TAKE

RESERVATION
 MODULE CONTENT

COURSE TITLE: Food and Beverage Service 1 – Restaurant and Bar

Service

MODULE TITLE Take Reservation

NOMINAL DURATION: 6 HRS

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this module you MUST be able to:
1. Discuss the process of taking reservations
2. Determine the importance of table reservations and
3. Identify the different sources of restaurant reservations

TOPIC:
1. Taking Reservation
2. Sources of Reservation

ASSESSMENT METHOD:
Written/Oral test
Practical Demonstration

REFERENCE/S:
 Food Service and Bartending / Amelia S. Roldan, Benito T. Edica
 Food Service and Bartending, Revised Edition 2008/ Amelia S. Roldan,
Benito T. Edica

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 2 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
Revision # 02
FBS 313 40-FBS 313 Mel-Oliver S. Balagtas
 Information Sheet 313–2.1
Taking Table Reservations

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Discuss the process of taking reservations and
2. Determine the importance of table reservations

Introduction

Restaurants know that bringing guests through their front door is the first step
to making a profit. Hence, restaurants are obliged to make the seating and
reservation procedures as smooth and fair as possible in order to elevate the
total quality of the customer experience. Seating procedures that show
courtesy and care for the guest aids in building a pleasant first impression,
whether your restaurant accepts reservations or not.

How to Book Restaurant Reservations

While walking in and waiting to be seated will be a more than adequate
approach for the bulk of most restaurant excursions, it is helpful to learn how
to book restaurant reservations for special cases.
1. Call as far ahead of time as possible. In many cases, you will be able to
make a dinner reservation early in the same day. However, if you are
planning the dinner ahead of time, call earlier. Most restaurants will accept
reservations a few days in advance, and exclusive fine dining venues will
often accept (or even require) reservations weeks or months in advance. If
you make your reservations more than a few days in advance, it is best to
call the day of the dinner to quickly confirm your reservation.
2. Schedule an early or late dinner if availability is limited. A helpful way
to get a reservation at a heavily booked restaurant is to avoid the dinner
"prime time" - usually around 7:30 pm. Remain open to booking a
reservation at 5:00 pm or even 10:00 pm (depending on the restaurant's
hours). This will increase your chances of getting a table the same day or
earlier in the week than you expected.
3. Be as courteous as possible when booking a reservation. If you are
attempting to book a tough reservation, remember that your attitude on the
phone will go a long way. Be confident but polite; avoid giving the
impression that you feel entitled to a reservation. If the host replies that the
restaurant has no availability, explain your situation and ask politely if
there is any way you can be accommodated in the future.
4. Visit the restaurant in person. A further strategy for booking a tough
reservation is asking for availability in person rather than over the phone.
This shows that you are willing to put a bit of effort into securing a table. A
host is also much less likely to be dismissive or unhelpful when dealing with
you face-to-face.
5. Call ahead or cancel if you are running late. Once you've secured your
reservation, call ahead and apologize if it looks like you'll be up to 20
minutes late. If you are running much later than that, consider canceling
and rescheduling your dinner. Remember that reservations are made for a
reason - to make sure as many guests as possible are served on each night.
If you are late it affects other guests' reservations.
Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:
Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 3 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
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6. Book a reservation online if possible. If you book your reservation online,
you may still want to call ahead and confirm before arriving.

Alternatives to Reservations
Restaurants who do not accept reservations or restaurants that no longer have
the capacity to accept further reservations on a given night may choose
alternative methods to accommodate their guests.

Use the following methods to organize waiting patrons and streamline the
seating process:

1. The waiting lists. When patrons arrive, they are invited to submit
their names to a waiting list. The parties are called in order whenever
tables become available. Unlike reservations, this does not involve
holding a table and will most often require a short wait.

2. The call-ahead list. Much like a waiting list, the customer can call
the restaurant, ask how long the wait is, and ask to be put on the
waiting list over the phone. The customer then arrives within the
appropriate frame of time and receives the next available table.

