Guests walk out on bill at Vancouver restaurant Bonjour Vietnam Bistro
Last week, a Vancouver restaurant was the victim of guests walking out on their bill.
Bonjour Vietnam Bistro took to its Instagram account to recount the unfortunate event, which occurred on Thursday, May 12.
“Please don’t walk out on your bill. We work very hard to make a living,” the temporary post said.
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Screenshot of Bonjour Vietnam Bistro’s Instagram post
Dished was able to get in touch with the restaurant about the incident and was told that it was the first time a dine and dash had happened there.
“Luckily the bill wasn’t too big. It came up to about $85 with taxes,” Bonjour Vietnam shared.
Dining and dashing – the act of eating at a restaurant and then leaving without paying your bill – is nothing new in the hospitality world. But when restaurants are already operating on paper-thin margins and with limited staff following the effects of the pandemic, the theft feels like a tipping point.
It makes sense that more and more restaurants turn to social media to share when these incidents do occur.
Bonjour Vietnam tells Dished that it did not reach out to police because “by the time we realized, the people were already gone and also because of the small amount [of the bill].”
Despite it not being a huge loss for the business, it’s still “definitely very disappointing.”
From theft of restaurant decor to straight-up walking out on a bill, there seems to be little restaurants can do to keep this from happening. The public post is a last-ditch effort to either encourage the culprits to come forward or, at the very least, deter others from committing the same act.
Though this was the first time that Bonjour Vietnam experienced such theft, the restaurant acknowledged that “It’s quite a common problem that happens in the restaurant industry.” They hope that sharing this story will start a wider conversation about folks walking out on their bills at Vancouver restaurants.
Do you or someone you know work in the restaurant industry and have stories of guests dining and dashing? We want to hear about them. Email us at [email protected].