“It will be at the counter”: at the restaurant, the ritual of the bill has changed

“To pay?” It will be at the counter. » Today, the phrase is commonly heard in restaurants, with more and more of them favoring this system for economic reasons. Going to the central cash register allows you to free up a table more quickly, to let the waiter move on to a new customer and, ultimately, to have more profitable days. “People wait to be seated at the table and if the waiter cannot accommodate them because he is busy with other customers, they go elsewhere,” explains a Parisian restaurateur.