In this article, you will find everything you need to know about Table Reassignment: what it is, how to activate it, and how it works for you and your guests.
Summary
- What is Table Reassignment and why use it?
- How to activate Table Reassignment
- Troubleshooting & FAQs
What you need to know
When a booking's party size, time, or date changes, Zenchef needs to decide what happens to the table that was already assigned. Table Reassignment lets you choose how that decision gets made: automatically, or fully in your hands. The system already reassigns automatically today — this setting just gives you the option to turn that off.
1. What is Table Reassignment and why use it?
Decide whether Zenchef reassigns tables for you, or leaves the choice to your team.
When a guest asks to change their party size, time, or date on an existing booking, the table originally assigned may no longer be the right fit. Table Reassignment gives you two ways to handle that:
• Auto re-assign — Zenchef automatically finds a better-fitting table based on the new party size and time. This is the default, and matches how reassignment already works today.
• Keep manual + warn — Zenchef keeps the table your team manually assigned and shows a warning if it no longer fits, so your team decides whether to change it or keep it as is.
Tables you've locked are never affected — a locked table always stays assigned to its booking, no matter which mode you choose.
When a guest asks to change their party size, time, or date on an existing booking, the table originally assigned may no longer be the right fit. Table Reassignment gives you two ways to handle that:
• Auto re-assign — Zenchef automatically finds a better-fitting table based on the new party size and time. This is the default, and matches how reassignment already works today.
• Keep manual + warn — Zenchef keeps the table your team manually assigned and shows a warning if it no longer fits, so your team decides whether to change it or keep it as is.
Tables you've locked are never affected — a locked table always stays assigned to its booking, no matter which mode you choose.
2. How to activate Table Reassignment
Set it once from your restaurant settings — it applies to every booking going forward.
Go to Reserve > Operations > Table and choose your preferred mode: Auto re-assign or Keep manual + warn. You can switch between the two at any time.
This setting only appears if table inventory is enabled for your restaurant.
Go to Reserve > Operations > Table and choose your preferred mode: Auto re-assign or Keep manual + warn. You can switch between the two at any time.
This setting only appears if table inventory is enabled for your restaurant.
3. Troubleshooting & FAQs
Common Issues
• A table I manually assigned changed on its own — Check your Table Reassignment setting: if it's set to Auto re-assign, Zenchef will reassign tables automatically whenever a booking's pax, time, or date changes. Switch to Keep manual + warn if you want to keep manual control.
• I see a warning that the table "is missing X seats" — This appears in Keep manual + warn mode when a booking's party size grows beyond what the assigned table fits. Your team can choose to keep the table or reassign it manually.
• A locked table didn't get reassigned even though I have Auto re-assign on — This is expected. Locked tables are always kept as assigned, regardless of your Table Reassignment setting.
*FAQ*
• Does this affect bookings made on the old reservation form? — No, Table Reassignment only applies to bookings made or edited on the new reservation form.
• Will editing a guest note trigger a table change? — No. Table assignment only changes when party size, time, meal duration, experience, or date changes — not for edits like guest notes.
• Is this available on mobile? — Not yet. Table Reassignment is currently available on web only; mobile support is planned for a future release.
• A table I manually assigned changed on its own — Check your Table Reassignment setting: if it's set to Auto re-assign, Zenchef will reassign tables automatically whenever a booking's pax, time, or date changes. Switch to Keep manual + warn if you want to keep manual control.
• I see a warning that the table "is missing X seats" — This appears in Keep manual + warn mode when a booking's party size grows beyond what the assigned table fits. Your team can choose to keep the table or reassign it manually.
• A locked table didn't get reassigned even though I have Auto re-assign on — This is expected. Locked tables are always kept as assigned, regardless of your Table Reassignment setting.
*FAQ*
• Does this affect bookings made on the old reservation form? — No, Table Reassignment only applies to bookings made or edited on the new reservation form.
• Will editing a guest note trigger a table change? — No. Table assignment only changes when party size, time, meal duration, experience, or date changes — not for edits like guest notes.
• Is this available on mobile? — Not yet. Table Reassignment is currently available on web only; mobile support is planned for a future release.
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