Switzerland and Ticino
Booking system for restaurants in Switzerland
Online bookings, floor plan, menu, table-side orders and end-of-service tally. In English, German, French and Italian, with the subscription in francs and no fee per cover.
Why software that thinks in francs
A restaurant in Switzerland takes its money in francs, but most booking software is built for the Italian market: prices in euros, invoices in euros, support on another country’s clock and habits. LyamFlow was born on the other side of the border, and the difference shows in the details that matter every evening.
The subscription is charged in francs — CHF 29.90 a month for one restaurant — so the figure you read on the page is the same one you find on your bank statement. Amounts in the system, from the shift’s takings to the average bill, are in francs and written the way they’re written here: CHF 2’480, not € 2.480.
A trifle? Not for whoever has to reconcile the till at the end of the night. Every conversion is a point where the numbers stop adding up, and at the end of the month someone has to work out why.
In Ticino, from the lake to the border
LyamFlow was born in Switzerland and Italian-speaking Switzerland is its home market. The system was written in Italian — not translated — and speaks the language of the dining room: tables, covers, rooms, shifts, end of service. It also speaks German, French and English, and everyone uses it in their own: the waiter from north of the Gotthard just as much as the guest booking from Zurich. Whether the restaurant is in Lugano, Bellinzona, Locarno, Mendrisio or Chiasso, it works the same way and there’s nothing to install: it opens in the browser, on the office computer just as on the phone in your pocket as you move between tables.
The same goes for restaurants near the border, where half the guests come from Italy and book from an Italian number: the bookings land in the same place, with no duplicates and no second diary.
What it does, in practice
It’s not just a booking diary. It’s the whole run of an evening, from the first ring to the last bill.
- Online bookings Guests book from the restaurant’s website, 24 hours a day. Two people can’t take the same table: it’s the database that prevents it, not an on-screen check.
- Floor plan The real layout of the restaurant, with the tables where they actually are. They join up for a large party and split apart afterwards, without redrawing the map.
- Menu and table-side orders A digital menu that’s always up to date and orders taken at the table on a phone, without going through the order pad.
- Bill and payment at the table The guest scans the QR code on the table and pays by card. If someone prefers cash, whoever is serving records it, and the bill closes all the same.
- Staff and shifts Who’s working, when and in which room. Shifts are planned in advance and everyone can check them.
- End of service Once the evening is closed: covers served, takings, average bill, peak hours. A history that after three months becomes the most useful thing you have.
Flat subscription or fee per cover?
The big booking platforms charge by volume: a sum for every cover that comes through their portal. LyamFlow costs a flat subscription and nothing else. Below a certain number of bookings the commission pays off; above it, much less so.
| Commission platform | LyamFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A fee for every cover booked through the portal | Flat monthly subscription, in francs |
| If business is booming | The cost rises with the bookings | The cost stays the same |
| Whose customer it is | The portal’s, which sees them and suggests other restaurants | Yours: they go into your records and stay there |
| Where bookings come from | From the portal, which decides how to show you | From your website and your QR code, with your name on them |
| Floor management | Usually separate, or paid extra | Included: floor plan, tables, menu, shifts, end of service |
The comparison is of the business model, not of any particular competitor: terms change over time and from contract to contract. Before you decide, do the maths with your restaurant’s real covers.
What it costs
CHF 29.90 a month for one restaurant, CHF 79.90 a month for the plan with up to five businesses and their five websites. Excl. VAT, charged in francs, cancel whenever you like. The first 14 days are free and don’t ask for a credit card.
- Demo free, forever The full system with a made-up restaurant already full of data. No sign-up: just open it and look around.
- CHF 29.90 / month Basic plan One restaurant, the whole system: bookings, dining-room floor plan, menu and table-side orders, staff and shifts, loyalty, end of service.
- CHF 79.90 / month Pro plan Everything in the Basic plan, up to five businesses from the same account and five websites, one per business, with the restaurant’s showcase on lyamflow.com.
Frequently asked questions
Is LyamFlow paid in francs?
Yes. The subscription is charged in Swiss francs: CHF 29.90 a month for one business, CHF 79.90 for the plan with up to five businesses and their websites. The price you read is what shows up on your bank statement, with no exchange rate and no surprises.
Are there commissions on bookings?
No. LyamFlow costs a flat subscription and nothing else: no percentage of the bill, no fee per cover booked. Whether you take ten bookings a month or a thousand, the figure doesn’t change.
Do the guests who book stay mine?
Yes. Whoever books goes into your own guest records, not into a portal shared with other restaurants. LyamFlow doesn’t send your guests offers from competing restaurants, because it has no portal to fill.
Does it work outside Ticino too?
Yes. The system works anywhere there’s a connection: in Ticino as in the rest of Switzerland and in Italy. And it comes in four languages — English, German, French and Italian — so it suits a restaurant in Zurich or Geneva just as well, and everyone on the team uses it in their own language.
How long does it take to get started?
About twenty minutes. When you sign up, a setup wizard creates the restaurant’s rooms, tables and menu; from there the system is ready to use. There’s nothing to install: it runs in the browser, including on the phone out on the floor.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes, in two ways. The demo opens without signing up and contains a made-up restaurant already full of data. If you want your real restaurant instead, signing up gives you 14 full days with no credit card.
Try it on your restaurant, for two weeks
Fourteen days with everything switched on, no credit card. If you don’t need it, you stop and nothing has happened.