Product documentation
Pacing arrivals
Spread bookings through service so the floor and kitchen are not hit by too many arrivals at once.
Pacing protects the flow of a service. It is different from the total number of covers the room can hold.
A venue may have enough tables for another 4-top at 7:00 pm but still choose not to accept it if too many guests are already arriving at 7:00 pm.
Pacing interval
The pacing interval is the window TablePace groups arrivals into. The normal starting point is 15 minutes.
For each interval you can set:
- maximum covers — total guests arriving in that interval;
- maximum bookings — number of separate parties arriving in that interval.
Both limits are useful. Five 2-tops and one 10-top are both ten covers, but they create different hosting and service workloads.
Example
If a dinner service uses 15-minute intervals with a limit of 12 covers and 4 bookings, TablePace stops offering additional bookings in that interval when either limit has been reached.
Later intervals can still remain available if their own limits and table availability allow them.
Choosing sensible limits
Think about what creates pressure in your venue:
- host and seating workload;
- drink orders landing together;
- kitchen docket spikes;
- number of tables that can physically be turned at once;
- staffing level on that day.
Start conservatively, watch real services and adjust. Do not use pacing to compensate for an inaccurate floorplan or table capacity.
For rules that relax closer to service, see Progressive pacing.