Creating your floor plan
Restaurant Floorplan shows a bird's eye table view of your venue, built from your Layouts
Ensure that your floor plan set up is configured for best use by your venue
Note: this must be configured in landscape view not portrait.
Creating your floor plan
Your Floor Plan gives you a bird's-eye view of your venue's tables, built from the individual Layouts you've set up for each section. Once it's configured, it shows in your Diary view exactly how your venue is laid out.
Floor plans are set up in two stages: first you configure each section's floor plan on its own, then you combine all your sections into one overall Restaurant Floor Plan.
Note: always set up your floor plan in landscape view, not portrait, so it displays correctly on all screens.
Step 1: Configure each section's floor plan
- Go to Settings, select the dropdown for Tables, then select Floor Plan.
- You'll see a floor plan for each section in your venue. Each one needs to be configured separately before you can combine them into your overall floor plan.
- Select a section's floor plan to open it.
- Drag and drop tables from the sidebar into the grid to build out that section.
- Select a table (either in the grid or the sidebar) to open its edit window. From here you can: a. Change the table's name and shape. b. Set its seating capacity. c. Use the central button to rotate the table.
- Enter the number of seats you'd like for that table.
- Select Done once you've finished editing the table.
- Repeat this for every table in the section.
- Select Save once all your tables are placed and the section looks right.
Adding structures
You can add structures — like walls, doors and windows — to give your floor plan more detail. This can be done on each section's floor plan, and again later when you combine them into the overall floor plan.
- Use the toggle icons to switch between Tables and Structures.
- Drag structures into the grid and position them to match your venue's layout.
- Select Save to keep your changes.
Repeat this process for every section in your venue before moving on to Step 2.
Step 2: Combine your sections into one floor plan
- Once every section has been configured, select the Restaurant Floor Plan button. This is where you'll join all your sections together into one overall view.
- Drag each section into place to build your venue's layout. As before, make sure you're working in landscape view so every section displays correctly on all screens.
- Drag in any structures to finish off the layout.
- Select Save.
Your Restaurant Floor Plan is now ready and will show in your Diary view.
Tip: if your venue already has a floor plan set up in your POS system, use it as a guide when building your Now Book It floor plan — this keeps both systems consistent.
Setting up your floor plan
Where to go: Settings → Tables
Who this is for: venue admins setting up or restructuring seating
Takes about: 20–40 minutes for a full venue
The three layers of a floor plan
Everything under Settings → Tables builds toward one visual floor plan, but each screen controls a different layer. Build them in this order — each one depends on the last.
- Sections — the named areas of your venue (The Bar, The Dining Room, The Terrace).
- Layouts & tables — the actual tables inside each section: name, capacity, shape and booking rules.
- Restaurant Floor Plan — the visual map: where each section sits, plus walls, doors and labels.
A fourth screen, Floor plan settings, controls how that map behaves for your team — default zoom, section titles and live availability.
Step 1 — Create your sections
Settings → Tables → Sections
A section is a named area of your venue — a room, a bar, a terrace. Every table you create later belongs to one. Open Sections and you'll see any existing sections listed with their order number.
On this screen:
- Rename a section by editing its text field directly.
- Reorder sections with the up/down arrows next to each row — this is the order they'll appear across the Diary, the floor plan and the online widget.
- Add section to create a new one — give it a clear, guest-facing name.
⚠️ Saving here updates live: section changes flow straight through to the Diary and your booking widget, so double-check names before you save.
Step 2 — Add the tables in each layout
Settings → Tables → Layouts
A layout is the table list for one section. Most sections need just one layout, but you can create extra layouts for the same section (e.g. a stripped-back layout for a private function) — duplicate an existing one instead of rebuilding it from scratch.
Select New layout, name it, link it to a section, then add each table:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Table name | The label staff and guests see — usually a number. |
| Priority | The order the system books tables in. It matches a booking's party size against capacity and minimum capacity, then books the highest-priority match first (lower number = booked first). |
| Capacity | The maximum guests the table seats. |
| Min capacity | The smallest party the table should be used for. |
| Table shape | Square, rectangle or circle — how it's drawn on the floor plan. |
| Available | All, Diary only, or Walk-ins only — which channels can book the table. |
| Shared | Turn on for communal/long tables that seat multiple, unrelated bookings at once. |
Select Add table to add another row, then Save.
⚠️ Changes apply from today onwards: editing a layout never rewrites past bookings — the new table setup is only reflected in the Diary from the day you save it.
Optional: set up table joins
Switch to the Table Joins tab on the same layout to let the system automatically combine two or more tables for a large party. Select Add table join and choose which tables can be paired together.
Step 3 — Build the visual floor plan
Settings → Tables → Floor plan → Restaurant Floor Plan
This is the drag-and-drop editor your team will recognise as "the floor plan." Every section you built in step 2 already appears here as a block, pre-filled with its own tables — your job is to arrange those blocks (and add walls, doors and labels) to match your real venue.
Working with sections:
- Select a section block and drag it into position — tables move as a group with their section, keeping their layout order.
- Select a block to bring it to front, send it to back, or delete it, using the panel on the left.
- Individual table details (name, capacity, shape) aren't edited here — go back to Layouts for that.
Add structure — drag an item from the left-hand panel onto the plan (or select it to drop one in the centre), then drag it into place. Select an item and use its rotate handle to turn it. Available items: Wall, Window, Left door, Right door, Double door, Text, Text (circle), Text only.
Use Undo/Redo freely while you experiment. Select Save once the plan matches your venue, or Cancel to discard everything since your last save.
✅ Tip: build the walls and doors first so you've got a floor to work with, then drag sections into the rooms they belong in — it's much easier than positioning sections on a blank grid.
Step 4 — Fine-tune floor plan settings
Settings → Tables → Floor plan settings
These settings change how the floor plan behaves day to day, not how it looks structurally.
- Default zoom — 50%, 75% or 100%. 100% suits a large monitor, 50–75% suits an iPad or a busy floor with many sections.
- Show section titles — toggle the section name labels on or off over each block.
- Show availability — set the time window (45–90 minutes by default) the floor plan uses to work out which tables look free. Recommended: set the maximum to match your default service duration.
Optional: group sections and services
Settings → Tables → Section groups / Service groups
- Section groups — bundle several sections together (e.g. every indoor room) so they can be filtered as one group in the Diary, table mode and run sheet. Purely a filtering convenience.
- Service groups — the same idea, applied to services instead of sections.
Tip: You can use your POS floor plan as a guide for set up, to keep them consistent in your venue.