TableBoss - Joomla Extension for Online Restaurant Reservations

Reservation Wizard

TheTableBoss Reservation Wizard allows your vistors to make on-line reservations from the front end of your website.

The Wizard steps your guest through the process gathering party size, date, meal service, time and contact information. It will check table availability based on your restaurant's specific configuration; Table Size, Hours of Operation, Available Tables, to name a few. If a matching table satisfys the reservation requirements, its 'reserved' for a standard configurable duration, making it unavailable for assignment to any one else. An e-mail notification is sent to the guest confirming the reservation details and at the same time, the restaurant is notified via e-mail that the reservation has been made. In the confirming e-mail a link is given so that the guest can easily cancel their reservation, thereby freeing up the table.

The TableBoss Wizard can be configured to force the visitor to confirm their e-mail address before the table will be committed. It can optionally be configured to commit the table only after a monetary transaction has been to the restaurant (By Table, or Seat) via Paypal.

The steps below show the basic workflow.

Step 1 - Select Party Size

In this step the Wizard will allow a maximum numerical value equal to the size of the largest table in your restaurant. This can be configured to display as a plus/minus field (as shown) or as a drop down menu.

Note: When all tables have a seat = 1, this step is not displayed.

Step 2 - Select Day

In this step the calendar only shows selectable dates that your restaurant is open for business, and only as far into the future as has been configured. If any special 'blackout dates' have been configured in the Reservation Desk, they will be unselectable.

A Buffer can be configured that prevents booking 'earlier than' a specified time period. For example the Wizard can be configured to accept online reservations starting no sooner than 24 hours from "now". This step can be configured to display a Calendar widget, as shown, or as a drop down menu. When shown as a drop down menu, the dates can be configured to observe your local format standards.

Step 3 - Select Meal Service

In this step the wizard will only show meal service options that are available on the date selected. When a restaurant only offers Lunch or Dinner service for the entire week, then this step is hidden automatically.

Step 4 - Select Time

In this step the Wizard presents reservation Start Times (in 15 minute intervals) that match to your meal service start and ends times. The start time of the last possible reservation for each service is configurable.

The Date and Time dislplay format are configuable in the TableBoss Administrator.

Step 5 -Guest Information

This step collects the guest Name, E-mail Address, Phone Number and optional, Reservation Note and completes the workflow when "Make Reservation" is selected.

If the Guest is a registered Joomla! user, the Name and E-mail are auto-filled.

The Phone number format is configurable via the TableBoss Administrator.

If a there is a table available, and "Validate E-Mail" is not configured, the wizard presents the confirmation dialog below.

If e-mail validation is configured the guestwill receive an e-mail containing the validation code which can be entered into the field below, or the guest can just click the link contained in the e-mail that is sent to them (see below).