Moving premises, or changing the tables in your room? We put this together after a restaurant moving somewhere bigger, with a whole new set of tables in all different sizes, asked how to move their future bookings across safely.
The order matters because every booking remembers its table by number. Delete a table while bookings are still on it and they’re left holding no seat: they drop off the chart and floor plan, and their times can be sold again online (see I deleted or renumbered a table and a booking lost its table). So add the new tables first, move the bookings across, and delete the old tables last.
Before you start
A table that keeps its number doesn’t need deleting. Just change its size, and its bookings stay put. Tick it and choose Modify → Set size: if a party already booked there won’t fit, NomNom warns you with Party will not fit before it saves. The steps below are for tables whose numbers are going.
Change your tables over
1. Add the new tables. Open Configuration → Tables, pick the area, and click Add tables. Type the new numbers, with commas or ranges such as 21-34 (names like 5a work too), and click Add tables. A number that’s already in that area isn’t added again, and that table is left exactly as it was: you’ll see, for example, Table 5 already exists, so it was left as it was.
2. Set their sizes and groups. New tables start with 2 seats and online booking on. Tick several and choose Modify → Set size to size them together, or click a table to set it on its own. If you join tables for big parties, set up the new groups under Table groups.
3. Stop the old tables taking new bookings. Once the new layout is in use, tick the old tables and choose Modify → Disable web booking, so guests booking online are only given the new ones. To stop your team choosing them too, switch every day off under each old table’s Available days (see Choosing when each table can be booked). Bookings already on them stay where they are.
4. Move future bookings onto the new tables. Work forward from today, day by day; on the chart, the old tables’ rows show what’s still on them. In NomNom Web, right-click a booking and choose Move to table (each free table shows its seats), or drag it onto a new table on the chart. In the phone app, tap it and choose Move to. Optimise tables can then tidy each day.
5. Delete the old tables last. Tick them and click Delete. If any still have bookings from today onwards, the confirmation lists them with a count, for example Future bookings are still on: 12 (3), 14 (1). Click Cancel, move those bookings, and try again. If it lists none, nothing from today on is booked on them.
6. Check your groups. Any table group that included an old table is deleted along with it, and the delete confirmation names them. Set up any groups you still need from the new tables under Table groups.
7. Put the new tables on your floor plan. They wait in the Unplaced strip. See Seeing your room as a floor plan.
In NomNom Web and the phone app: Configuration → Tables.
If the change happens on a set date
Do steps 1 and 2 now, but switch WEB off on the new tables, so guests booking online keep getting your current tables until then. Your team can already seat bookings for after the move on the new tables. When you move, switch WEB on for the new tables and carry on from step 3. Any online bookings for after the move that went on the old tables are picked up in step 4.
Good to know
- Check the bar along the bottom afterwards. In NomNom Web, a red on a removed table count on a day means a booking was missed.
- Nothing moves on its own. Adding, resizing or deleting tables never re-seats a booking.
- Keep the new tables in the same area and your meals and times carry straight on. Only admins can change tables.