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To seat guests at a dining table, you simply press the dining table button and select the Seat Guests option from the pop-up menu that appears, if available, or select the Open POS option, if available.
To seat guests that have a dining table reserved, you simply press the dining table's button (the dining table must be free or to be cleaned) and select the Seat Guests Guest ID option from the pop-up window that appears if the time is close enough to the reservation (see dining area settings).
When these actions are available depends on the state of the dining table and how the seating process is set up. The information needed when seating also depends on setup.
The following is an overview of how to set up the seating process in your restaurants. This involves the setup of the hospitality type, dining area, and service flow.
Tip: Use the Check for Correct Setup (Flow and Layout View) action on the Hospitality Type Card to make sure the service flow, dining area and hospitality type settings match.
Service Flow Settings
The Hospitality Service Flow controls when a dining table is open for seating. The following table shows which seating process options are possible and how to set them up for your dining areas.
| Seating Process | Setup |
|---|---|
| Guests need to be seated at a dining table before it is possible to take an order. | Table Becomes Occupied: When Guests are Seated Dining Tbl. Status Free: Open for Seating *Dining Tbl. Status To Be Cleaned: Open for Seating |
| Guests can be seated at a dining table first, but it is also possible to open the POS and take the order without seating the dining table first. | Table Becomes Occupied: On ordering or Seating Dining Tbl. Status Free: Open for Seating, Open for New Transaction *Dining Tbl. Status To Be Cleaned: Open for Seating, Open for New Transaction |
| Guests are not seated first. The table becomes occupied when an order is created for the dining table. Not recommended if tables are reserved and allocated. |
Table Becomes Occupied: On ordering Dining Tbl. Status Free: Open for New Transaction *Dining Tbl. Status To Be Cleaned: Open for New Transaction |
| A dining table is available for new seating or order when the current guests have paid for their order and their order has been served. | Table is Cleared: On Payment if KOTs Served |
| A dining table is available for new seating or order when the current guests have paid for their order regardless of whether their order has been served. | Table is Cleared: On Payment Regardless of KOTs |
| A dining table is available for new seating or order when the current guests have received their bill and their order has been served. | Table is Cleared: After BIll Is Printed if KOTs Served |
| When the dining table becomes available, it is shown as free | Table Status after Clearing: Free * Dining Tbl. Status To Be Cleaned is not open for seating nor new transaction |
| When the dining table becomes available, it is shown as to be cleaned | Table Status after Clearing: To Be Cleaned |
Hospitality Type settings
The Hospitality Type controls what information needs to be entered or is optional when you seat guests.
Note: In both cases, the relevant input panel appears on seating or opening the POS on a free table.
| Seating Process | Setup |
|---|---|
| Entering number of guests is mandatory. | Guest Handling: Request No. of Guests (No. Mandatory) |
| Entering number of guests is optional. | Guest Handling: Request No. of Guests (No. Optional) |
| Entering an ID or name for the guests is required. | Guest Registration: Mandatory Guest ID Requested at Seating |
| Entering an ID or name for the guests is optional. | Guest Registration: Optional Guest ID Requested at Seating |
If no information is needed, Guest Handling and Guest Registration is None.
Dining Area settings
Certain dining area settings are relevant to the seating process. These settings are available on the Dining Area Card.
The information on the dining table buttons takes into consideration whether number of guests is requested (or optional). Therefore, the Request No. of Guests check box on the General FastTab must be selected if that is the case.
For allocation and reservation
If a dining table is reserved and the time of the reservation is getting close, it is only possible to seat the guests with the reservation. If you don't specify how many minutes in advance of the reservation this happens, this will happen 1 minute before the reservation time.
For each dining area you can specify how many minutes in advance of a reservation on a dining table you start seating the reserved guests. This time limit is set in the Advance Seating of Reserved Guests (Min.) field on the Allocation and Reservation FastTab. If this time limit has been reached but you want to seat other guests at the table, you need to cancel the dining table allocation.
Note: The Advance Seating of Reserved Guests (Min.) field is an important tool to let the dining area be open for seating just before the restaurant opens or after a closed gap between open periods. By default, this is 30 minutes.