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This guide walks your team through a normal work day with EatNow: what to check before you open, how to move guests through service, and what to clean up before you go home. It’s written for the people on the floor — hosts, servers, and the manager running the pass. If you only read one thing: the status of every reservation is the single source of truth. Keep statuses up to date as guests arrive, sit, and leave, and every other view (Cockpit, Planning, floor plan, stats) stays correct for the whole team in real time.
Everything below assumes you can already open the Reservations page and switch between its views (List, Floor plan, Planning, Cockpit) using the icons at the top-right. New to the views? Start with the Cockpit and Planning guides.
Reservations page overview for the day

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The three phases of a service

PhaseGoalMain view
Pre-serviceKnow what’s coming, prepare the roomCockpit (Flow)
DuringSeat guests, keep statuses liveCockpit (Turn) / Planning / Floor plan
Post-serviceClose every line, handle no-shows, reviewList

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1. Pre-service — the briefing

Do this before the first guest arrives, ideally during your team briefing.
1

Set the date and shifts

Open Reservations and confirm you’re on today’s date. Select the shift(s) you’re about to run (lunch, dinner, or both). Every count you see afterwards reflects that selection.
2

Read the shape of the service in the Cockpit (Flow tab)

Switch to the Cockpit and open the Flow tab. Each 15-minute column shows how many reservations and covers land in that slot. In one glance you see your peaks, your quiet moments, and your biggest parties.
Cockpit Flow tab during the pre-service briefing
3

Spot the flags

On each card, a colored corner flags something that needs attention:
Corner colorMeaningWhat to prepare
MagentaVIP customerBrief the team, check the table
YellowAllergies / dietary preferencesAlert the kitchen
BlueA specific server is assignedTell the server which table is theirs
Tap any card to open the full reservation and read the allergies & comments and internal info.
4

Sanity-check statuses and tables

Make sure every reservation has a sensible status (most will be Confirmed) and — if you assign seats in advance — a table. Use the Planning view or the floor plan to place big parties and resolve any conflicts now, not mid-rush.
The Flow tab replaces the printed booking sheet. Everyone looking at it sees the same live picture — when reception adds a booking during the briefing, it appears immediately.

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2. During service — keep it live

During the rush your job is simple: move each reservation through its status as it happens. This keeps the floor plan accurate, frees tables for walk-ins, and powers the late/overrun alerts. The fastest way to change a status is straight from the grid:
  • Planning / Floor plan / Cockpit — tap a reservation, then pick the next status from the quick-action menu. EatNow only offers the transitions that make sense from the current state.
  • On desktop, you can also right-click a block in Planning for a fuller menu (cancel, refund, capture a card hold on no-show…).
The normal arc of a guest looks like this:
When this happens…Set the status to…
The party arrives at the doorShowed up
You sit them at their tableSeated
They arrive early and wait at the barSeated for drinks
Only part of the group has arrivedPartially seated
They’ve paid and left, table is clearingDone
Their time passed and they never cameNo-show
You don’t have to use every step. Many teams jump straight from Confirmed → Seated when the host walks the guest to the table. Use Showed up when there’s a wait between the door and the table (e.g. the table isn’t free yet).
For exactly what each status means and when to use it, see Reservation statuses.

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Watch the alerts

During service, switch the Cockpit to the Turn tab. It tells you when each table will free up and lights up tables that need attention:
  • A red border + red dot means the seated party is overrunning their expected duration, or the next booking is late to be seated.
  • The column header shows a badge counting how many tables in that slot are in alert.
This is what lets you confidently tell a walk-in “I’ll have a table in 15 minutes.”

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Add and edit on the fly

Bookings keep coming during service — by phone, walk-in, or online. To add one, tap New reservation (or the +), fill in the form, and save. To change a time, table, or party size on an existing booking, tap it open and edit. The whole reservation form is documented field by field, and the common scenarios page has step-by-step recipes for walk-ins, late guests, table moves, and more.

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3. Post-service — close the day

Before you leave, make sure no reservation is left in an in-between state.
1

Close every open line

Switch to the List view for today. Any reservation still showing Seated, Showed up, or Partially seated is a guest the system thinks is still at the table. Mark each one Done (or the correct final status).
2

Handle no-shows honestly

Reservations that were never marked arrived should be set to No-show. This matters: it feeds the guest’s history (repeat no-shows are worth knowing) and, if the booking had a card hold or deposit, marking No-show is what lets you capture or release it.
Don’t leave a guest who didn’t turn up as Confirmed. It distorts your covers, your stats, and the guest’s profile — and you lose the chance to act on a deposit.
3

Review the day

The bottom stats bar (Covers / Upcoming / Seated) and the List view give you the day’s totals. Use the Export feature if you need the numbers in a spreadsheet for accounting or a manager report.

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Mobile vs desktop

EatNow works on phone, tablet, and desktop. The data and statuses are identical everywhere; the interaction differs.
TaskDesktopMobile / tablet
Switch viewsIcons at the top-right of ReservationsView dropdown in the header
Change a statusTap a block → quick-action menuTap a block → quick-action menu
Fuller actions (cancel, refund, capture hold)Right-click a block in PlanningTap → See details → act from the drawer
Move a reservationLong-press a block, drag to a new table/timeLong-press (you’ll feel a vibration), then drag
Scroll a time gridMouse / trackpadSwipe horizontally (start on an empty cell, not a block)
Hover “pressure” tooltipHover the hours barNot available (no touch hover)
Tips for the floor on a phone or tablet:
  • The Cockpit and Planning grids scroll horizontally — swipe to move through the evening.
  • To scroll the grid on mobile, start your finger on an empty cell. Starting on a reservation block arms a drag instead.
  • Headers and the bottom stats bar stay pinned while you scroll, so your counters are always visible.
  • A tablet on the host stand running the Cockpit (Turn) tab makes a great live “who’s freeing up” screen for the whole team.

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FAQ

Do I have to mark “Showed up” before “Seated”? No. If you walk a guest straight to their table, go directly to Seated. Use Showed up only when there’s a gap between arrival and seating (for example, the table isn’t ready yet). A change I made isn’t showing on another device. It should appear within a second — every view reads the same live data. If it doesn’t, check that the other device is on the same date and shift selection, then refresh. Why keep statuses up to date if service is already busy? Because every other tool depends on them: the floor plan frees the table, the Turn tab stops alerting, walk-in availability becomes accurate, and the end-of-day numbers are correct without any cleanup. A minute of status hygiene during service saves you a messy close. Where do I learn the meaning of each status? See the Reservation statuses guide — it documents the full lifecycle with a diagram and a “when to use it” for each one.