How to setup and customize your experiences ?

In this article, you’ll learn how to configure, customize and optimize your experiences (set menus, events, special offers).

Summary

1. Setting up from the web application
2. Setting up from the iOS application
3. Common issues & FAQs
4. Support & related articles

What you need to know

Experiences allow you to offer specific options to your customers (menus, set formulas, seasonal offers, etc.).
They are displayed online via your reservation module and can include detailed information such as pricing, schedule, and booking conditions.
Each experience is independent — you can activate several simultaneously, each with its own rules.

1. Configure from the web application

1. Create a new experience

• Go to your Settings > Services & Bookings > Services & Experiences, then select Experiences.
• Click the “New Experience” button.
• Name and describe the experience you want to offer (you can add translations in other languages if needed).
• Upload an image that represents the experience. For optimal results, you should aim for:
  - Ratio: 16:9
  - Resolution: 1600 x 900px
  - Maximum file size: 1MB
• Set the experience price and decide whether to display it on the reservation module.
• You can choose to activate prepayment for this experience. See this article for more details on prepaid experiences.
• Click “Create” to save.

2. Define services and applicable days

For this second step of creating an experience, you will be redirected to the services and relevant periods management screen to define on which occasion(s) it will be offered.

• Define the Visibility of the experience. You can choose:

  • Regular

  • You can choose to highlight this experience. It will then be displayed directly on the homepage of your booking module.

  • Private
    
    

• You can choose a different duration for the experience than the booking duration of your tables.

• If necessary, restrict the days and/or period during which you want to offer this experience.

• Select the services for which you want to offer this experience by ticking the blue field next to the name of your services.

• A dropdown banner with new settings will now appear. These allow you to define the availability rules of the experiences more precisely.

You can adjust the following options:

• Limit experience selection to the number of covers:
  Example: Prevent a 2-cover reservation from selecting 3 menus.

• Force the experience to be selected for the whole table:
  Example: All guests must choose the same menu.

• Define cover-based availability:
  Example: Only show a “Group Menu” starting at 6 guests.

• Limit the number of experiences available per service:
  Example: Only 10 “Chef’s Table” menus per evening.

• Set a min/max number of experiences per booking:
  Example: Maximum of 2 “Chef’s Book” menus per reservation.

• Limit number of experiences per time slot:
  Example: Only 2 “Chef’s Table” seats per time slot.

• Restrict an experience to specific rooms. 

To manage experience availability per time slot, click on “Slot List.”

3. Create a dedicated experience for an exceptional service

• First, create your service exception. 

• Then, follow the steps in Chapter 1 (Create a new experience).

• Finally, apply the experience to your exceptional service as shown in Chapter 2.

4. Manage the display order of experiences

The order in which your experiences appear in the back office is reflected in your online booking module.
Simply drag and drop to reorder them.

5. Require an experience for a specific service

By default, experiences are optional for customers when booking online.

To make experience selection mandatory for a specific service:

• Go to the relevant service (from your service calendar or from an exceptional service if applicable).

• Enable “Force online reservations to select an experience.”

• (Optional) Set a minimum number of covers for which the experience is required.

Customers must then select at least one experience per guest. If no experiences are available for that service, the service will not be bookable.

6. Bonus: Temporarily deactivate an experience without deleting it

Want to hide an experience without deleting it (e.g. for Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day)?
Just uncheck the blue toggle next to the experience’s name.

2. Setting up from the Zenchef iOS and Android App

This setting is not yet available in the Zenchef iOS app. Please access your account from the Web App to configure it.

3. Common issues & FAQs

Common cases

• My experience doesn’t show on the booking module
  Make sure it’s activated and that no setting is blocking its availability. Check the “Slot List” section for details.

• My experience doesn’t show on Google Reserve
  Experiences are not currently compatible with the Google Reserve module and won’t appear there.

FAQ

• How can I offer my experience only on certain days?
  Configure this in the “Applicable periods” section of the experience settings.

• What image format should I use for my experience?
  Use a square format. Display size is approximately 350px by 350px.

4. Support & Related Articles

Contact our support team

Need help? Reach out to the Zenchef support team via the chatbot on your dashboard or visit our Help Center.