Torrisi Boys to Take From the No-Show and Give to the Poor

Major Food Group has just initiated a rather unique policy with regards to late cancellations and no-shows at Carbone, Dirty French, ZZ's Clam Bar, and Santina. All those restaurants still charge a fee, currently $50 per head (except at Santina where it is $30) for cancellations made after 12:00 p.m. on the day of the reservation. But now, instead of going into the Torrisi boys pockets, 100 percent of the money from these fees will be donated to The Robin Hood Foundation, an organization that aims to fight poverty in NYC in a variety of ways. It uses the money it raises to build soup kitchens, homeless shelters, schools, and establish job-training programs.

Major Food Group's Jeff Zalaznick tells Eater that he and partners Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone chose the foundation specifically because "just like our company they are very much about New York City." Zalaznick wouldn't say how many cancellations they experience in an average month but he did note that the new policy turns a "negative into a positive."

Now, on the one hand, this is a great idea, and should make everyone feel a little better about cancelling their dinner reservations (for that matter, does this mean we'll see an increase in cancellations across the Torrisi empire?). On the other hand, does that mean Major Food never really needed the money from those cancellation fees? It will be interesting to see if anyone else decides to follow suit.