Each meal can ask guests who book online to leave a card to hold their table, to pay a deposit, or both, once the party reaches a size you choose. A card requirement saves the guest’s card without charging it. A deposit requirement takes the money when they book. Your Stripe account needs to be connected first: see Connecting card payments with Stripe.
Set it up
1. Open the meal. In NomNom Web, click Configuration at the bottom of the left-hand bar (admins only), choose Meals, click the meal, then open the Payments tab.
2. Ask for a card, if you want one. Under Card requirement, click Minimum guests and pick the smallest party that should leave a card — 6+ guests, say, or 1+ guests for everyone. Disabled switches it off.
3. Ask for a deposit, if you want one. Under Deposit requirement, click Minimum guests and pick a party size. Then choose a Deposit type: Per person multiplies the amount by the number of guests, and Flat fee charges it once for the whole booking. Click Amount and enter it.
4. Check the days. Once you’ve picked a minimum, each requirement shows its own Applies on days, set to every day to begin with. To ask only on certain days, see Asking for deposits only on certain days.
There’s no Save button in NomNom Web: changes save as you make them, and All changes saved shows at the bottom. In the phone app, tap Save when you’re done.
In NomNom Web: Configuration → Meals → pick a meal → Payments. In the phone app: Configuration → Meals → tap a meal → Payments.
Which one applies
If a party is big enough for both, the deposit wins: they pay the deposit rather than just leaving a card. So a card from 6+ guests and a deposit from 10+ guests means parties of six to nine leave a card, parties of ten or more pay a deposit, and smaller tables book as normal. Children count towards the party size.
What guests see
Guests booking online get an extra card step before they confirm:
- For a card: it shows No charge and tells them their card is stored securely and won’t be charged now, but may be charged for a no-show or late cancellation.
- For a deposit: it shows the amount and tells them it will be deducted from their final bill. Their confirmation email shows the deposit as paid.
If you’ve set a no-show charge, the card step mentions that too — see Setting your cancellation and no-show policy.
Bookings you take yourself
These rules are for guests booking online, so nothing stops you saving a booking by phone. Instead, a staff booking on one of these meals, for a party big enough to need a card or deposit, is marked Awaiting card until the guest adds one: a chip on the booking in NomNom Web, and an amber card icon in the phone app. Recording a deposit you’ve taken on your card machine clears it too.
If the booking has an email address, the guest’s confirmation email asks them to add a card, with an Add Card button. That saves their card rather than taking the deposit. To collect a deposit for a phone booking, see Sending a guest a payment link; to ask for a card again, see Taking a card to hold a booking.
Good to know
- No amount, no charge. A deposit requirement with Amount left on Not set asks guests for a card but charges nothing.
- Meals with the same name share their rules. The rules follow the meal’s name, so changing Dinner in one area changes Dinner in every area. A meal with a different name needs its own.
- Events have their own settings. An event’s card and deposit are set on the event itself — see Setting up events and sharing their booking link.
- Rules don’t reach back. Guests who booked online before you added a rule aren’t asked for anything.
- Stripe must be able to take payments. You can save these rules before Stripe is ready, but until it is, the booking page quietly leaves the card step out. In NomNom Web, the Payments tab shows a warning at the top while that’s the case. If guests aren’t being asked, see Why wasn’t a guest asked for a card or deposit?
- Google’s Reserve button. Reserve with Google can’t take a card, so while any meal has a card or deposit rule — even one only for big parties or certain days — your venue can’t be offered that button. A booking link on your Google profile isn’t affected: it opens your normal booking page (see Show your NomNom booking page on Google).