Restaurant booking rules that protect your kitchen
You decide how your restaurant or cafe takes bookings: slot length, cutoffs, party sizes, kitchen caps and pacing. Every online booking follows these rules.
What you can do
Set slot length and spacing
Choose how long a booking lasts and how often slots start.
Stop last-minute bookings
Set a minimum notice in hours, so guests cannot book online at the last minute.
Last booking before closing
Choose how many minutes before closing the last booking slot appears.
Choose how far ahead guests can book
Set how many days ahead guests can book online.
Cap online party size
Set the largest party that can book online, and show your own message to bigger groups, such as "Call us for groups of 7 or more".
Limit bookings per guest
Set how many bookings one email address can make each day.
Kitchen cap and pacing
Cap how many guests are seated at once, and limit how many guests arrive in each 15-minute window, so the kitchen is not hit all at once.
Trading hours with split shifts
Add more than one opening period per day, such as lunch and dinner.
Holidays and special hours
Close for a day, open different hours, or block a slot or a table.
Questions
Can I stop big groups booking online?
Yes. Set the largest party size for online bookings. Bigger groups contact you directly.
Can I open different hours on public holidays?
Yes. Add special hours or close for the day with an override.
What does pacing do?
Pacing limits how many guests can arrive in each 15-minute window, so arrivals are spread out. Staff can override it when they add a booking. The kitchen cap limits how many guests are seated at once.