Lakour - Reservations, Waitlist and Host Stand for a Restaurant Group
Table Reservation System for a Seychelles Restaurant Group
Designed and built a clickable reservation and host stand system for a four-venue restaurant group on Mahé: one day book for every channel, a live floor plan that shows which tables free up next, a walk-in waitlist with table-ready messages, deposit and guarantee terms the guest accepted, and allergy notes that only reach staff with the guest's consent.
Most of our work is under NDA. Per agreement, we can share the work but not the company details - all names and identifying information shown here have been changed.
Impact
Dashboard, host stand with floor plan and table panel, waitlist, reservations day book and reservation detail with Notes, Payment, Messages and History tabs. A venue switcher filters every screen.
SCR 1,000 per person deposit for the Lavann tasting menu (72 hours), SCR 500 per person guarantee for parties of 7 or more (48 hours), SCR 300 for weekend sand tables (24 hours) and prepaid event tickets.
Turn times run from 90 minutes for two to 180 minutes for parties of 7 or more. A table turns amber 10 minutes over and red 20 over, and the host stand lists the tables likely to free up next.
4 venues, 63 tables in 11 areas, 28 guests with local +248 and foreign numbers, 13 waitlist parties, 6 walk-ins and 3 resort concierge partners on one Friday dinner service.
The Problem
Vakwa Hill took bookings by phone, WhatsApp, email, Instagram messages and a paper diary at each host stand. Resort concierges phoned in parties at the last minute, nobody could see the other venues' space, allergies were written on sticky notes that did not always reach the kitchen, and on a busy Friday at Beau Vallon walk-ins were turned away while tables sat on dessert.
Our Solution
Lakour puts every booking for the group's four venues in one day book, whatever the channel. Hosts run service from a live floor plan with course status and turn times, seat walk-ins from a waitlist that texts guests when their table is ready, and every booking carries the exact terms the guest accepted and any allergy note with its consent record.
The Challenge: Four Venues, Six Booking Channels
Vakwa Hill runs a 38-seat tasting-menu room, a 70-seat bistro, a 110-seat beach grill and a 24-seat wine bar on Mahé. Its guests are residents and resort visitors, many booking through their hotel concierge, so one system has to serve hosts, kitchens, concierges and guests at once.
Bookings Scattered Across Channels
Phone, WhatsApp, email, Instagram and a paper diary at each host stand meant no single view of a night. A concierge phoning in a last-minute party could not be offered a table at another venue, because nobody could see one.
No-Shows on Small Rooms
Large parties and tasting-menu tables were the most likely not to arrive, which on a 38-seat room could cost a quarter of a night's covers. Deposits and card guarantees had to be clear and fair under Seychelles consumer law, with the amount and cancellation deadline shown before the guest confirms.
Allergies Are Health Data
Under the Data Protection Act 2023, allergy and medical dietary notes are sensitive personal data. They need the guest's explicit consent, must reach only the staff who need them for that visit, and may only be kept for future visits if the guest asks.
A Host Blind to the Room
The host could not tell which tables were on mains and which were on dessert, so walk-ins were turned away while tables were about to free up. Quotes for the wait were guesses, and guests waiting at the bar had no way to know their table was ready.
Our Approach: From Service Rules to a Clickable Host Stand
Spec and Rules Research
Mapped 10 roles from host and server to kitchen, hotel concierge and guest, 32 screens across staff, concierge portal and public booking pages, and the data model for venues, areas, tables and combinations, shifts with turn times and pacing, versioned booking policies, reservations, table sessions, waitlist entries, events, payments and consented dietary notes. Wrote down the rules the design follows: the Seychelles Data Protection Act 2023, the Fair Trading Act 2022, PCI DSS, 3-D Secure, separate marketing opt-in, Seychelles time and SCR.
Clickable Demo on a Production UI Kit
Built 5 key screens on a production dashboard kit: the dashboard with tonight by venue, the next 7 days against capacity and a needs-attention list, the host stand with arrivals, a floor plan by area with live table status and next free tables, the waitlist with suggested quotes per party size and guest replies inline, the reservations day book with status, channel and payment filters, and the reservation detail with terms, payment events and a consent-gated allergy note. Drag-and-drop seating, joining tables and most modals are left for the production build.
What a Production Build Adds
The availability engine (smallest fitting table, combinations by priority, pacing limits and walk-in holds), a local acquirer's hosted payment page with card tokens and merchant-initiated no-show charges, SMS through Twilio or a local aggregator, the WhatsApp Business Platform, email and POS bill status. Staff roles with a PIN switch for shared tablets, an append-only audit log, retention rules, a legal review of fee wording and health data with Seychelles counsel, and the remaining screens: table timeline, kitchen notes, new booking, guests, events, no-show review, reports, settings, the concierge portal and the mobile-first booking widget.
Why It Works: Service Decisions in Plain Sight
Allergy Notes Travel With Consent
An allergy note shows its consent record (when, how and whether to remember it for next time) and stays flagged until the kitchen marks it acknowledged. The floor plan and day book show an allergy icon on the table, and the dashboard lists notes not yet acknowledged.
The Terms the Guest Saw
Every booking stores the policy that applied, the fee or deposit, the cancellation deadline and the exact wording and terms version the guest accepted. Cards show only the brand and last four digits, and a no-show goes to manager review instead of being charged automatically.
The Host Sees What Frees Up Next
Each table shows its course from seated to bill requested, the party, and minutes seated against the expected turn time. Late bookings move to the top of arrivals after the 15-minute grace period, and the next free tables are listed beside the waitlist.
One Book for Every Channel
Widget, phone, WhatsApp, email, concierge, event and walk-in bookings sit in one day book with channel icons and payment chips. Concierge bookings carry the partner and room reference, and the waitlist masks phone numbers and gives guests 10 minutes to reply once their table is ready.
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
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Location
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
Contact Us
Locations
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
© 2026 - Copyright. All Rights reserved Oceanlab