Booking system for restaurants

What problem a booking system solves

The paper diary works as long as the restaurant is small and the same person always keeps it. Then come the evenings when whoever happens to be around takes the bookings, the handwriting is illegible, table 12 shows as free when it isn’t, and nobody can say how many covers you did last Thursday.

It isn’t mess: it’s that the information lives in one place only, on the sheet, and only one person at a time can look at it.

How online table reservations work

The part that matters is that very instant. In LyamFlow, confirming the booking and taking the table happen in the same database transaction: either both succeed or neither does. That’s why two guests who press ‘confirm’ in the same second can’t both get the same table — it isn’t an on-screen check you can get round by reloading the page.

Where bookings come from

• From the restaurant’s public page, with your name and photos on it
• From the form embedded in the website you already have, inside your own pages
• From the QR code printed on the table or on your business card
• By phone, entered by hand by whoever answers — they end up in the same place

How to open bookings, step by step

From signing up to the first online booking takes about twenty minutes.

• 1. You register your restaurant A setup wizard asks for the name, opening hours, dining rooms and tables, and creates everything in one go. No configuring by hand, screen by screen.
• 2. You draw your floor plan You lay the tables out on the floor plan as they really stand, each with its number of seats. They join up for large parties and split apart afterwards.
• 3. You add your menu Dishes, prices, categories. The same menu your guests will read from the QR code at the table, always up to date.
• 4. You open your bookings You publish the page and put it on your website, your Google Business Profile and your social media bio. From then on it works on its own.

It doesn’t end with the booking

Taking the booking is the first minute of the evening. The rest — seating people, taking orders, getting paid, understanding how it went — is why an online diary on its own isn’t enough.

• Floor and tables Who’s sitting where, in real time. Tables joined for large parties and split again at the end of the evening, without redrawing the map.
• Menu and orders The order is taken at the table on a phone and goes where it needs to, without the trip from order pad to kitchen.
• Bill and payment Card payment from the QR code on the table, or cash recorded by whoever is serving. The bill closes either way.
• Guests and loyalty Who comes back, how much they spend, who didn’t turn up. The records are yours and don’t end up on any portal.
• Staff and shifts Who’s working, when, in which room. Shifts are planned in advance and everyone can see them.
• End of service Covers, takings, average bill and peak hours for the evening just closed. After three months it’s the history that tells you where you’re losing out.

What it costs

• Demo free, forever The whole system with a made-up restaurant already full of data. It opens without signing up.
• CHF 29.90 / month Basic plan One restaurant, the whole system: bookings, floor plan, menu and table-side orders, staff and shifts, loyalty, end of service.
• CHF 79.90 / month Pro plan Everything in Basic, up to five businesses from the same account and five websites, one per business, with the restaurant’s showcase on lyamflow.com.

Prices are in Swiss francs because LyamFlow is Swiss and charges in francs. From an Italian account, the bank converts at the day’s rate: CHF 29.90 is roughly 32 euros. The service is identical; only the currency on your bank statement changes.

Frequently asked questions