HappyChef, the Belgian reservation system founder Thibault Van de Sompele built in Essen, examined 46,441 reservations at 44 restaurants with a visit date between 1 January and 30 September 2026. For each restaurant it counted how many reservations carry a valid email address and a valid phone number, then gave every restaurant equal weight. On average 76% of reservations carry an email address and 81% a phone number.
The Channel Decides What You Know About A Guest
The gap comes down entirely to who enters the reservation. The online form asks for an email address, so every guest who books themselves leaves one behind. When a member of staff takes the booking on the phone or at the bar, in practice often only a name and a number get written down: just 18% of those reservations end up with an email address. Those guests receive no confirmation by email and no request for a review.
| How the reservation came in | With an email address |
|---|---|
| Online, by the guest | 100% |
| Entered by the restaurant | 18% |
| All reservations together | 76% |
A Guest List That Belongs To The Restaurant
For restaurant owners who rent a smaller reservation system by the month today, that guest list is often the most valuable thing they have built up over the years. With HappyChef a restaurant buys the system once and the list stays with the restaurant. Switching does not mean starting over: HappyChef moves the existing data across within a few days, and the switch can fall on the day the current contract ends.
- Guest profiles. Visit history, preferences and personal notes for every guest, visible to the whole team.
- Allergies in advance. A warning on every reservation from a guest with an allergy or dietary need.
- Recognise regulars. Mark your best guests as VIP so the floor recognises them on arrival.
What a guest profile holds is on the Guest Profiles page. The figures on contact details, returning guests and languages, with the full method, are in the HappyChef Datahub.
Easy to implement. Easy to use. Happy to have this linked to our website. Received positive feedback from our customers.
At Horeca Expo In Ghent
From 15 to 18 November 2026 HappyChef is at Horeca Expo in Flanders Expo, Ghent, on stand 4029. There the team shows what a guest profile looks like after the switch, with the visits and notes a restaurant already had.
