When a Missed Dinner Becomes a Costly Habit: Korea’s Crackdown on No-Shows (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The ceiling for no-show penalties at reservation-based fine dining restaurants will be raised to 40 percent of the preordered menu, the antitrust regulator said Thursday.
From now on, advance reservation-based upscale restaurants, such as omakase establishments, will be allowed to charge a no-show fee of up to 40 percent of the price of menu items for which consumers made reservations, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
Previously, such restaurants could only impose a maximum 10 percent cancellation fee for no-shows.
A restaurant in Seoul is empty in this July 24, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap)
For general walk-in restaurants, the penalty may be set at up to 20 percent of the total amount charged.
The FTC said it revised the penalty guidelines considering that cost ratios in the food service industry are typically around 30 percent.
The watchdog also revised up the penalty guidelines for the wedding industry, allowing wedding venue operators to charge up to a 70 percent penalty of the total cost for cancellations on the day of the event, 50 percent for those made one to nine days prior and 40 percent for those made 10 to 29 days before the wedding.
On the other hand, when the venue operators cancel reservations, they must reimburse 70 percent of the total cost to users if the cancellation occurs 29 days or less prior to the wedding, and 35 percent before that.
(Yonhap)
