QUIET PAGERS HAIL WAITING DINERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 3, 1992                   TAG: 9202030002
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
QUIET PAGERS HAIL WAITING DINERS
The candlelight is low, the wine delicate, the coq au vin sublime, and then, in the still of muffled voices and tinkling crystal, comes the screeching roar: "MACGREGOR, PARTY OF FOUR!"
A number of Washington area restaurants are leading the nation in attempts to discourage loud public address system announcements to hungry diners by giving pagers to waiting customers, encouraging them to shop or roam the neighborhood until their tables are ready.
Bill French, area supervisor for the Copeland's chain of New Orleans-style restaurants, said that since his popular suburban Alexandria spot leased beepers eight weeks ago, he's cleared unsightly crowds around the hostess stand and has fewer famished individuals asking if their names have been called.
"It gives our guests a better environment," said French, who has diners surrender driver's licenses or credit cards until their names are up.
"It's tacky to make a classy restaurant sound like a bus station," said Bill Nischan, owner of Bethesda, Md.-based Reach Paging System Inc., who dreamed up the scheme and leases 350 pagers to Copeland's and seven restaurants in the Clyde's chain, including the Old Ebbitt Grill in downtown Washington.
The pagers largely have ended another restaurateur's nightmare, French said: people who put their names on a list and ditch out, causing the maitre d' to overestimate waiting times to others. Getting people to give up their credit cards, Nischan said, means "you've gotten them to commit to eating at your restaurant. It's a done deal."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB