Glossary

Buyout (private dining)

What is a restaurant buyout?

A buyout is booking the entire restaurant (or a defined private room) for one party: a company dinner, a wedding party, a film crew. The restaurant closes to the public and charges either a room fee plus menu, or a minimum spend that guarantees the night's revenue. Buyouts are contracts more than reservations: deposit (often substantial and partly non-refundable), set menu, headcount deadline, start and end times, and service charge all agreed in writing. They are lucrative because revenue is guaranteed, and risky because a cancelled buyout is a fully dark room, which is why deposits and cancellation terms are firmest here of anywhere in the book.