How to add and manage tables and areas

Table management must be switched on before you can add tables and areas. It’s a free feature included with every plan, not a paid add-on. If you have not activated it yet, go to Menu → Settings & add-ons → General → Tables, open More in the introduction at the top of that page, and click Activate.

Once table management is on, the same Tables page is where you add areas and tables, and define how they can be booked, in which order (priority) they should be booked, for how many people, and if the tables can be combined. Let’s give it a try!

Choose your table assignment strategy

Before configuring your tables and areas, choose your preferred table assignment strategy by going to Menu → Settings & add-ons → Bookings.

You can choose between Optimized fit (default), which selects the best-fitting table for the party size, and Priority-first (legacy), which prioritizes the highest-priority area and table.

Once you’ve selected your preferred strategy, you can configure your table and area priorities as described below.

Add and edit the restaurant areas

In the section “Areas and Tables”, you can add the restaurant areas and tables to the system. Different areas can e.g. be the main restaurant room, the 2nd floor and an outdoor area. Start by clicking on the “Add area” button. This will then open the area form:

The area form contains:

• Area name: the name of the area.
• Booking priority: defines in which order tables in this area are booked compared to the other areas of your restaurant. Tables in a high priority area will be booked before tables in a lower-priority area.
• Note to guests: an optional note regarding the area, shown to the guests when making a booking, if they are allowed to choose between areas and this area is “available online”.
• Internal note: an optional internal note shown to staff when choosing a table in this area in the booking form.
• Bookable: if enabled, restaurant staff can book tables in this area. This setting overrules the bookable settings on tables is this area.
• Available online: if enabled, guests can book tables in this area online. Only possible if “Bookable” is also enabled. This setting overrules the available online settings on tables is this area.

Multiple areas can be added in the same way. After adding an area, it will be visible in the “Tables” section and you can easily edit it by clicking on the pen icon.

Read more about the table management feature and how to keep track of tables and available tables

Add and edit the tables

Tables are added to an area by clicking the “Add table” button in an area. Once clicked, the table form will open:

The table form contains:

• Table name: the name of the table, typically e.g. “Table 1” or “Table 21”.
• Minimum seats: the minimum number of people that can be seated at this table. The table will not be available for booking with fewer people than this number.
• Maximum seats: the maximum number of people that can be seated at this table. The table will only be available for bookings with more people than the maximum number if it is combinable with other tables - see how to set up table combinations.
• Booking priority: defines in which order this table is booked compared to the other tables in this area. Tables with a high priority will be booked before tables with a lower priority.
• Internal note: an optional internal note shown to staff when choosing this table in the booking form.
• Bookable: if enabled, restaurant staff can book this table.
• Available online: if enabled, guests can book this table online. Only possible if “Bookable” is also enabled.

A table can be edited by clicking on the pen icon on the right side of the screen.

Table combinations

Joining two or more tables into one bookable unit for larger parties is its own topic - see how to set up table combinations.

Duplicate tables to set up faster

As we know that a lot of restaurants have many tables in the same size, we have made it easy to duplicate a table. Simply click the duplicate icon next to the table you want to duplicate.

If you have e.g. 5 tables that can have 1-2 guests, named “Table 10” to “Table 15”, simply create “Table 10” and click the duplicate icon and “Table 11” will automatically be added with the same settings as “Table 10”. Then click “Table 11” to make “Table 12”, etc.

Reorder tables

A table can be moved up or down in the list by holding and dragging the sort icon (6 grey dots) to the right of the screen.

Deleting areas and tables

Areas and tables can be deleted by clicking the trash icon to the right of the area or table. If an area is deleted, all tables in the area are also deleted.

Please be aware that any future bookings for a table that is deleted have to be moved manually to another table.

We hope that this guide about table management for your restaurant has been useful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contacting us on hi@resos.com. See also the guide for how to select tables on a booking.