What are Shifts
First things first, what are Shifts? In FRANK, Shifts define when your restaurant is open for reservations. They tell FRANK exactly which days and times guests can book a table, how far in advance they can reserve, and which special moments or menus are available during those hours.
Think of a Shift as your restaurant’s schedule blueprint: it keeps your booking system organized, prevents double bookings, and ensures guests can only reserve when you’re actually open and ready to welcome them.
This article explains how to set up your Shifts and start accepting online reservations.
Setting up Shifts
Setting up a Shifts consists of eight steps. First, go to Manage → Shifts and click + Shift in the top right corner.
You'll now see a pop-up in which the eight steps are displayed on the left. We'll walk through each one below.
Step 1: Tickets
Each Shift is connect to a Ticket. A Ticket is the specific moment or experience you offer and which is displayed in the widget with a visual and description. For example; a lunch, a high tea or a chef's table. If you haven't created a Ticket yet. Do this first.
→ Read here how to create and manage Tickets
If you do have a Ticket for which you are creating a Shift, select the Ticket and click on Next at the bottom right.
Step 2: Color
The second step is to choose a color for your Shift so it stands out in your overview. The color will only be used in the overview and isn't visible to guests. It helps you, for example, to quickly recognize your High Tea reservations if you give that one a red color.
Once set, click on Next at the bottom right again.
Step 3: Time & Days
The next step is to set the time range for when you want to accept reservations (note: these are reservation times, not opening hours).
Under Time:
Select the first bookable time slot
And the last bookable time slot
Under Date:
Choose the date from which this Ticket becomes available. Then, set whether and how the shift repeats:
Never: for one-time events.
Repeat: select the desired days and set an end date.
Example: a lunch Ticket might be something you offer daily, select all days on which you offer this Ticket. A Sunday Brunch, however, is something you only offer on Sundays, select then only the Sundays.
Once you've set this up, click on Next at the bottom right again.
Step 4: Seating & Limits
In the fourth step, you can set up:
The minimum and maximum party size for this Ticket
The standard duration
Whether or not this Ticket has a fixed end time
Squeeze reservations
1. Party size
Select the minimum and maximum number of guests — this depends on your tables and table combinations.
For example: for a group Ticket you might want to set the minimum party size to 8 and the maximum to 20, whereas for a lunch Ticket, you might want to set the minimum party size to 1 and the maximum to 8.
2. Seating duration
Set the default seating duration for this Ticket (e.g. 120 min for a four-course menu, longer for groups).
Optionally, you can show the end-time to guests. This will be displayed in the widget, within the Ticket information, on the check-out screen, and in the confirmation and reminder emails.
3. Squeeze
With Squeeze, you can offer shortened reservations which will automatically fill the gaps in your planning.
For example: if you have set the standard seating duration to 120 minutes, but you know you can offer the same experience in 90 minutes, it's a win-win. Guests can still make a booking, even when all regular time slots are full, and you get to fill the gaps in your planning. Similar to end times, guests will be informed of the duration throughout the reservation process.
4. Seating limits
With seating limits, you can restrict the availability of a ticket regardless of free tables. You can set limits based on the number of guests, number of reservations, or a combination.
For example: max. 10 lunch deals or max. 40 guests for the lunch deal. If you work with seating limits, don’t forget to link manually entered reservations to the correct Ticket. It is possible to override limits for fixed events or groups.
Once you've set this all op, click on Next at the bottom right again.
⚡ Pro tip: experiment with the squeeze and seating limit features, they’re powerful tools. Just make sure not to overbook your restaurant. FRANK gives you the flexibility; you set the balance.
Step 5: Areas
By default, a ticket can be booked on all active tables in all areas. To link a Ticket to a specific area (e.g. Chef’s Table or Terrace), you can set this up here.
If you want to exclude certain areas from a specific Ticket, you can also set this up. For example, you might want your lunch to not be bookable in your Private Dining area.
Enable Show area name to let guests see where they’ll be seated — this will then appear in the widget, the ticket information, on the checkout screen, and in the confirmation & reminder email).
Click on Next in the bottom right again when you're done.
Step 6: Booking Window
The booking window allows you to set how close to the start time guests can still make a reservation.
Default: real-time, up to 5 minutes before start.
For groups, it’s often smart to build in a few hours’ buffer.
Also set how far in advance guests can book (default: 1 year).
Click on Next in the bottom right again when you're done.
Step 7: Waitlist
Enable a waitlist for the shift so guests can sign up when a time slot is full.
Optional: let FRANK automatically send a message when a spot opens up or contact the guest yourself.
Step 8: Channels
The final step choosing whether you want to recommend this Ticket in the widget as a popular moment. It will then always be showed when guests open the Widget. You might want to use this feature when you have a specific (temporary event) that you want to promote (such as a Christmas dinner).
The direct link allows you to share the Ticket in for example a newsletter.
You did it! You set up your entire Shift from scratch. You can now repeat this process for all different types of moments (Tickets) that you offer.