Today's bookings, before the doors open

What does this tour show?

It shows the front of house in a sample restaurant getting ready for a Saturday. Amira looks after the floor at The Olive Table. At half ten the doors are still shut, the kitchen is prepping, and she wants to know three things: who is coming, which tables are held for them, and who has not yet confirmed.

The tour stays on the Bookings screen. It starts with the day as a whole, then looks at the bookings waiting for a yes, then the guests coming in by arrival time, and ends with a phone booking taken in the New booking drawer while she is on the call.

Why sort bookings by what they need?

A plain list by time tells you when people arrive. It does not tell you what you still have to do. On a busy day the job that slips is the one in the middle: the booking that was made but never confirmed, the table that was promised but never held. Sorting by what each booking needs puts those jobs at the top, where they cannot be missed.

Step by step

1. Open Bookings. At 10:30 Amira opens Bookings from the restaurant dashboard. The page title shows Today, Saturday. Along the top, small counts read 2 to confirm, 4 confirmed and 0 seated now, with a New booking button beside them.

2. Read the day as a whole. The main panel is headed Today's guests and says six bookings are still open. Nobody is at a table yet, which is right: the doors open at noon. The panel is split into three groups, each labelled with what it needs.

3. Start with Waiting to confirm. The first group is "Waiting to confirm · Confirm them so the table is held". Byrne, three guests at 20:30, booked by phone. Okafor, two guests at 20:00. Both have no table yet and a Confirm booking button.

4. Confirm once the guest says yes. Amira texts both parties. When Byrne replies, she taps Confirm booking. The booking moves down to Coming in and the table is held. Okafor has not answered, so that one stays where it is, in plain view, until he does.

5. Read Coming in by arrival time. The second group is "Coming in · Confirmed, by arrival time". The Patels, six guests at 13:00 on Table 5, with a note that it is a birthday. Lewis, eight at 13:30 on Table 10. Morgan, two at 18:30 on Table 3. Ahmed, four at 19:00 on Table 9, with a note about one nut allergy.

6. Pass the notes to the kitchen. The birthday and the nut allergy are on the rows, not on a sticky note by the phone. Amira tells the kitchen about the allergy before prep finishes, and asks for a candle for Table 5.

7. Seat guests when they walk in. When the Patels arrive at one, Seat guests on their row is a single tap. The booking moves to the third group, At a table. Later, when they leave, Mark finished clears it so the table count stays true.

8. Take a phone booking in the drawer. At 10:42 the phone rings. Amira opens New booking. The drawer says it holds a time for a guest, to be confirmed once they say yes. Under Who is coming she types Harris and a phone number. Under When: today, 19:30, four guests.

9. Add the request and save. Under Notes and requests she writes "A high chair, please". The hint under the field suggests the sort of thing that belongs there: special requests, allergies, a high chair. Save booking, and Harris joins Waiting to confirm.

What each group means and what to do with it

Tips for front of house

• Confirm the evening bookings in the morning. A message at half ten gives guests time to cancel politely, and gives you time to fill the table.
• Write every allergy into the booking note, word for word. "One nut allergy" on the row travels with the booking; a verbal message does not.
• Hold large tables early. The Lewis party of eight on Table 10 at 13:30 decides how you seat everyone between one and two.
• Mark tables finished as soon as guests leave. It keeps the seated count honest and stops a cleared table looking occupied.
• Keep the phone booking short: name, number, time, guests, one line of notes. Anything else can be asked when you confirm.

Common mistakes

Treating a new booking as held. A booking that is still under Waiting to confirm does not hold the table. If you promise it and never confirm, you may seat a walk-in there and find the guest at the door.

Notes kept off the system. A birthday written on a pad by the till is lost when the shift changes. Put it in the booking, where whoever is on the door at one o'clock will see it.

Never marking tables finished. If finished tables stay under At a table, the seated count climbs all evening and nobody trusts it.

Taking a phone booking from memory. Writing it in after the call means a wrong time or a missing high chair. The drawer is fast enough to fill while the guest is still on the line.

What should you do next?

Check the kitchen is ready for the bookings you just confirmed. The kitchen stock tour for the same restaurant shows the head chef's morning check at nine, which is a good habit to pair with a booking review at half ten.

For the wider running of the floor and kitchen, read the guide on how to run a restaurant. If large parties are pushing your food costs up, the food cost percentage guide shows how to check each dish still makes money.

How EasyTaskr helps

Bookings groups the day into waiting to confirm, coming in and at a table, with Confirm booking, Seat guests and Mark finished on each row. New bookings carry the guest, the time, the party size and any notes, and table numbers match the Tables screen used by the rest of the restaurant.