Taking table bookings from the website, with a reservation app or without one.
Without an app #
Out of the box, the booking band holds a simple enquiry form: a name, an email, a date, a time, and how many people. When somebody sends it, it arrives as an email at your store’s contact address.
Set that address in Shopify: Settings → Store details → Contact information
It does not check whether you have a table. It is an enquiry, and you reply. For a lot of restaurants that is exactly right — and it works with nothing installed and nothing to pay.
Say what happens next
Edit the text above the form to set expectations: we confirm every booking by email, usually within the hour. People are much happier waiting when they know they are waiting.
With a booking app #
If you use a reservation app — one that shows live availability and confirms instantly — it can take the form’s place without changing how the band looks.
- Install the app from the Shopify App Store.
- In the editor, click the Book a table band.
- Click Add block and choose your app’s block from the list.
- Remove or hide the enquiry form so you are not offering two ways to do the same thing.
If the app’s form looks wrong
Most apps assume a light background, and this theme’s booking band is dark. The band has an App block color scheme setting — switch it to Cream and the app’s own styling has something to sit on.
Where the booking band appears #
Three places, and you can add it anywhere else:
- The home page, near the bottom.
- The full menu page — somebody who has just read your menu is the most likely person in the world to book a table.
- The booking page itself, which is what the header button points at.
The booking page #
If you have not made it yet, see that chapter — it is the page using the reservation template. It is the booking band, your contact details, and your Instagram grid, in that order.
