There’s no doubt that more and more people expect to be able to book tables online at their local restaurants – and the easier it is to do, the better. If your restaurant offers table dining, no matter how few tables you have, this service is a great way to save time on the phone and keep your customers happy.
So here at FOODit we’ve been hard at work adding table bookings to our restaurant websites, and can now proudly announce that this new feature is ready to go!
The benefits of online table bookings:
- customers can submit their booking request any time that suits them
- customers won't have to get through to you on the phone
- you and your staff will spend less time having to take calls
- prevents mistakes with taking name and contact details over the phone
- increases traffic to your website as people search for places to book online
- manage your bookings and online orders together on the FOODit app
Here's how it works
Any FOODit restaurant can now ask to have table bookings enabled on their website. Simply call our friendly support team on 08433 202 505.
Once enabled, a new menu link titled ‘Book a table’ will appear at the top of each page on your site. On your App or when you login to the Restaurant Management System on a computer you will also see a new tab for Reservations.
When your customers click on the new Book a table menu they will be presented with a very simple form asking their name, contact details and the date and time they would prefer.
When a form is completed
After completing the form, customers will be emailed to tell them that their request has been sent. At the same time on the FOODit App you will see each booking request appear when you click on the Reservations tab. You will also be sent an email to alert you to the new booking. You then have two options for how you process the request – Approve or Reject.
Approving requests
Approving a booking will send another email to the customer telling them their booking is all set up. The App will continue to list the booking and you will be able to enter a total beside it after they have dined, then click Completed to record this in the system. This information could be useful for you to keep track of the value of the bookings that are coming in from your website.
Approved bookings can be copied to your overall restaurant bookings system as they come in, to join those made over the phone. The name and contact details of each booking will be retained in the FOODit system in case you need to check it later on.
Rejecting requests
If you click on the reject button beside a booking a message appears asking you to contact the customer to let them know. It is essential that you quickly let customers know when you reject their request otherwise they may turn up expecting a table.
We also strongly recommend that you call the rejected customer rather than emailing them. This gives you the chance to explain and discuss other times that may be available. Even if you cannot fit them in on the day they want, an apology will go a long way to keeping the customer happy. Maybe they would consider ordering for takeaway instead?
Once you have contacted the customer you can click the Contacted button to store the rejected booking in the system for your records.
How much will it cost?
It is free to add the table booking feature to your FOODit site for up to 99 table booking requests per month (4 weeks). After you exceed that number of booking requests in a four week period we will charge you £9.99 for between 100-300, or £29.99 for unlimited requests over 300. Charges will be added to your invoice and deducted from any online orders you have received.
Contact us today to add table bookings to your site
We're sure this new feature will be a great addition for those of our restaurants that offer sit-down dining. It will certainly help to increase the traffic to each website, because customers who are searching for a restaurant to book online will now have more chance of finding your website in their search results.
Just give our support team a call on 08433 202 505 or email us at help@foodit.com and we can get this feature added to your site today. Your FOODit app will be updated automatically to accept the new booking requests.