plan menus well in advance. Some group travel organizers prefer having preset tour menus with only a few options because they keep costs low and service quick. But giving travelers access to a restaurant’s full menu has its perks, too. Limited menus can get repetitive quickly and may disappoint travelers who were looking forward to enjoying a specific item at the restaurant you’re visiting. And a full menu may also make the dining experience more of a trip highlight, rather than just a fuel stop.
Relay dietary preferences and health requirements
It’s more important than ever to take your travelers’ dietary needs into account. Start by collecting information from customers before finalizing arrangements with restaurants. You should also ask if there will be extra costs for special dietary accommodations. You should frequently remind the restaurant of the group’s dietary needs. Overcommunicating is the best policy here. If a restaurant is flippant about handling your guests’ dietary issues, that may be a sign that you should take your business elsewhere.
