A new solution to the difficulties and frustrations surrounding reservations for restaurants has been launched today. Locally developed and supported, Dineplan (www.dineplan.com) is an easy and free to use electronic reservation system for restaurants. Dineplan replaces the paper reservation book making the entire reservation process more efficient for both the restaurateur and the diner.

 

Web based, it can be logged into simultaneously from any location on any device. This allows restaurant management to check up on their reservations at any time from anywhere. It gives the restaurateur the option of adding a real-time booking widget to their website allowing diners to make an instantly confirmed booking that is inserted directly into the reservation book at any time of day or night. Dineplan allows restaurateurs to set all kinds of parameters and restrictions for online bookings to suit their style and establishment. Dineplan can also be used in offline mode to allow the restaurateur to view all bookings if there is no Internet available. 

 

Not only does Dineplan manage a restaurant’s reservations, indicate remaining availability and offer online bookings, it also provides two other significant areas of value; a database and booking statistics. A client record is automatically created as each booking is entered. This allows the restaurant to monitor how many times a client has booked, cancelled or not shown. Clients can be ‘flagged’ as VIP or be allocated a negative flag with Dineplan automatically notifying the restaurant when they make a booking. The management team can also add customer notes and preferences improving and personalising the dining experience for repeat clients. Further still, email addresses collated in this database can be extracted for mailings of e-newsletters and seasonal offers in order to create loyal customers.

The third area of value is being able to view your reservation statistics over time. Compare bookings between seasons, months of the year or days of the week, gather data on average size of bookings, average bookings per month or evaluate your rate of walk-ins or no-shows.

 

All that is required from a restaurant is a reliable Internet connection (data usage is minimal) and a computer or tablet. And of course, the willingness to make the move away from a paper book. Minimal training is required as the system is so easy to use. This allows the Dineplan team to get you going over the phone, although they will visit your restaurant should you wish. If you are interested in giving Dineplan a try, go to www.dineplan.com/register, enter your details and the Dineplan team will shortly contact you.