Reservations

Sofra’s reservation engine decides in one place whether a table is free, so bookings made from the POS, the online booking page, reschedules, walk-ins, the waitlist and table merges can never overbook the same table.

Create a reservation

Go to Floor & Tables → Reservations and choose New Reservation.

Auto-assign picks the best-fit table (least wasted seats). For groups larger than any one free table, Sofra suggests combinations of tables (pairs first, then triples) in the same area.

What makes a table available

• The table is not blocked or out of service (a block with an end time stops applying when it ends).
• The party fits its capacity (staff can override with a reason).
• The dining area is not closed on that date.
• The window is inside the branch’s opening hours and not on a closed day. Overnight hours are supported.
• No other active reservation overlaps, counting a cleaning buffer after each booking (default 15 minutes).
• The table is not part of an active merge.
• If the table is physically busy right now, it only blocks bookings that start in the next 30 minutes, so an 8 pm booking is fine even if the table is occupied at 6 pm.
• A party still seated past its booked end keeps the table until it leaves.

Lifecycle

1. 1

   Confirm

   Marks a pending booking as confirmed.

2. 2

   Arrive

   Marks the guest as arrived. Sofra warns if they are early or late, if the booking is not for today, or if the table is not ready yet.

3. 3

   Seat

   Seats the party at the booked or a chosen table (today only), optionally with the real guest count and a waiter. Overriding capacity needs a written reason. The table becomes occupied.

4. 4

   Create order

   Opens a dine-in order on the table, linked to the reservation, ready for items.

5. 5

   Complete

   When the order finishes the reservation completes and the table frees up for cleaning.

Moving and changing bookings

• Edit date, time, table, duration or party size; Sofra re-checks availability atomically, so a change either succeeds fully or is refused.
• Drag and drop a booking on the calendar to move it.
• A booking can be combined with other tables for a large party, and a waiter can be assigned.
• Cancelling a seated party is refused, and cancelling is idempotent.

Calendar views

The calendar offers Day, Week and Month views, can group by table or by area, and is colour-coded by status. The reservations list has filters for area, status and date.

Deposits

• A customer flagged as high-risk (see below) is asked for a deposit when booking online. The default is 10 per guest.
• Staff record a deposit payment against the reservation (method, amount, reference). It is marked paid once it covers the required amount.
• Changing or cancelling within 24 hours of the start is restricted when a deposit is paid: changes need manager approval, and cancelling forfeits the deposit. Outside that window cancelling makes a refund due, which a manager marks refunded.
• A no-show always forfeits a paid deposit.

No-shows, expiry and guest risk

• A booking still pending or confirmed 30 minutes after its start (in the branch’s timezone) is expired automatically and counted as a no-show. The check runs every five minutes.
• Each no-show raises the customer’s count: 2 no-shows make them medium risk, 4 high risk, and any risk above low requires a deposit.
• 5 no-shows restrict the customer from booking online for 7 days; they are told to call instead.
• Staff can also record a no-show by hand. Cancellations are counted separately.

Guest emails

If the guest’s email is on the booking, Sofra sends a confirmation, a reminder shortly before the booking (retried up to three times), an update when it changes and a cancellation notice. A failed email never blocks a booking; the failure is stored on the reservation so staff can phone the guest instead.

Bookings that need a new table

If a table is blocked or taken out of service after being booked, the affected bookings are flagged needs reassignment so staff can move them to another table.