Monterey restaurant exceeds expectations during COVID-19 using Yelp Waitlist
Nestled on the historic Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, California, Paluca Trattoria is a quaint, Italian restaurant known for its scenic coastal views. Founded in the 1970s, Paluca Trattoria has attracted guests from all over the world, welcoming even more new faces in recent years after being featured on the HBO show Big Little Lies.
As a popular destination for both locals and tourists, the restaurant was regularly quite busy, but owners Sal and Ashley Tedesco ran into an increasingly problematic situation: reservation no-shows. They found themselves turning away customers during peak hours to hold tables for guests that weren’t coming, resulting in less revenue and slower table turn times.
Prior to the pandemic, Paluca Trattoria also didn’t have a host at the front-of-house. “We weren’t sold on that being a position that we needed to have as another expense and labor,” Ashley said. Guests would enter the restaurant and essentially wait for an employee to walk by and help them—Ashley described it as a “free for all.”
“It’s really about the customer’s overall experience,” Ashley said. “You’re not starting off on the best foot when you have people lined up and you’re writing their name on a piece of paper or putting them in your system, but they’re not being texted. They have to keep checking back. You’re already on the negative before they even sit down. Then it starts a potentially downward spiral. If anything else goes wrong, you’ve lost them for good.”
Photo by Casey Tolhurst
When COVID-19 hit, the Tedescos knew they needed to go back to the drawing board, and they found Yelp Waitlist. “Truthfully we didn’t know a lot about it when I signed up for it. I just sort of blindly thought, we’re going to give this a go because what we were doing wasn’t working. You just kind of keep bumbling around, business as usual, until you get shut down, and you’re forced to think things through.”
To try to resolve some of the issues they were having with no-shows and a scattered and confusing entrance area, they decided to hire a host and use Yelp Waitlist exclusively on the weekends when they were most busy. By allowing guests to add their name to a list when they arrive and receive a text when their table is ready, they were able to not only fill the restaurant with guests that were either already onsite or close by, but it also helped turn tables at a pace they’d never seen before.
We won’t be surprised if we do over a million in annual sales in 2022 and beyond—for the first time in the history of this business—using Yelp Waitlist.
— Ashley Tedesco, Owner, Paluca Trattoria
“We tested the concept of just going 100% Waitlist, and then we saw our numbers really increase quite dramatically.” According to Ashley, they even found that the host position—contrary to what they originally thought—was easily paid for many times over.
6 benefits of using Yelp Waitlist
Ashley identified six core ways that Yelp Waitlist has improved their operations.
1. No more no shows
“We’d often find ourselves turning away customers while holding a table for at least 15-20 minutes in advance of a reservation arrival time only to end up with a no-show. This affected our turn rate and was a significant cause of frustration. When we went to the Waitlist-only model on busy weekends, we were able to accommodate more customers.”
2. Better guest flow
“We were able to manage the traffic flow better. Having a dedicated host who’s manning the tablet and the Waitlist system—those elements combined helped our sales go through the roof.
“Our phone also used to ring off the hook, which was a constant source of frustration. Most of the time, we’d pick up and have to tell the individual we were booked up. This felt like a significant waste of time and resources. We now accept Yelp Waitlist and Yelp Reservations online or in-person only.”
3. Turning tables faster
In conjunction with pairing down the menu, using Yelp Waitlist allowed staff to turn tables more quickly. “Getting the people in, in a timely manner, with shorter menus so they can choose more quickly—we’re able to turn tables more readily that way. I think those two elements probably had the greatest impact on the increases that we saw in volume.”
4. Enticing customers with a secure place in line
At destination locations such as ours, customers tend to ‘menu shop,’ so guests can easily be lost to the competition. Having the ability to quickly capture their name and offer a spot in line —especially when many of our competitors were telling guests they were booked with reservations—gave us the ability to capture more customers.
— Ashley Tedesco
5. Enhanced communication with customers
Acknowledgement
“People just like to be acknowledged, they like to know that they’re not being forgotten, because a lot of times they think, ‘Oh, did they forget us?’ I can ping them and say, ‘Hey, your table’s almost ready.’ That was huge because now they’re halfway down the wharf in a gift shop, but I need them to start working their way back. The phone call feature was great [too] because the wharf is very noisy.
“It far exceeded our expectations. The customer seemed happier. In the end, we had very few issues with customers being angry or complaining that they had to wait. They would wait the hour and gladly come back, cheerfully.”
Unique updates
“We also had many moving parts, including the City of Monterey closing off parking lots to slow the traffic flow, and outdoor seating only created an issue with customers not coming prepared for the cold weather. The ability to text message customers through the platform with updates regarding weather conditions, suggested attire, parking, and traffic updates proved to be an invaluable feature.”
Anticipated live wait times
“The customer experience was improved because an individual was able to see the accurate wait time in advance. Nothing is more frustrating than getting your heart set on eating at a particular restaurant, parking, then walking 15-30 minutes to the location only to find out they are completely booked.”
6. Easier social distancing
“Another important improvement has been the ability to alert customers on the status of their table, which allows us to control traffic flow at the host stand and keep customers socially distanced while waiting for tables.”
Improving efficiency and increasing profits with Yelp Waitlist
With these improvements, the restaurant was able to exceed expectations and meet their sales goals for the year, despite the unexpected hardships.
New guest traffic patterns had emerged during COVID-19, and they were able to optimize those periods by using Yelp Waitlist. “I honestly would say that’s the number one reason we were able to see the numbers that we saw,” Ashley said.
In reviewing the heat maps from 2019 and 2020, Ashley and her team discovered the revenue generated Friday through Sunday accounted for a large percentage of the restaurant’s overall sales during COVID-19. “Before 2020, we had a steady flow of business for lunch every day and a robust clientele of foreigners who typically enjoyed a few drinks and appetizers before going to dinner elsewhere (between 3 and 6 pm). With COVID-related travel restrictions in place in 2020, we lost that client base entirely, and our weekday lunch business was down by 38% over 2019.
“The fact that we were able to use the Yelp Waitlist functionality to capture customer information and turn tables (instead of holding them for reservations) made it possible to meet our sales goals. All this amidst COVID restrictions and the treacherous California fire season makes it feel miraculous that we were able to match our 2019 sales figures, which had been, to date, our best year ever since we purchased the restaurant in 2000.”
Ashley shared these figures from the heatmap analysis:
July 2019 (Friday – Sunday): 25% of total monthly revenue
July 2020 (Friday – Sunday): 68% of total monthly revenue
August 2019 (Friday-Sunday): 49% of total monthly revenue
August 2020 (Friday – Sunday): 73% of total monthly revenue
September 2019 (Friday – Sunday): 50% of total monthly revenue
September 2020 (Friday – Sunday): 68% of total monthly revenue
They were able to make up for the revenue loss due to the pandemic by turning tables at a rate they had not accomplished any year prior. Even with COVID-19, Paluca Trattoria had an all-time record-breaking number of covers in mid-July and saw an all-time record-breaking sales day in early September.
“We were shut down for three full months and we still did almost $800,000. The year prior, we only did like $820,000,” Ashley said. Reaching those types of numbers due to increased efficiencies across the board—despite a challenging and restrictive year—Paluca Trattoria expects to continue breaking records as operations progress toward the new normal.
As with any business in any industry, it can be intimidating to uproot operations that you’re accustomed to. But with change comes growth and opportunity, and for Paluca Trattoria, it was truly a silver lining of the pandemic. “Had COVID not happened, I don’t know that we’d ever really attempted to reform,” she said. “Being pushed into these corners forced the issue, but out of it came just amazing results.”