Restaurants are learning to live with shorter booking windows as diners wait longer before committing to a night out.
Owners say the habit has made demand harder to forecast, particularly in city centres where office attendance and weather can change the mood of a week.
Some groups are responding with tighter menus and more flexible staffing. Others are using loyalty offers to move demand into quieter evenings without cutting headline prices.
The trend has also made walk-ins more valuable, with front-of-house teams treating empty early tables as a chance to create regular customers rather than a sign of weak demand.