Run your first test service.

This guide covers the private testing workspace. Use fictional guest names ending (demo). No money is taken and no messages are sent.

1. Create your testing venue

Sign in, open Testing venues and choose Create a separate fictional testing venue. Give it a name and save. Its records belong to your account; it does not activate a paid subscription.

2. Prepare the tables and menu

In an empty venue, use Load fictional starter tables & menu. You can also add tables, seat counts and menu items. Prices are entered in pence: 1500 means £15.00. Choose kitchen or bar routing. Mark an item unavailable when needed.

3. Add colleagues with their own logins

Colleagues first create their own accounts. The owner enters each account email and grants a role. Never share the owner’s password.

3a. Set opening hours and reserve tables

Open Reservation diary, expand Opening hours and save each operating weekday. Times use Europe/London. Each weekday has one interval: a closing time earlier than opening continues into the next day. Unlisted weekdays have no new opening interval, but may include service carried from the night before. In Date exceptions & closures, save a closed date or special hours with a reason. An exception replaces the entire calendar date, including incoming overnight service. Existing reservations and accepted future food orders must still fit; invalidating changes are rejected. Around a clock change, repeated time slots show their UTC offset and a manual booking asks which occurrence you mean. Nonexistent local times cannot be booked; choose valid boundaries if a clock change removes an opening or closing time. Choose a diary date to see half-hour slots across every table. Add a fictional guest, party size, time, duration and available table. The server rejects clashes and stale saves.

To connect food and table reservations, select the held food order before saving its reservation. Its party size and start time must match. Arrival must use that reserved table. Unlinked arrivals are checked against other reservations for a default 90-minute visit. Opening hours also constrain new food requests and acceptance once configured.

To change a confirmed reservation, choose Move reservation on its diary card. Choose the date, time, duration, guest count and available table, add a reason, and save. The move commits together: if capacity, hours or another screen blocks it, the original reservation stays unchanged. Its original terms and deposit requirement remain attached, with a booking change history and late-notice flag for review. Seated, cancelled and completed bookings cannot be moved. A linked food order keeps its original time, duration and party size; you can change only its suitable reserved table here. No money moves and no guest message is sent. Use Keep original booking to dismiss an unsaved change. Cancelling the table reservation does not cancel its food order; review and cancel that separately when required. Likewise, cancelling a food order does not free a separate table reservation. The diary holds a scheduled table, while the service queue tracks current occupancy; a table is checked again at arrival.

3b. Parties, functions and required deposits

In Table, party & function bookings choose the booking type and enter an event name. Select Deposit required and enter the amount in pounds. The ordinary booking form allocates one table, up to its seat limit. For several tables, use Multi-table parties & functions: choose the diary date, event name, time, duration and guest count for each selected table. All table holds are committed together; one clash rejects the whole group. Give the guest the policy and acknowledge it when required. Grouped bookings currently have no group deposit or linked food order. Seat and finish each table from its diary card. Cancel remaining group holds together with a reason; a seated member blocks cancellation, and completed member history is retained. Group members cannot move or cancel separately. To change the date or time of a whole confirmed group, choose Move whole group in its summary. Every table keeps its guest count and allocation; all move to the new time together or all stay unchanged if any table clashes, falls outside hours or another screen saves first. A reason and per-table change history are retained with original terms. Partly completed, cancelled, seated or food-linked groups cannot move here. Dedicated function-room capacity and changing group allocations remain to build. A saved amount is a requirement, not a collected payment.

3c. Cancellation policy

An owner or manager saves the venue cancellation notice period and terms in Cancellation & deposit policy. Explain cancellations, changes, no-shows and deposit conditions in the venue’s own wording. Before saving a deposit-required booking, a policy must exist. Staff confirm the guest was given it. The exact terms and notice period are copied to that booking; later policy changes apply to new bookings.

Cancellation requires a reason. The record retains the time and flags late notice and any required deposit for review. No payment, forfeiture or refund happens automatically. Staff acknowledgement is not a guest signature or proof of online acceptance; guest-facing acceptance and merchant collection remain release work.

