Eats
‘You tw**s’: celebrity chef Simon Wood calls out no-show guests at Manchester restaurant
He had some choice language for the mystery guests that never arrived.
Danny Jones -
30th September 2024 
Local celebrity Simon Wood has called out a recent group of no-show customers that failed to turn up to his city-centre restaurant this past weekend.
The 48-year-old behind the self-titled WOOD Manchester didn’t hold back when criticising the no-show guests who had reserved the chef’s table on Saturday night, one of the most exclusive and expensive experiences for any restaurant.
Wood won MasterChef back in 2015 and remains one of the best chefs in the city but with everyone in the hospitality industry still being hit hard by the cost of living and crisis, rising business rates and energy bills, any bookings are important – let alone a chef’s table.
Addressing the absentee diners’ decision to not only skip out on the table but make no effort to let him and his team know they wouldn’t be making the meal online, he signed off by simply saying: “What a way to support a small business. Much appreciated, you tw**ts.
An Actual image of my Chefs table at 8pm last night
— Simon Wood (@SimonJWoodUK) September 29, 2024
I’d like to say a huge thanks to the Table of 5 that no showed, not even a phone call or a courtesy so I could try and resell the table
What a way support a small business
Much appreciated
You T#%t$ pic.twitter.com/ze72jftQQi
As you can see, the chef-owner felt rightly aggrieved by the no-show, not only offering sarcastic gratitude but proceeding to use some choice language to describe the behaviour.
He doubled down in a later post by insisting, “It is not the restaurant’s responsibility to have a policy or contingency in place to accommodate every eventuality where a patron or prospective patron may or may not be an absolute sh**house…. I think that covers all replies to the below thread.”
Wood had no intention of hiding his frustration, also choosing to reshare an old post about the “entitlement” within the culinary scene and service sector as a whole.
He even uploaded a clearly loaded image of his ‘song of the day’: ‘People = Sh**’ by Slipknot
— Simon Wood (@SimonJWoodUK) September 29, 2024
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Social media was awash with plenty of support from fellow Mancs and diners from all over, at least, with one person writing: “To keep good restaurants in business, we have to change the norm to deposits / buying tickets for seats.
“If it’s accepted in a cinema or at a concert, why not a restaurant where the spoilage of a no-show is the same or likely, worse?” Another went on to add, “I have been twice – lunch and dinner – high quality and impeccably looked after by the staff.”
It goes without saying that if you can’t make a booking, what level of restaurant or food spot you might be heading to, then it’s not just common courtesy to let the business know as soon as you can, it can be the difference between them being able to flip the table and whether or not they struggle that month.
Back in February, pan-Asian restaurant Suki Suki over on Deansgate similarly called out a total of 30 customers for failing to turn up to their Valentine’s Day bookings.
As if it needed reiterating at all, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Simon Wood and his fine-dining restaurant or your local pub serving up good honest grub other, just letting them know if you’re going to be a no-show takes very little effort at all…
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Featured Images — The Manc Group
