If I were choosing between First Table and EatClub, I would be tougher on EatClub. Its published UK merchant terms create more questions about fee exposure and settlement. First Table has a simpler proposition, but giving away half your food revenue still needs a serious commercial justification.

A busy dining room can feel like progress. The useful question is how much additional money you keep.

First Table makes the discount your problem

First Table advertises no restaurant commission, sign-up fee or minimum period. Restaurants choose the days and times they offer. [1] Diners get 50% off food, while drinks remain full price. [2]

That is straightforward, but the discount is a real cost. On £80 of food and £40 of drinks, the restaurant gives up £40 of menu-price revenue. Ingredients, preparation and service still have to be paid for. Full-price drinks help only if guests actually order them.

I would use that offer cautiously, on capacity genuinely unlikely to sell. If a customer who would have paid full price takes the discounted table, the promotion has reduced revenue from that visit. No commission does not rescue that calculation.

The language of free marketing deserves scrutiny. Your promotional budget is still being spent when you cut the price of the meal. Put that revenue sacrifice beside every other acquisition cost you are considering.

EatClub adds more to check

EatClub says restaurants can choose offers and customer numbers, then pause or remove deals. It also provides dashboards and weekly reporting. [3] Those are useful controls.

Its published UK merchant terms nevertheless require offerless transactions to remain available throughout trading hours, with a service fee payable even without a restaurant-funded discount. Dine-in offers include full-priced drinks, subject to the stated exclusions. The venue receives the undiscounted bill through the EatClub Card, then owes the discount float and service fee through weekly settlement. [4]

The service-fee rate depends on the Contract Details; this public document does not establish one universal merchant tariff. It also provides for membership fees on specified plans. EatClub funds Dining Credits itself, so blaming restaurants for funding those credits would be wrong. [4]

My objection is the extra exposure and checking required. Turning off discounted offers does not necessarily turn off fee-bearing business. I would want a worked settlement example and every applicable charge in writing before joining.

The arithmetic can favour either platform

Take that same £120 bill. First Table's food discount costs £40. A hypothetical EatClub offer of 20% across the bill costs £24 before merchant charges. If all attributable charges total less than £16, EatClub costs less in this example.

These are illustrative figures, not an EatClub quote. The comparison depends on the offer, food-and-drink mix and actual agreement. Anyone declaring EatClub more expensive on every table has skipped the maths. This compares headline revenue reductions and platform charges, before VAT treatment and ordinary payment-processing costs.

Make both prove they bring additional business

For either platform, a booking or transaction count is insufficient. Ask how many diners were genuinely additional, how many would have booked directly, and whether discounted guests displaced full-price trade.

Run a tightly limited four-week test. Record sales after discounts, all platform and payment charges, ingredients and any extra staffing. Compare similar services, allowing for holidays, events and changes in demand. Include your time spent managing offers and reconciling payments.

Set a minimum acceptable contribution before starting. Keep testing only if the additional contribution justifies the work and uncertainty. A report showing more covers cannot answer that on its own.

Build a reason to return without the deal

First Table says diners can opt in to restaurant communications, helping build a remarketing database. [1] Use that opportunity properly: measure direct repeat visits and what those visits contribute.

Give repeat visits time to emerge after the initial trial. A customer returning only when another discount appears is a different commercial result from someone choosing you again at your normal prices.

Try improving direct bookings and sending relevant messages to consenting guests alongside any platform trial. These channels also cost time and money. Paid consultancy does too; our work should face the same test of measurable value.

My verdict: First Table is the simpler experiment. EatClub comes off worse on the fee exposure and settlement burden I have described. Neither deserves your margin without evidence that your restaurant is better off.

Book a consultation to review your restaurant's marketing costs and what you actually keep from each channel.

https://calendar.app.google/Qcj9JQMxTnGA9vYR6

Sources checked 10 October 2026

[1] First Table restaurant proposition: https://www.firsttable.co.uk/restaurants — Fees, offer scheduling and opt-in diner communications.

[2] First Table frequently asked questions: https://www.firsttable.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions — Food discount and full-price drinks.

[3] EatClub dine-in partner page: https://eatclub.co.uk/partners/dine-in — Offer controls, dashboards and reporting.

[4] EatClub published UK restaurant terms: https://eccdn.com.au/terms/tc-uk-v1.pdf — Clauses 2(a)(iv), 2(a)(viii–ix), 3(d–h); Service Fee glossary definition.