Table Planner

A step-by-step guide for setting up and using the Table Planner feature on Dines

Table Planner

Welcome to our guide on the Dines Table Planner! 👋

The Table Planner gives you a bird’s eye view of your venue. It lets you see where your guests are sitting, what stage of the dining experience they’re at, and loads of other info, all available at a glance. 

In this article, we will guide you through how to set everything up, so that your venue is up and running with a smart, accurate Table Plan. Let’s jump in. 👇

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Creating Your Table Plan

Before you can use a Table Plan on EPOS, you’ll first have to create one. To get started, head to Settings > EPOS > Table Planner, or click here. While you’ll be using the finished version of your Table Plan on EPOS (via the Dines for Venues app) we would highly recommend creating it with the use of a mouse and keyboard - it’ll save you a fair bit of time!

When you land on the Table Planner screen, you’ll see two options; 

• Table Planner: Enable this toggle to make the Table Planner active. 

• Create a Table Plan: Exactly what it says on the tin.

So, without further ado, let’s Create a Table Plan.

Clicking the button will first open up a dialogue box where you can fill in a Name and Description for your Table Plan. Fill those in, and you’ll be ready to build.

Now you’ll be greeted with a glorious blank canvas. This is where you’ll build your Table Plan. Before we start adding to it, let’s quickly cover what each of the black buttons around the canvas does.

• “?” (top-left corner): Need help? Click this to open a brief list of handy shortcuts, such as;

  • Deleting a Construct: Select it, and then press either Backspace or Delete

  • Select Multiple: Click and drag across the items

  • Pan: Hold down “Alt” and drag with your mouse.

  • Zoom: Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac), and scroll. 

• Zoom Controls (bottom-left): Use the + or - to zoom in or out. The centre number shows your current zoom level. 

• “You have no changes to save” (bottom-centre): This will update when you make changes. When it turns green, be sure to hit “Save” before leaving the screen!

• “Reset View” (bottom-right): Re-centres the canvas and returns the zoom to 100%.

• “Add +” (top-right): Click this to add your constructs, which we’ll jump into right now.

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Adding Constructs

Time to bring your Table Plan to life! This part is all about recreating your venue layout using Walls, Doors and Tables (collectively known as “Constructs”). How it looks in the end will be completely up to you, but we’ll walk you through how each construct works. 

When you click “Add,” you will get three options; add a Wall, add a Door, and add a Table. We generally recommend building your venue’s walls and doors first, so that you’ve got your structure in place before dropping in the tables. That way, you won’t need to reposition things later on. 

Upon selecting “Wall,” a red line will appear on your canvas. You can drag this line wherever you want to represent a wall, then use the resize handles to adjust its shape;

• Horizontal handles make the line longer.

• Vertical handles make the line taller.

• Diagonal handles will scale the line overall.

There is also the rotation handle at the very top, which you can use to tilt the wall to any angle you please.

You can use this to build the walls of your venue. Of course, the final result will depend on your space, but here’s an example of what it might look like; 

Next, we would recommend adding doors to the canvas. This will help ensure that you’re not accidentally blocking entry or exit points when you add tables later. 

Doors are added the same way as walls, and appear as a quarter-circle to represent the full swing of the opening. With doors, your Table Plan will be starting to take shape, like the below; 

Now, the final part. Let’s add some tables! 

Tables come with more options than walls and doors, since they can vary in size, shape and seating arrangement. So we’ll get started by clicking “Add+” at the top-right, and selecting “Table.” 

A side-panel will now open on the right-hand side. First, you will be asked “What Table/Location are you creating?” This is where you will select the corresponding Table at your venue. If you haven’t yet created any tables for your venue on Dines, please check our article on EPOS Settings, which will guide you through this. 

Once that’s sorted, choose your table from the drop-down. For this walkthrough, we’ll work from the start, and go with “Table 1” at our example venue. 

Next, you must choose the Table Shape, for which you’ll have four options; Square, Round, Rectangle, or Oval. If you choose Square, Round or Oval, you’ll be asked to select the Number of Seats (for which there is no limit), and then you can select “Create Table” to add your table to the canvas. 

If you select a Rectangular table, however, you will notice a few extra options appears. You will still be prompted to select your Number of Seats, but you’ll also be required to select the Dimensions of the table, as well as the number of seats on each end. 

When you enter Number of Seats for your rectangular table, the system will automatically calculate the most appropriate seating balance, but you are free to edit these however you wish by clicking on the field and typing a number. 

When picking a Dimension, you are simply telling the system how long the rectangular table will be. A ratio of 2:1 is your standard rectangle (twice as long as it is tall), but for especially long banquet-style tables, you can go all the way up to a ratio of 6:1.  

With all this in mind, give it a shot! Remember you can delete a table by selecting it and pressing backspace on your keyboard, and you can zoom in/out by holding Ctrl/Cmd and scrolling on your mouse. Tables can be resized and rotated to fit your scale, so you will have all the tools you need to make an accurate version of your venue’s floorplan. 

When you’re finished, it might look a little something like this; 

 

Once you’re happy with your layout, there are just a couple of Settings to check before it’s ready for EPOS. First of all, let’s make sure that the “Table Planner” toggle is enabled, so that the Table Plan is visible on EPOS.

 

Next, click on “Options” next to your Table Plan of choice, and select “Set as Default.” This tells EPOS which layout to display when you open the Table Plan view.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to switch over to your iOS device! Your Table Plan is ready for action on EPOS. 

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Using the Table Plan on EPOS

It’s time to see your Table Plan live and in action. Let’s first do a quick check to make sure you have Table Service active, which we can do by heading to the EPOS tab, and then Functions (⚙) > Checkout Settings > Enable Table Service. 

Now that you have that enabled, head back to the EPOS tab and select “Tables” at the top of the page. Here, you will see a list of all your venue’s tables, but you will also see two toggles at the top; Grid View and Table Plan. Of course, you want to tap on Table Plan so you can see your creation!

Your Table Plan will then display like the below; 

If you have multiple Table Plans (e.g., Floor 1 and Floor 2 of a venue), you can use the arrows to the left or right of the area name to flick between views. 

From your Table Plan, you can tap on any of your Tables to open up a new session, just like you would from Grid View. The benefit of Table Plan view is that you get a complete visual of your venue, making it easier to spot what’s happening. For each table, you can instantly see;

• Whether a table is free. Unoccupied tables will show the “Available” heading. 

• If a customer’s order has been taken. If a guest has been seated but hasn’t had their order taken yet, the “Seated” heading will appear. 

• The status of an order. You’ll see if the order is at the “Preparing” Stage or marked as “Orders Served.”

• Whether a customer has paid. If a payment is in progress, the “Payments” heading will appear.

• The contents of their order. Tap on any table to view exactly what items the customer has ordered. 

 

 

And that’s everything! 🎉

Please feel free to play around with the Table Planner to get a feel for how it works. From our experience, you can create any layout with it, so don’t be afraid to flex your creative muscles. 

If you ever need a hand setting things up, our team is always happy to help. After all, they are proven experts! Just for fun, take a look at some of the “works of art” they’ve created themselves using the Table Planner; 

                     

Fear not, the team can help with non-Disney/Porsche-related Table Plans, too. 😉

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Thank you for reading through our guide on the Table Planner. If you have any questions or feedback at all, or if there is a particular Knowledge Base article you’d like to see, please get in touch. You can reach us via email at care@dines.co.uk, or use our Live Chat and WhatsApp support services by clicking here.