Having a reservation system on your website has become essential for a restaurant. Like many industries, the restaurant and food sectors have experienced significant digitalization in recent years. Today, consumers need to compare, check customer reviews, place orders online, and more.
To illustrate this point, here are some key figures regarding online reservations in 2021:
- 80% of French people choose their restaurant based on information found online.
- 69% of French people consult online reviews when making restaurant reservations.
- 50% of French people book their restaurant directly online.
- 47% of restaurant owners offer an online reservation service.
Having an online reservation system for your restaurant is therefore indispensable to meet this online demand.
In this article, we present several types of reservation systems for restaurants that you can integrate into your Webflow site.
1 - Webflow Form (Free)
Creating a web form directly within Webflow is a simple and free way to easily receive your reservation requests via email. Webflow forms allow you to choose freely which fields you want your visitors to complete. You can ask for the number of guests, a phone number, or the date and time of the reservation. This way, you will have a simple and effective reservation system for your restaurant.
But where will all these reservations go? Well, if no tools are connected to your Webflow site, you will simply receive them via email. This is also the limitation of this free solution, as you will need to enter each reservation manually.
You can use a tool like Make (Integromat) or Zapier to enhance this reservation system:
- Automate sending confirmation emails for received requests
- Send an email to your team
Advantages
✅ Free
✅ Quick to set up
✅ No management required
Disadvantages
❌ No option to accept or decline reservations
❌ No tracking or reminders for reservations
2 - Jotform Reservation System (Low Cost)
Jotform is initially an online form-building tool. This no-code tool offers numerous features for creating forms that meet all types of needs. As it stands, it is difficult to see the advantage of a Jotform form over a Webflow form for restaurateurs. To understand better, we need to delve into the advanced features of the tool.
Jotform actually allows you to create highly customizable online forms. You can adapt your form according to your needs in terms of both design and functionality. One particular feature enables you to transform this form into a true reservation system for your restaurant: the calendar feature. With this calendar, your reservation system can:
- Customize fields (names, time, phone, etc.)
- Offer time slots for reservations
- Manage intervals between reservations
- Add sliding days to limit future reservations
- Define closing periods
- Set a maximum number of reservations per day
- Schedule confirmation emails
- Schedule automated reminder emails
In addition to all these features, Jotform allows you to connect your reservation system with an integrated approval system. Simply put, if you want the reservation requests to be accepted or declined by you, you can do so. Thus, a group of 15 people cannot reserve without your confirmation. Jotform is therefore the perfect tool to start testing online reservations on your site.
Set up your Jotform reservation system for your restaurant.
Advantages
✅ Free up to 100 reservations per month
✅ Easy to use and customizable
✅ Feature-rich
Disadvantages
❌ No connection to your cash register
❌ No identification by table
3 - TheFork
TheFork, also known as LaFourchette in French, is a web platform that lists thousands of restaurants online. Customer reviews,
TheFork Manager is a comprehensive management solution that allows restaurateurs to update their restaurant profile and schedule their reservation system. The reservation tool is designed to be simple and intuitive, for example, it enables managers to easily place customers based on available seats in the dining room. The tool from La Fourchette also offers a dashboard that provides restaurateurs with insights into reservations and the occupancy rate of their restaurant. Many other features allow restaurateurs to optimize their reservation system by qualifying each customer: tracking customer reviews, combating no-shows, confirmations via email or SMS, reliability scoring, email marketing, etc.
The integration possibilities on your website are numerous:
- Link
- Fixed button
- Floating button
- Iframe
- Calendar integration
- WordPress plugin
Connect TheFork to Webflow
Advantages
✅ Feature-rich
✅ Integration possibilities (website, social media, etc.)
✅ Connected to your restaurant and teams
Disadvantages
❌ Price
❌ Digital maturity of the staff
4 - OpenTable
OpenTable is a web platform that lists restaurants in France and around the world. Customer reviews, information about your establishment, photos, menu, contact, etc. OpenTable also offers many tools for restaurateurs:
- Reservation solutions,
- Marketing tools,
- Takeout services,
- etc.
Perfectly designed for restaurants, bars, hotels, or even casinos, you can easily schedule and connect your reservation form to your website: integration within a page or widget.
Advantages
✅ Connected to your tables
✅ Connected to your cash register
✅ Feature-rich
Disadvantages
❌ Price
❌ Digital maturity of the staff
5 - Formitable
Like OpenTable, Formitable is a tool specifically designed for restaurateurs. This tool offers broad solutions for managing your business online:
- Takeaway,
- Reservation system,
- Website pop-up,
- Performance dashboard
- Email marketing
- etc.
Perfectly connected to your physical restaurant, the Formitable reservation system can easily integrate into your website via a pop-up in the bottom right of your screen. Fully customizable, this pop-up offers essential features to speed up the reservation process from your site: accessibility, two-click reservations.
Advantages
✅ Reservations from your social media
✅ Waitlist feature
✅ Performance dashboard
Disadvantages
❌ Price
❌ Digital maturity of the staff
