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One In Five Guests Has A Request. Allergies Come First.
What guests type in the remarks field, counted, never read out.
HappyChef Datahub
The remarks field of a booking form is where guests tell the restaurant what matters to them. One online guest in five uses it, and the most common reason is an allergy or intolerance, ahead of a terrace request and a birthday. Fish and shellfish top the allergen list, vegetarian requests are more common than vegan ones, and some guests simply ask whether the dog can come. These eight insights count what guests ask for. The remarks themselves are never published.
The Insights In This Article
- 20% Of Online Guests Leave A Remark
- One Reservation In 25 Mentions An Allergy
- Allergies, The Terrace And Birthdays Lead The Remarks
- Fish And Shellfish Top The Allergen List With 6.7%
- Vegetarian Requests Outnumber Vegan Ones Three To One
- 8.3% Of Remarks Mention A Birthday
- The Terrace Is The Most Requested Seat, With 12.4%
- When Offered, 38% Of Guests Choose Their Menu When Booking
Insight 1 of 8
20% Of Online Guests Leave A Remark
20% of guests who book online type a remark: about one in 5. Placeholder answers such as a dash or "no" are not counted.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Typed a remark | 20.3% |
| No remark | 79.7% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 27,568
- Restaurants
- 40 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Share of online reservations where the guest typed a remark, ignoring placeholder answers such as a dash or "no". Each restaurant counts equally: its own figure is computed first and then averaged, so one busy restaurant cannot dominate. Restaurants with fewer than 30 reservations in the period are left out.
Insight 2 of 8
One Reservation In 25 Mentions An Allergy
4% of all online reservations mention an allergy or intolerance. Among reservations with a remark, it is 19%: the most common reason to write one.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Of all online reservations | 4% |
| Of reservations with a remark | 19.1% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 27,568
- Restaurants
- 40 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Share of all online reservations whose remark mentions an allergy or intolerance (keyword matching in Dutch, French and English), per restaurant, averaged.
Insight 3 of 8
Allergies, The Terrace And Birthdays Lead The Remarks
Of all remarks, 19% mention an allergy or intolerance, 12% ask about the terrace and 8% mention a birthday.
| Group | Share | Datapoints |
|---|---|---|
| Allergy or intolerance (any) | 19.1% | 1,245 |
| Terrace | 12.4% | 591 |
| Birthday | 8.3% | 543 |
| Shellfish or fish | 6.7% | 497 |
| Window or a specific table | 4.9% | 294 |
| Gluten | 4.3% | 264 |
| Vegetarian | 3.7% | 189 |
| Quiet table | 2.9% | 180 |
| Nuts or peanuts | 2.9% | 186 |
| Lactose or dairy | 2.8% | 186 |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 5,944
- Restaurants
- 39 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Keyword matching (Dutch, French and English) on the remarks guests typed when booking online; the share of remarks that mention each topic, per restaurant, averaged. Remarks themselves are never published.
Insight 4 of 8
Fish And Shellfish Top The Allergen List With 6.7%
Fish and shellfish come up in 6.7% of remarks, gluten in 4.3%, nuts in 2.9% and lactose or dairy in 2.8%.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Shellfish or fish | 6.7% |
| Gluten | 4.3% |
| Nuts or peanuts | 2.9% |
| Lactose or dairy | 2.8% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 5,944
- Restaurants
- 39 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Keyword matching (Dutch, French and English) on the remarks guests typed when booking online; the share of remarks that mention each topic, per restaurant, averaged. Remarks themselves are never published.
Insight 5 of 8
Vegetarian Requests Outnumber Vegan Ones Three To One
3.7% of remarks ask for a vegetarian option and 1.2% for a vegan one. Pregnancy, which changes what a guest may eat, comes up in 2.3%.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Vegetarian | 3.7% |
| Pregnancy | 2.3% |
| Vegan | 1.2% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 5,944
- Restaurants
- 39 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Keyword matching (Dutch, French and English) on the remarks guests typed when booking online; the share of remarks that mention each topic, per restaurant, averaged. Remarks themselves are never published.
Insight 6 of 8
8.3% Of Remarks Mention A Birthday
A birthday comes up in 8.3% of remarks, 8 times as often as a wedding or anniversary (1%).
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Birthday | 8.3% |
| Wedding or anniversary | 1% |
| Surprise | 0.4% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 5,944
- Restaurants
- 39 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Keyword matching (Dutch, French and English) on the remarks guests typed when booking online; the share of remarks that mention each topic, per restaurant, averaged. Remarks themselves are never published.
Insight 7 of 8
The Terrace Is The Most Requested Seat, With 12.4%
12.4% of remarks ask for the terrace and 4.9% for a window or a specific table. 2.9% want a quiet table, 2.7% mention a dog, 2.1% need a high chair and 1.2% mention a wheelchair or reduced mobility.
| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| Terrace | 12.4% |
| Window or a specific table | 4.9% |
| Quiet table | 2.9% |
| Dog | 2.7% |
| High chair or baby | 2.1% |
| Wheelchair or mobility | 1.2% |
| Arriving late or early | 1% |
- Period
- Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
- Datapoints
- 5,944
- Restaurants
- 39 Belgian restaurants
- Method
- Keyword matching (Dutch, French and English) on the remarks guests typed when booking online; the share of remarks that mention each topic, per restaurant, averaged. Remarks themselves are never published.
How We Built This Article
Period
Visits from 1 January to 30 September 2026
Datapoints
8 insights, each resting on at least 5,944 datapoints (the largest on 27,568), from 7–40 Belgian restaurants.
Method
Anonymous aggregates over Belgian HappyChef restaurants, each restaurant weighted equally, with every figure over at least five restaurants and 1,000 datapoints.
About This Data
This analysis is based on Belgian restaurants that use HappyChef: 7–40 restaurants, depending on the insight. Restaurants that joined during the period are normalised so the growing number of restaurants never inflates a trend, demo and test accounts are left out, and placeholder values (an empty field saved as zero) are ignored.
Every figure is an anonymous aggregate. Each one combines at least five restaurants and at least 1,000 datapoints, no restaurant is named or singled out, and no name, email address, phone number or remark of a guest is ever published.
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