4. Enable pre-orders and set capacity

Turn on new pre-orders when the team is ready. Set the number of covers the kitchen can accept per half-hour. This is kitchen capacity, not a reserved table. Pausing new intake keeps accepted orders in the held queue.

5. Request, accept and hold

Use a fictional guest label, party size, arrival slot and quantities. Submit the request. Floor staff or a manager review it and choose Accept and hold. Nothing enters preparation yet. If a price or availability changed before acceptance, create a revised request.

6. Confirm arrival

Choose a free table with enough seats, then confirm arrival. The testing window allows arrival from 30 minutes early to 60 minutes late. Arrival remains separate from kitchen release. Staff-assisted arrival remains available. The private guest/table QR path below is also available for testing.

6a. Generate a QR card for each table

In Table QR & private arrival links, an owner or manager chooses Generate / replace QR beside a table. Download the labelled PNG card or print it. Every table has its own code. Replacing a code invalidates the previous printed version; Disable QR switches it off.

Printed cards use sectoros.co.uk and require the matching build to be published before real phone scans work. During development use Test this link in preview. Keep the current card securely; only its hash is saved, so that exact code cannot be redisplayed later.

6b. Give the guest their own private link

After an order is accepted, the owner, manager or floor team issues its private guest link. Copy it only for the intended guest. Automated SMS/email delivery is not connected. The link expires one hour after the arrival slot and can be revoked; replacing it invalidates its predecessor.

The guest first opens their private link in the same browser they will use for the table QR. After scanning the table, they choose Confirm arrival at this table. If the camera opens a different browser, they can paste their private order link there or ask staff to help. A table code alone cannot display guest records. Repeated scans do not create another order or release preparation.

7. Release, prepare and serve

Kitchen staff or a manager choose Release to kitchen / bar. The ticket appears in the preparation queue once. Mark it ready at the station; floor staff then mark it served. Managers can now close the finished visit in Finish the visit. Keep the record. All items must be served and no held order may remain unreleased. Acknowledge any outstanding bill, add the closing note and close. The table becomes available again; the original order and bill stay in saved visit history. Closing is not payment collection. A table-only reservation can be seated from its diary card; food-linked reservations use the pre-arrival route.

7a. Review a closed visit and record an external receipt

Saved visits retain their served items, total and outstanding balance. A manager may record a payment already checked in another till or cash receipt. Choose the saved visit, enter the amount and a unique receipt reference, then confirm it was received. Partial amounts are supported, overpayments and reused references are rejected, and entries are labelled Manual external payment record. This does not charge a card, verify a bank transaction or settle a booking deposit. If a manual entry was copied incorrectly, open its served items and manual records, choose Correct manual record, give a reason and acknowledge the original receipt check. A manager can void that ledger entry: its original amount and reference remain visible, with correction time and reason, and its amount is restored to the outstanding balance. This does not refund the customer or change another till. Add a separate replacement entry with a new unique reference if appropriate; voided references remain reserved. Corrections cannot rewrite an earlier reason. Actual refunds and connected payment reconciliation remain separate work. Existing payment allocations cannot be silently cleared by closing a table.

Changes, cancellations and no-shows

Before preparation, record a reason and cancel the held order. For a changed time, party or menu, create a revised request. An accepted order may be marked no-show once it is at least 30 minutes late. Released orders require a separate till review; cancellation here never issues a refund.

If another screen saves first

A stale save is rejected rather than overwriting newer work. Refresh saved state, review the latest record and repeat only the action still needed. Staff revocation blocks subsequent reads and saves; an old browser view is not an access grant.

Review and export

Saved activity records committed changes and access updates. The office shows the latest 40 actions. Owners can download a JSON snapshot of service records and recent activity. It omits staff grants and is not yet a verified full-account backup or restore tool.

Before real customer use

Complete printed-phone QR and same-browser acceptance, venue acceptance of reservation capacity and opening hours, live payments/refunds, login and recovery acceptance, device/accessibility checks and venue sign-off. The application access rules do not establish a zero-access encryption claim against infrastructure administrators.

Open your private testing office →