Over 41% of bookings go digital and one in two arrives when the venue is closed. And the “flexible customer”, who cancels or changes at the last moment, can cost up to 80 thousand euros a year
Once upon a time there was a phone call to book a table at a restaurant, often with a note written in pen in the owner’s diary. Today that scene, still widespread in eight out of ten Italian restaurants, coexists with a very different reality: customers who book online after midnight cancel with a click or change time while the chef is already at the stove. The digital transformation of catering is underway, with economic and organizational repercussions. Over 41% of bookings now pass through digital channels and one in two arrives when the venues are closed. Effects? Those who remain analogue risk losing half of their reservations, while the so-called “flexible customer” can cost the restaurant up to 80 thousand euros a year.
An analysis conducted by Cooperto (digital platform for restaurant reservations in Italy) on over 500,000 reservations made from January to September 2025 shows data that should not be underestimated: 41.11% of bookings are registered online (+9.12% compared to the same period in 2024) and one in two (51.5%) is done between midnight and midday and between 3pm and 6pm, therefore when the restaurants are closed. “People book when they can, not when the place is open,” explains Luca Proserpio, co-founder of the Cooperto startup. “Those who only use the telephone or card risk losing every second reservation.” The fact that in Italy eight out of ten restaurants still use paper diaries is not just a question of digitalisation and loss of reservations that arrive when there is no person with a pen ready to write. The issue is also that, in doing so, the customer becomes “disposable”. Digital booking, on the other hand, allows you to make that contact permanent.
Flexible customers cost up to 80,000 euros per restaurant
If digital multiplies booking opportunities, it also introduces a new fragility. The Incrementoo Observatory, which analyzed 230,000 reservations in 300 Italian restaurants, photographs a rapidly growing phenomenon: the “flexible customer”. He is the one who books and then changes, moves or cancels at the last moment. 21% of reservations are modified or late canceled within 24 hours before the scheduled date and 12.8% of customers simply don’t show up. In total, more than a third of bookings do not go ahead as planned. For an average venue with 60 seats, this means every evening one table out of three is unstable, with a cost of 6,800 euros per month, i.e. over 80 thousand euros per year per venue. The causes? The same ease with which you book online also encourages disengagement and impulsiveness. And while the customer updates their agenda in a few seconds, the restaurateur finds himself with empty tables, unused supplies and staff to be repositioned. Many venues have introduced deposits or credit card pre-authorisations to reduce the risk, but six out of ten restaurateurs say the situation has worsened compared to 2024.
