For chance or “walk-in” customers, managers and staff should refer to “Next Free Tables” on the system and allocate such customers to the next free (ranked) table as offered by the system, click on the table in “Next Free Tables” and mark it as booked at the relevant time or as a “Chance Customer” at the current time. The system will then offer the next available ranked table as free for the relevant table size.
On no account should chance or booked customers be seated at an unoccupied table simply because it is empty – as this may cause chaos for management and staff – and for guests who have pre-booked for later in the evening.
On busy nights great care should be taken in accepting “walk-in” guests. By referring to “Next Free Tables” it will be easy to see when a table is due to come free. If the table is not available for some time please book the table for the guest and ask the guest to sit in the bar or go next door for a drink and call the guest on their mobile ‘phone when the table is free – or use the “Wait List” facility.
When chance customers are seated they MUST be entered into the diary – to maintain real time availability and for proper reporting and true cover count.