I received a response from Ko's partner Andrew Salmon about my recent post regarding my friend being charged $300 for a reservation she had to cancel last minute due to food poisoning.

Drew informed me that they had decided not to charge Kathy the $300 cancellation fee (even though she got an email telling her that she would be). I was very happy to hear this. I was also pleased that he took the time to explain the restaurant's rational for their cancellation policy. I have printed part of his response below and invite you to Share Your Two Cents in the comments section. Personally, I do think that $300 is punitive. In this case, I am glad that he took into consideration Kathy's dire circumstances and decided not to charge her.

"We are very clear about our policy. Before one makes a reservation we spell it out. We don't even allow you to complete a reservation without agreeing to the policy not once, but twice. Then, after you have made the reservation we send you an email which again contains the policy. We tried to make it as simple as possible. It reads, "if you cancel this reservation less than 24 hours in advance of your seating time or do not attend this reservation you will be charged $150.00 per person." One may cancel at any time prior to the 24 hour period without penalty.

We do not have a waiting list or take walk-ins. You may think that's dumb but believe me, we have tried a variety of different policies and procedures for filling last minute cancels or no-shows. Our existing policy is the best policy for our restaurant and our guests.

Lastly, we created this restaurant so we could make great food, not make huge profits. Without going into too much detail, at this 12 seat restaurant, every seat counts. Our operational costs and cost of goods do not vary from night to night. We pay the same rent, order the same amount of product, and have the same payroll regardless of how many people come in to eat. This fee is not punitive. We need to make a certain amount of money to keep the restaurant financially viable and the amount of this fee is directly related to that number."

Andrea Strong