3. Pagers. Many restaurants employ electronic pagers in lieu of calling

out patron names when tables are ready. These devices flash, vibrate
and sometimes make noise when a table is available for their party.
The downfall is that they may not function if patrons walk off the
premises

Nowadays it has become common for fine dining restaurants to offer table
reservations to their clients. In fact, this service has become an integral part of
a restaurant’s operation, because of its multiple benefits. Even though, there
are still types of restaurants that prefer the modality of “First come, first serve”,
the majority of fine dining and casual restaurants organize their operation
through table reservations.

As it has become part of restaurants’ service to offer reservations, clients are

tending more and more towards making use of this offer, and for some people it
has become mandatory to make a table reservation before going out to a
restaurant, since there are also benefits for the client in this type of service.

Restaurants’ benefits of offering table reservations

A restaurant will weigh the advantages and the disadvantages of offering the
service of table reservations to its customers, and even though there is a cost
involved in this service, the benefits it offers will outweigh all the disadvantages
one may consider.

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 4 of 9
Education Date Revised:
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Food and Beverage July 2020
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Advantages:

1. Offering table reservations may be a good tool to increase demand of

certain restaurants. As clients know that there is a limited capacity of
seats, they will always prefer to make a table reservation instead of
arriving at the restaurant and facing a long waiting line. This tool helps
the restaurant to keep a high demand of its customers on busy nights,
and even better, to increase traffic on slow nights, when customers make
reservations, because they don’t know how crowded the restaurant will
be.
2. Table reservations are also a handy tool in competitive markets,
since it makes it possible for restaurants to “steal” some market
share from its competition. This occurs when clients are not able to get
a reservation at their “first choice” restaurant and they decide to go to
their “second choice” restaurant, where they are able to get a reservation.
3. This service represents an important benefit for restaurants,
because by guaranteeing customers a seat, they will be able to start
operating at an earlier time, and serve food until a later time than
average, and thus, serve more parties each day, and consequently, has a
higher daily income.
4. The modality of table reservations helps restaurants to estimate
demand in a more accurate way, and therefore, to improve sourcing
and staffing, and to manage costs more efficiently. By managing
workflow in a better way, through reservations, the restaurant will be
able to deliver a better quality of service.

Clients’ benefits of making table reservations

A client will always benefit from being able to make a table reservation at the
restaurant he wishes to go. Nowadays, the majority of people prefer to go out
knowing that they have a reservation, instead of incurring the risk of not
getting a table at the desired place.

Advantages:

1. A clear benefit of making a table reservation for clients is the security

that they will experience when going out to a restaurant. Making a
reservation will guarantee the client that he will receive his table at the
time and place he has planned.
2. It will be an advantage for the customer to know in advance that he will
not have to go through the trouble of waiting until a table is available, or
being put on a waiting list, or in the worst case, needing to find another
place to eat, because the one chosen won’t be able to serve him.
3. Another important benefit of making a reservation in a desired
restaurant is the better quality of service one will receive. As the
restaurant knows at what time and with how many people the customer
will arrive, a comfortable table with enough seats and space will be
reserved and the restaurant’s staff will be prepared to serve the arriving
group.

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 5 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
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Benefits of an Online Reservation System

Traditionally, restaurants have managed their reservation systems with a

reservation book, which means that they received the reservations through
telephone calls and wrote them down in a book. Nowadays, as a consequence
of the massive use of Internet and its benefits, experts have seen the
opportunity and great added value of creating online reservation systems, and
already many restaurants have replaced the traditional format with these new
systems.

Advantages of Online Reservation System

1. An important advantage of online reservation systems is the flexibility

they offer when making a reservation. When reservations are managed in
the traditional way, patrons will only be able to call a restaurant to make
a reservation during operational hours. On the contrary, when
reservations are managed through an online reservation system,
customers will be able to make their reservation at any time and from
any place they choose. In general, patrons will have a better experience
when making an online reservation, because it will be a quick process,
the service will be available 24/7, and the system will provide all the
necessary information in order to make the desired reservation with
tranquility.
2. Restaurants will experience a great number of benefits when using an
online reservation system. Some of these benefits translate into a decline
in incoming phone calls, a better control of the capacity of the restaurant
and the number of reservations one will be able to accept, and a number
of handy statistics and reports that will help to analyze the business in
interesting ways.
3. Online reservations systems will benefit restaurants with a wide range of
management tools, like operational reports, floor management software,
customer reservation histories, customer data and preferences and
customer databases. Restaurants will also be able to track cancellations
and manage walk-in and waitlists in a better way, eliminate overbooking
and create target mailings with the information from the customer
database.

