Quora精選：為什么很多餐廳要先買單再就餐？

Answered by Ryan Chew

Ryan Chew的回復(fù)：

Shall I let you in on a secret?

我該告訴你一個秘密嗎？

The restaurants are afraid of you, but not for the obvious reasons.

那些餐廳確實怕你，但不是因為表面上的這些原因。

I used to own a restaurant, and there's a term we use in the industry.

我曾經(jīng)開過一家餐館，在我們這行有個術(shù)語。

Table Turnover

翻臺率

Simply put, the more times a restaurant can serve a particular table, clean it, seat a new customer, serve the new customer, rinse and repeat, the more money the restaurant makes.

簡單地說，餐館把一張桌子打掃干凈，招待顧客落座，就餐吃飯，收拾桌子，再迎來新顧客，如此重復(fù)的次數(shù)越多，餐廳掙的錢也就越多。

Think about it.

仔細想一想。

When you're having a sit-down meal, you're not just paying for the food, you're renting a small piece of real estate. To maximise yield, it is in the restaurant's interests to serve you and kick you out the door as soon as you're done. But of course, restaurants can't do that. So instead, they make you pay upfront.

你在店里吃飯時，付的不僅僅是飯錢，還租用了一小塊地方。為了讓收益最大化，伺候你吃好喝好后馬上趕你出門更符合餐廳的利益。但是很顯然，餐廳不能驅(qū)趕顧客，所以他們讓顧客提前買單。

The Psychology

心理學(xué)原理

We've actually experimented with prepaid vs postpaid meals in our restaurant. The verdict? Upfront payment increased table turnover by over 80%.

實際上，我們餐館曾經(jīng)試驗過餐前買單和餐后買單兩種付賬方式。結(jié)果如何？餐前買單讓翻臺率提高了80%以上。

The difference is that customers who haven't paid can justify their occupation of a table. They surf facebook. They chat away for hours on end. They get comfy. It matters not whether they intend to order more stuff, the mere possibility of them ordering more gives them the moral upper hand.

二者的不同之處在于，就餐前未買單的顧客會理直氣壯地占著他們的桌子。他們刷臉書（Facebook），聊上好幾個小時，感到很舒適。他們是否打算多點一些東西并不重要，僅僅是這一點可能性就能讓他們在道義上占著優(yōu)勢。

Customers who have paid up on the other hand, do not have moral justification. They could order more food, but diminishing marginal utility and inertia discourages that act. They get edgy. They feel guilty. They leave.

而另一方面，已經(jīng)付過錢的顧客就沒有這種道義上的優(yōu)勢了。他們可以再點些吃的，但邊際效用遞減率（注1）和惰性會讓他們打消這個念頭。他們變得緊張不安，感到內(nèi)疚，然后就離開了。

It all depends on the restaurant's business model. If it's a low-end restaurant, this tactic will serve it well. If it's a high end restaurant, paying $150 for that bottle of wine buys you a little more time.

是否讓顧客提前付賬完全取決于餐館的經(jīng)營模式。如果這是一家低檔餐廳，這么做就很好。如果是高檔餐廳，那么再點一瓶150美金（合約917元）的酒可以讓你多坐一會。

Additional notes:

附筆：

One recurring debate in the comments section below is why restaurants with upfront payment and free WiFi have seemingly low table turnover. Allow me to explain:

在下方的評論區(qū)中有一個反復(fù)爭論的問題，為什么那些要求提前買單但提供免費WiFi的餐廳看上去翻臺率很低？讓我來解釋一下：

To forestall future lawsuits let's invent a purely hypothetical and entirely fictional coffeehouse called Steerbuggs. Any resemblance to actual businesses is coincidental.

為了避免將來吃官司，讓我們虛構(gòu)一家完全不存在的咖啡廳，叫新巴克。如與任何實際商家有所雷同，純屬巧合。

Steerbuggs makes its money from takeaway. That's why their drinks come packaged ready to go. You pay upfront, and if you can't find a table you can just as easily take your drink elsewhere. As soon as the barista hands you your drink, as far as Steerbuggs is concerned, you've already been "turned over"; their goal of making a profit is done.

新巴克靠外賣賺錢。這就是為什么他們的飲品都是打包好的，隨時可以帶走。你付好了錢，就算找不到位子座，也可以很輕松地把飲料帶到別的地方去。對新巴克而言，一旦咖啡師把飲料遞給你，你就已經(jīng)被“翻臺”了；他們盈利的目的已經(jīng)達到了。

Think about it.

仔細想一想。

If you left then and there, Steerbuggs will be none the poorer. So why would Steerbuggs pay more rent for a bigger space when a much smaller one would do, and why would they encourage customers to linger with comfy sofas, free WiFi, and conveniently placed power outlets?

如果你立刻離開，新巴克也一點損失都沒有。既然一小塊店面就夠用了，那新巴克為什么還要花更多的錢去租一間大得多的店鋪，鼓勵顧客在舒適的沙發(fā)上逗留，享受免費的WiFi和方便的電源插座呢？

Herd behavior

從眾行為

The psychology

心理學(xué)原理

I call it the honeypot trap. The more activity you perceive a restaurant to have, the better you assume the product to be, regardless of its actual quality. So while the crowd of people you see at Steerbuggs may not have bought anything for the past couple of hours, their purpose is to draw even more people in just by virtue of being there.

我把這個叫做蜜罐陷阱。一家餐廳越熱鬧，你就會覺得他家的東西越好，不管實際質(zhì)量是否如此。所以，盡管你看到一群人在新巴克里逗留幾個小時，可能什么都沒買，但他們的作用就是坐在店里，以此吸引更多的人入店消費。

In other words, when you partake in Steerbugg's free WiFi, you're volunteering to act as bait.

換句話說，當你在Steerbugg享受免費WiFi時，你就主動扮演了“托”的角色。

Knowing this, on our restaurant's opening day, we hired a platoon of students to stand in line and fill up the seats. As the real customers queued up, we rotated our actors towards the back of the line.

知道了這一點，在我們餐館開張那天，我們雇了一批學(xué)生來排隊和占座。當真正的顧客來排隊之后，我們再讓這些演員輪流到隊尾排隊。

We were full from the very first day.

我們餐館從開業(yè)起就客滿了。

You might not know it, but every time you dine out you're engaged in psychological warfare.

你可能不知道這些，但是你每次出去吃飯都會陷入心理戰(zhàn)。

注1：

邊際效用遞減法則的原理：

在一定時間內(nèi)，其他條件不變下，當開始增加消費量時，邊際效用會增加，即總效用增加幅度大，但累積到相當消費量后，隨消費量增加而邊際效用會逐漸減少；若邊際效用仍為正，表示總效用持續(xù)增加，但增加幅度逐漸平緩；消費量累積到飽和，邊際效用遞減至0時，表示總效用不會再累積增加，此時總效用達到最大；若邊際效用減為負，表示總效用亦會逐漸減少。

一般而言，消費者偏好某物而未能獲得，或擁有數(shù)量不夠大時，增加消費量則其滿足感大增（邊際效用增加）；但擁有數(shù)量足夠時，再增加消費量則其滿足感增加幅度逐漸平緩（邊際效用遞減）；擁有數(shù)量太多時，再增加消費量則反而感覺厭惡（邊際效用減為負且繼續(xù)遞減，累積之總效用因此，亦減少）。在正常狀況下，消費者擁有足夠數(shù)量而邊際效用遞減后，會將有限資源配置轉(zhuǎn)移以滿足其他欲望，不至于消費同一商品過量到感覺厭惡。