Why I created Table Harmony: the story behind our restaurant booking system
By Steve Evans, founder of Table Harmony and owner of Patagonia restaurants in Gran Alacant, Alicante.
Published
Running a restaurant means balancing a lot of things at once. You want to make it easy for customers to book, give your team the information they need and make sure you can provide a good service when everyone arrives.
I run two Patagonia restaurants in Gran Alacant, Alicante. Over the years, I’ve seen how much thought goes into organising a service—even before the first customer walks through the door.
A table may be available at 8 pm, but what if several other groups are arriving at the same time? What if the booking is for a large party and we need to move tables? And how do we make sure a reservation taken over the phone is visible to everyone else?
These were some of the everyday questions I had in mind when I created Table Harmony, a restaurant booking system designed around the way my own restaurants work.
Why I wanted a simpler way to manage bookings
Like many restaurant owners, I wanted customers to have the option to book online while still being able to contact us by phone or speak to us in person.
I also wanted to keep control over the service. Accepting online reservations should not mean that every table is available at every time or that the restaurant has to accept every group automatically.
The system needed to be practical for the team too. During a busy service, staff need to be able to find a booking, see what is coming next and add a reservation without a complicated process.
With my background in hospitality and IT, I started building a booking system for Patagonia. That became the foundation for Table Harmony.
How we handle online bookings at Patagonia
One of the decisions we made was to use a combination of automatic confirmations and booking requests.
At Patagonia, our current approach is:
- Groups of 1 to 8 people: confirmed automatically when there is availability and the booking meets our rules.
- Groups of 9 to 12 people: submitted as requests for us to review before confirming.
- Groups of more than 12 people: customers are asked to contact us directly.
This gives smaller groups a straightforward way to book while allowing us to look more closely at larger parties.
For example, a larger group may need tables combined or a conversation about the best arrangement for the occasion. Reviewing the request gives us the chance to check those details before confirming.
These are the settings that suit our restaurants. Another restaurant might prefer to review every online booking, confirm more bookings automatically or set different limits.
Read more in our guide to booking requests and automatic confirmation.
Keeping control of arrivals and availability
A restaurant’s capacity is about more than the number of seats.
Imagine that you have enough empty tables for 30 guests, but all 30 arrive within a few minutes. Even though there may be physical space, the team still needs to greet everyone, take drinks orders and begin service.
That is why it helps to think about the pace of arrivals as well as the number of tables.
Table Harmony lets restaurants set booking intervals and limits for each time slot. Together with opening hours and availability, these settings help restaurant owners decide how many online bookings they want to accept.
The aim is to create a flow that works for the team and the customer—not simply to fill every available seat as quickly as possible.
Organising tables for the service
At Patagonia, as in many restaurants, tables are not all used in exactly the same way. A table that is suitable for two people may sometimes be combined with another for a larger group.
Table Harmony allows restaurants to set up their tables, organise them into areas and create combinations. The system can assign a suitable table using the configured availability, and staff can review or change the assignment.
That gives the team a view of the service while retaining the flexibility to make decisions when circumstances change.
You can read more in our guide to restaurant tables, areas and combinations.
Bringing reservations together
Online bookings are only part of the picture. We also receive reservations by telephone, message and in person.
What matters is that the team has one clear place to record and review them. In Table Harmony, staff can add bookings received through other channels alongside online reservations.
For example, if a customer calls or books in person, a team member can add the reservation to the digital diary. It then appears alongside the online bookings, so everyone can see what is planned for the service.
If a customer contacts us by WhatsApp, we can either add the booking ourselves or send them our online booking link.
Bringing everything together helps the team keep track of reservations without having to check several different places.
Built from a restaurant owner’s perspective
I created Table Harmony because I wanted a system that made sense for my restaurants and the people working in them.
Not every restaurant operates in the same way. Some owners want to review every reservation; others prefer automatic confirmation. Some need a visual floor plan, while others are happy with a simple list of bookings.
My aim is to give restaurants a practical choice and help them get started in a way that suits them.
To see each step, read how Table Harmony works.
Table Harmony offers online reservations, booking requests and automatic confirmations, table management and booking controls, with no commission per booking. Restaurants can try it free for 30 days, with no card required.