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Setting Up Table Bookings

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Written by Dazza

What is table booking?

Table booking lets diners reserve a table at your restaurant directly from your storefront. You set your shifts, table layout, and policies, and customers can book online with optional deposits or a card hold to protect against no-shows.

Turning on bookings

  1. Go to Settings → Bookings in your dashboard.

  2. Toggle bookings on for your store.

  3. Enter your minimum and maximum party size, lead time, and confirmation behaviour.

Setting up shifts

Shifts define when bookings can be made. You might run a lunch shift, a dinner shift, or a weekend brunch.

  1. Open Bookings → Shifts.

  2. Click Add shift.

  3. Choose the days, start and end times, and the interval between booking slots (e.g. every 15 minutes).

  4. Set the maximum number of guests per slot to control how many bookings overlap.

Adding tables

  1. Open Bookings → Tables.

  2. Add each table with its name, capacity, section, and location.

  3. Use combinations to allow multiple tables to be joined for larger parties.

Drawing a floor plan

The floor plan editor lets you visually arrange your tables, sections, and other objects such as the bar or doorway. This is what your front-of-house staff sees when managing the night's service.

Deposits and no-shows

You can optionally collect a deposit per booking, or save the customer's card and only charge if they don't show up.

  • Deposit: Charges a flat fee at the time of booking.

  • Card hold: Authorises the card without charging — you can mark a no-show later to charge the agreed amount.

Waitlist

When a requested time is fully booked, customers can join the waitlist. If a spot opens, you can offer it and they have a short window to accept.

Customer messages

Confirmation, reminder, and no-show messages are sent automatically by SMS. You can edit the wording under Settings → Bookings → Messages.

Tips

  • Mark VIP guests with notes so any staff member sees them when the booking arrives.

  • Use lead time to stop last-minute bookings if your kitchen needs a buffer.

  • Assign server sections so each member of staff knows which tables they're responsible for during the shift.

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