Table Reservations Procedure for Restaurants

1. Answering the telephone:

Wish the caller as per the time of the day:

Good (morning / afternoon / evening). Roof Top Restaurant Albert speaking.
How may I help you?

2. Acknowledging a reservation request

 Certainly Mr. David, (use name if whenever known)

 Yes of course sir or madam, (use name if known)

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 6 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
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3. Taking the table reservation details:
Standard questions

 May I have your name, please?

 When would you like book your table?
 A table for how many guests?
 Where would you like to sit?
 Do you prefer a smoking area? (Only applicable if your restaurant has
separate smoking area/zone)

4. Check the reservations book

 Please excuse me, (name), while I check the reservations.

 Please allow me to put your call on hold, while I check the availability.
 Just one moment, please (name), while I see what we have available.

5. Return to the caller

 I’m sorry to keep you waiting, (name).

 Sorry to keep you on hold, (guest Name)
 May I have your (mobile number), please?

6. Confirming the details

a. May I please repeat the table reservation details, A table for (2) (this
afternoon / on Sunday, 31 October) at (2.00 p.m.) in the name of (Mr.
David). And your (telephone number) is (123456789). Is that details
correct?

7. Saying goodbye

 Thank you very much for calling, Mr. David. We look forward to seeing
you then. Have a great day ahead.

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 7 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
Revision # 02
FBS 313 40-FBS 313 Mel-Oliver S. Balagtas
 Information Sheet FBS 313–2.2
Sources of Restaurant Reservations

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Identify the different sources of restaurant reservations

Introduction

Restaurant Reservation is an integral part of operations at any fine dining

restaurant. Often patrons plan their lunch and dinner engagements several
weeks or days ahead and make restaurant reservations in advance.

Such advance reservation provides the restaurant management the ability to

prepare in respect to:
1. Number of people expected at a given service period
2. Timing and indication of a ‘rush-hour’
3. Opportunity to recognize, divert and spread the ‘rush-hour’
4. Allocation/ distribution of tables, staff and food preparation
5. Smooth workflow during operations

In short, advance reservations provide an opportunity to avoid surprises to

both costumers and the restaurant management, and a tool for effective table
management.
Reservations are traditionally maintained in a book form. Diners need to call
the restaurant during operational hours to make a reservation. During the last
year, making reservations at restaurants has taken a new route. With the
invention of Internet and its utility in everyday functioning, restaurants are
also moving in the direction of online reservation, offering its patrons the
flexibility to make restaurant reservation from a place and at a time convenient
to them.

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 8 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
Revision # 02
FBS 313 40-FBS 313 Mel-Oliver S. Balagtas
Sources of Reservations
1. Pen-and-paper reservation system – this is a paper-based reservation
system where reservation received through telephone calls or from walk-
in customers are logged or written down on reservations book.
2. Electronic Reservation System - This is a hardware and software
computer package with an Internet link.

Some benefits these packages offer, in contrast to the traditional books, are
the following
1. Touch screen computer
2. Range of Management tools
a. Operational reports
b. Floor management software
c. Track cancellations, walk-in and waitlist
d. Eliminate overbooking
e. View customer reservation histories
3. Customer data
a. Customer preferences and special requests
b. Reservation histories
c. Capture phone numbers, email and postal address at source and
save the information in customer database.
4. Target marketing – create target mailings using information from
customer database
5. Internet reservations

Bachelor of Technical- Date Developed:

Bulacan
Vocational Teacher July 2020
Polytechnic Page 9 of 9
Education Date Revised:
College
Food and Beverage July 2020
Service 1 Document No. Developed by:
Revision # 02
FBS 313 40-FBS 313 Mel-Oliver S. Balagtas