Set up floor plans and tables
A floor plan is one room or area, such as your main dining room or terrace. On it you place your tables, with their chairs, and your stations: the till, the kitchen, the bar. Conciar uses the floor plan for:
- the till, where staff open tables from the floor plan;
- reservations, which are booked on tables that have enough covers;
- kitchen tickets and screens, which go to stations;
- split by seat on the till, which uses the chairs you place.
Create a floor plan
- In my.conciar.com, go to Restaurant → Floor Plans and click New Floor Plan.
- Enter a Floor Plan Name, for example "Main Dining Room" or "Terrace".
- Optionally pick a Quick Setup to start with ready-made tables: Small gives 6 tables, Medium 15 and Large 25, each a round table for 4.
- Create the floor plan. The builder opens.
Create one floor plan per room or area. On the till, staff switch between them with the floor buttons.
Add and arrange tables
In the builder, click Table under Add Elements.
- Table Name: for example "T1" or "Window 2". This is the name staff see on the till.
- Number of Covers: how many guests fit. Online bookings use this to pick a table.
- Table Shape: Rectangle or Round.
- Seats: Conciar places one chair per cover. Drag chairs to where they really are, give a chair a name such as "Head", or click Auto-arrange to start again.
Click Add Table. Then, on the floor plan:
- drag a table to move it;
- click it and drag a corner to resize it;
- double-click it to edit it;
- use the copy button to duplicate it. The copy gets the next number, for example "Table 5" after "Table 4".
Use Undo and Redo if you make a mistake.
Chairs matter on the till
Staff can only split the bill by seat or put items on a seat when the table has chairs. Tables from Quick Setup start without chairs: open each table and save it to add them.
Add stations
Click Station under Add Elements, give it a Station Name and choose a Station Type: POS, Service, Kitchen or Bar. The type only sets the icon and colour.
Dishes are sent to stations, and each station prints on its own printers. See print routing.
Opening hours per table or area
If a table or a whole room is only open at certain times, such as a terrace in summer:
- for one table, open it and switch on Limit this table's hours;
- for the whole floor plan, open the Settings tab and switch on Limit this section's hours.
Set the weekly hours, and add a season with + Add season for dates that differ. Guests can't book these tables outside those hours. On the till, staff get a warning but can still open the table.
Save your changes
Click Save Changes, or press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac). The builder also saves 30 seconds after your last change. It doesn't warn you when you close it with unsaved changes, so save before you leave.
Save outside service hours
Saving a floor plan sets every table's status back to Available. Tables with an open tab stay open, but statuses such as Cleaning or Out of service are cleared.
When you remove a table, Conciar keeps it if it has an open tab, a waitlist party waiting for it, or upcoming reservations, and tells you so. A station that dishes are still sent to is kept too.
Larger parties: combining tables
When no single table is big enough for an online booking, Conciar can combine two or three free tables. Switch this on or off with Allow Resource Combining in Settings → Restaurant.
Conciar picks the combination with the fewest total covers that fits the party. It doesn't check whether those tables are next to each other, so check combined bookings before service.
Your floor plan on the till
On the till's Tables view, staff switch between:
- Grid view: every table as a tile; tables with an open tab are orange.
- Floor plan: your layout, with each table in the colour of its status.
- 3D floor: a 3D view of the room that shows which tables are free, occupied, reserved today, or calling for staff.
Press and hold a table to see its details and history, and to change its status: Available, Occupied, Reserved, Cleaning or Out of service. A table becomes Occupied when a tab is opened on it and Available again when the bill is paid; the other statuses are set by hand.
The 3D view is also in the dashboard: click 3D next to a floor plan.
Common problems
I changed a table and clicked Cancel, but the change stayed. Changes in Edit Table apply right away. Change the value back, or use Undo.
Split by seat isn't available on a table. The table has no chairs. Open the table in the builder and save it.
A table wasn't removed. It has an open tab, a waitlist party or upcoming reservations. Settle or move those first.
Tables went back to Available during service. Someone saved the floor plan. See the warning under Save your changes.