Quora精选：为什么很多餐厅要先买单再就餐？

Answered by Ryan Chew

Ryan Chew的回复：

Shall I let you in on a secret?

我该告诉你一个秘密吗？

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

那些餐厅确实怕你，但不是因为表面上的这些原因。

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

我曾经开过一家餐馆，在我们这行有个术语。

Table Turnover

翻台率

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.

简单地说，餐馆把一张桌子打扫干净，招待顾客落座，就餐吃饭，收拾桌子，再迎来新顾客，如此重复的次数越多，餐厅挣的钱也就越多。

Think about it.

仔细想一想。

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.

你在店里吃饭时，付的不仅仅是饭钱，还租用了一小块地方。为了让收益最大化，伺候你吃好喝好后马上赶你出门更符合餐厅的利益。但是很显然，餐厅不能驱赶顾客，所以他们让顾客提前买单。

The Psychology

心理学原理

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

实际上，我们餐馆曾经试验过餐前买单和餐后买单两种付账方式。结果如何？餐前买单让翻台率提高了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.

二者的不同之处在于，就餐前未买单的顾客会理直气壮地占着他们的桌子。他们刷脸书（Facebook），聊上好几个小时，感到很舒适。他们是否打算多点一些东西并不重要，仅仅是这一点可能性就能让他们在道义上占着优势。

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，已经付过钱的顾客就没有这种道义上的优势了。他们可以再点些吃的，但边际效用递减率（注1）和惰性会让他们打消这个念头。他们变得紧张不安，感到内疚，然后就离开了。

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.

是否让顾客提前付账完全取决于餐馆的经营模式。如果这是一家低档餐厅，这么做就很好。如果是高档餐厅，那么再点一瓶150美金（合约917元）的酒可以让你多坐一会。

Additional notes:

附笔：

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:

在下方的评论区中有一个反复争论的问题，为什么那些要求提前买单但提供免费WiFi的餐厅看上去翻台率很低？让我来解释一下：

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

为了避免将来吃官司，让我们虚构一家完全不存在的咖啡厅，叫新巴克。如与任何实际商家有所雷同，纯属巧合。

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.

新巴克靠外卖赚钱。这就是为什么他们的饮品都是打包好的，随时可以带走。你付好了钱，就算找不到位子座，也可以很轻松地把饮料带到别的地方去。对新巴克而言，一旦咖啡师把饮料递给你，你就已经被“翻台”了；他们盈利的目的已经达到了。

Think about it.

仔细想一想。

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?

如果你立刻离开，新巴克也一点损失都没有。既然一小块店面就够用了，那新巴克为什么还要花更多的钱去租一间大得多的店铺，鼓励顾客在舒适的沙发上逗留，享受免费的WiFi和方便的电源插座呢？

Herd behavior

从众行为

The psychology

心理学原理

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.

我把这个叫做蜜罐陷阱。一家餐厅越热闹，你就会觉得他家的东西越好，不管实际质量是否如此。所以，尽管你看到一群人在新巴克里逗留几个小时，可能什么都没买，但他们的作用就是坐在店里，以此吸引更多的人入店消费。

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

换句话说，当你在Steerbugg享受免费WiFi时，你就主动扮演了“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.

知道了这一点，在我们餐馆开张那天，我们雇了一批学生来排队和占座。当真正的顾客来排队之后，我们再让这些演员轮流到队尾排队。

We were full from the very first day.

我们餐馆从开业起就客满了。

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

你可能不知道这些，但是你每次出去吃饭都会陷入心理战。

注1：

边际效用递减法则的原理：

在一定时间内，其他条件不变下，当开始增加消费量时，边际效用会增加，即总效用增加幅度大，但累积到相当消费量后，随消费量增加而边际效用会逐渐减少；若边际效用仍为正，表示总效用持续增加，但增加幅度逐渐平缓；消费量累积到饱和，边际效用递减至0时，表示总效用不会再累积增加，此时总效用达到最大；若边际效用减为负，表示总效用亦会逐渐减少。

一般而言，消费者偏好某物而未能获得，或拥有数量不够大时，增加消费量则其满足感大增（边际效用增加）；但拥有數量足够时，再增加消费量则其满足感增加幅度逐渐平缓（边际效用递减）；拥有数量太多时，再增加消费量则反而感觉厌恶（边际效用减为负且继续递减，累积之总效用因此，亦减少）。在正常状况下，消费者拥有足够數量而边际效用递减后，会将有限资源配置转移以满足其他欲望，不至于消费同一商品过量到感觉厌恶。