If you're sitting there playing card games (especially if you're young and cash-strapped), you're gonna hog a table for a while and order the bare minimum. All the while there might be people lining up to come in, or even worse people deciding against coming in cuz it's full.
This is more of a problem in high traffic areas ofc, but like on the weekend _lots of places_ are high-traffic.
Ultimately the deeper problem is that places like cafes and restaurants are mostly "give us money so we can pay the building's rent". The margins are super thin from the get-go, and rent is so high that places really really really need to cycle through people during peak hours.
High rent means smaller restaurants, means that (say) 4 tables locked in for a long period is a much bigger deal, and the variability is a much higher problem.
Of course if you go to a place that's very empty from the get go and is pretty big, people don't really care. Just that there aren't that many places like that in major traffic centers.
This is more of a problem in high traffic areas ofc, but like on the weekend _lots of places_ are high-traffic.
Ultimately the deeper problem is that places like cafes and restaurants are mostly "give us money so we can pay the building's rent". The margins are super thin from the get-go, and rent is so high that places really really really need to cycle through people during peak hours.
High rent means smaller restaurants, means that (say) 4 tables locked in for a long period is a much bigger deal, and the variability is a much higher problem.
Of course if you go to a place that's very empty from the get go and is pretty big, people don't really care. Just that there aren't that many places like that in major traffic centers.