Reservations

Fill every seat, on your terms

A reservation engine that protects your floor: rules, floorplans, deposits and guest chat working together so the right guest lands on the right table.

The problem

Empty tables and no-shows cost you the shift

Manual books, blunt online widgets and unprotected bookings leave gaps in the floor and covers you can’t recover.

Sidedoor turns availability into a rules engine you control: pacing, turn times, deposits and minimum spends applied automatically, so every reservation is one you actually want.

−31%: Fewer no-shows with deposits & reminders
+14%: More covers from smarter pacing
<2s: To seat a walk-in from the floorplan
24/7: Bookings taken without staff time

Reservations: Friday service

Tonight · 62 coversPacing on

18:00Hughes · 4VIP

18:30Bennett · 2

19:00Patel · 6Deposit

19:30Fletcher · 2

20:00Thompson · 8Pre-order

Floor

Run the floor

One live grid, one live floor

Every booking flows through a rules engine you set once (pacing, turn times and availability enforced automatically), then runs on a drag-and-drop floorplan the whole team shares.

Advanced rules engine: pacing, turn times and availability per service, applied to every booking
Drag-and-drop floorplan you seat, move and combine tables on live
Timeline, grid, floorplan and list views: everyone works the view that suits their job
Real-time guest chat before arrival, right on the reservation

Pre-order · table 12

Thompson · party of 8 Bundle

1×Sharing feast (8)£240

2×House Champagne£120

8×Welcome cocktail£72

1×Birthday cake£28

Pre-paid total£460

Paid in fullKitchen notified

Deposits & pre-orders

Protect the covers that matter: pre-orders are live

Take deposits and set minimum spends inside the booking, and let large parties pre-order and pre-pay through inventory and bundles: cash in the bank and the kitchen briefed before they arrive.

Deposits, minimum spends and card-on-file per service
Pre-orders live today via inventory & bundles: sharing feasts, drinks packages, set menus
Guests pre-pay in the booking flow; the kitchen is notified automatically
Cancellation windows and payment policies enforced without staff chasing

Guest profile

Charlotte Hughes

Member since 2023 · 5 venues

VIPBig spenderWine loverWindow seat

28Visits

£3,140Lifetime

£112Avg spend

Recent visits

Wunderbar2 Jul · £128

Kitty O'Sheas18 Jun · £96

Know every guest

The right guest, on the right table

Every booking is tied to a full guest profile (tags, history and spend), so a VIP arrival lands on the right server’s section and nobody is treated like a stranger.

VIP and preference tags travel with the guest to the table
Lifetime spend, visit count and notes on every profile
Till integration pulls real spend back against the reservation
Cross-venue history so a regular is recognised group-wide

How Sidedoor compares for reservations
Capability	Sidedoor	Legacy book	Basic widget
Configurable rules engine	Yes	No	Limited
Deposits & minimum spends	Yes	No	Add-on
Pre-orders (inventory & bundles)	Yes	No	No
Real-time guest chat	Yes	No	No
Drag-and-drop floorplan	Yes	Paper	No
Till / POS integration	Yes	No	No

Ready to see it on your floor?

Book a walkthrough and we’ll show you Sidedoor on a venue like yours.