Online table reservation
A website for the largest restaurant in the CIS with the table reservation option
A website for the largest restaurant in the CIS with the table reservation option.
In this project, we automated the work flows of place reservation and kitchen load control. We developed a website with an admin section and replaced all the programmes within the restaurant.
For whom might it be interesting?
For restaurants at the same scale and even chain restaurants. Yet creating reservation systems is in our blood so we can help anyone including transportation, hotels and others.
For whom might it be interesting?
Druzya restaurant and brewery. It is one of the largest restaurants in the CIS, its area being 5,000 sq. m. More than 2,000 guests visit the restaurant daily drinking over 500 litres of beer.
What was the request?
They wanted an online reservation system for the guests to select their tables in real time and for the hostesses to meet the guests at the restaurant and be aware where to show them to. However, it turned out to be a huge tool with lots of perks. It has a reservation via the website option, accounting of the guests on site and kitchen load which all helped to control the stock by item.
Who made it?
The project was realised in 2016 by a team consisting of Vladilen Chernyavsky, Aleksandr Kuleshov and Ilya Filipenko. They were in charge of backend, frontend and design of the website, respectively.
How long did it take?
Despite the scale of the project it was all done quite quickly, actually, which won the customer over. The design took about 2 months and development about 3.
What’s the punchline?
The project’s architecture was initially built around the idea of scalability. The hierarchy has a restaurant which may have several establishments each of which may have several halls, floors, and then each element of the hierarchy shall have its own settings. Such as free/paid entrance, working hours, etc.
We always realise a project with a view for the future. That’s why it is important to keep the reservation system and the website independent. In terms of architecture, there is the reservation system with algorithms in place for integration with any and every external source, be it a website, a widget or an application. That is, once the company expands, there will be no need to rewrite the whole code.
Why is it cool for the user?
Just imagine! You’re planning to go to a restaurant. And you know it’s often crowded there, it’s better to reserve a table. But all these ‘Leave your contact details and we’ll reach you’, ‘Call by the telephone’ — which no one answers — or endless attempts to reach the restaurant via a chat or direct messages simply kill any initiative. With Druzya, it takes a couple of clicks to reserve a table, make a pre-order, if required, and pay. All in live mode. And at the same time, one can be sure the administrators, waiters and the kitchen will get the information.
Oh, and if you decide to cancel for some reason, you can do it and return your money via the website, too.
Why is it cool for the customer?
First, we automated and customised the process of interaction with the customer. All reservations are made automatically without any notes, remarks or forgotten comments. All through the internal system. Plus, we removed the necessity for the people to make a deposit in person by introducing an online payment system. And if the guest suddenly interrupted the process of reservation, the table they took will become available after a while. By the way, the logic of selecting tables is a custom one, such as a company of 4 guests would not be offered a table for six for reservation.
Second, roles are distinguished: kitchen, marketing, waiter, hostess or even a banquet manager. Each of them has their individual level of access and options. For example, administrators can hold tables so that no one could book them from outside. And there’s a history log for each order to find the error and the guilty party should there be one.
Third, there’s additional analytics for marketing. Given that our system has many fields in addition to the reserved tables, kitchen orders and the number of guests we can provide the corresponding selections. Such as, filter those who visit regularly on Thursdays, has wheat unfiltered beer or makes takeaway orders on Fridays. Invent a promotion and make a mailout to motivate guests to visit more often.
Fourth, we made things easier for the kitchen. It is possible to select pre-orders for a day/week to make the required number of semi-finished products. Or review the best sold items at the end of the month. Numerous variations are possible. What’s important, they are all united in one system. It is exactly what allows to reduce costs, increase attendance or make a visit comfortable.
Which technologies were used?
Front-end: React, Next.js are our main front end stack used for interfaces and Server Side Rendering.
Back-end: PHP, Laravel are our main back end stack, the most popular PHP framework currently.
Databases: PostgreSQL, Redis are used for reliable storage of the main data.
Server: Docker, Kubernetes allow cost reduction for server infrastructure maintenance, CI/CD processes.
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Originally published at https://dev.family.
