How to Fill Empty Seats and Create a Dream Guest List with Resy Notify

For restaurants, having a loyal following of repeat guests isn’t just a nice–to–have—it’s a necessity for survival in a notoriously volatile industry. That’s why we’re excited to bring you stories of restaurants using Resy OS to build deeper relationships with their guests, turning first-time diners into passionate regulars. From before the aperitif to after the affogato, learn how Resy restaurants are blending old–school hospitality with new–school data and technology to provide incredible dining experiences and take their relationships to the next level. 

The feeding frenzy for dining experiences across the country has made restaurant reservations more valuable than ever for diners. By automatically alerting guests to last-minute openings, Resy’s Notify feature also helps restaurant operators fill their dining rooms and minimize lost revenue from late cancellations. For Atlanta’s BoccaLupo, it also helps create an environment where talented people want to work. General manager Jason Furst says, “[Notify] allows me to manage the night the way we want.” 

Furst has been with the in-demand Atlanta restaurant for the last 18 months and has seen the toll that surging demand has taken on hospitality workers, particularly during the industry-wide staffing crunch. BoccaLupo uses their Notify list to fill their space with known diners, providing a positive experience for their employees as well. 

Here are some of the other ways Notify helps BoccaLupo optimize the restaurant experience for both guests and staff. 

1. Create Your Dream Guest List Nightly 

At BoccaLupo, Furst keeps a significant portion of reservations offline to accommodate VIPs or friends and family. A Saturday night can sometimes yield a Notify list of 200 or more people, making it key that Furst can manually send invitations to fill the tables, benefiting the staff. 

“It gives me a ton of flexibility,” Furst says, proving that Notify can be useful not just to surprise and delight guests, but employees as well. The key for him is to maximize operations sustainably, without compromising guest experience or staff well-being. 

2. A Notify Reservation Benefits Everyone (In Real Time) 

BoccaLupo uses pooled tips to ensure that both front–of–house and back–of–house staff are compensated equally. When there’s a late cancellation that leaves a table empty, Furst puts it bluntly: “Every single person in the building just lost money.” Sending a Notify alert to a robust list of eager diners ensures the table is filled and the staff’s livelihood isn’t negatively impacted. Have a cancellation at 6:15 p.m. for a 7:15 p.m. slot? Notify helps you add a new party to the books in minutes.

3. Paired With Guest Note Data, Notify Can Up Your Hospitality Game 

If your restaurant is diligent about keeping guest notes in diners’ Resy profiles, you’ll be able to see them when they set a Notify in the future. Furst takes pride in taking detailed guest notes, especially when the feedback is positive. If there’s an off-line table to fill, Furst can scan the Notify list and offer a table to someone who’s been kind and thoughtful in the past. 

“I’m not big on punishing people. I’m more interested in rewarding people for being really good guests.” It’s not just about filling empty seats; it’s about rewarding guests who see hospitality as a two-way street. 

4. Notify Pays For Itself. 

Within the tight margins the restaurant operates, many third-party services don’t make financial sense and aren’t worth the time staff would need to implement. “[With Resy], we get so much value out of it. Just the Notify list alone, we get hundreds of times the value for what we’repaying,” Furst emphasized. 

Learn more about how to use Notify here. 

This post was first published October 7, 2022.