Founder of ViteUneTable
A freelance developer for over ten years, Ludovic Frank created ViteUneTable to give restaurant owners a free reservation software with no commission. He works with restaurants every day on managing their reservations and shares his experience here.
Everyone debates delivery commissions. Almost nobody has priced the dining side: the commission, the funded discount and the GST on top. Here is the full cost stack of an aggregator table booking, with a worked INR example.
WhatsApp is the front door of Indian restaurant bookings, from neighbourhood CDRs to tasting-menu rooms. Here is how to run it well, where it breaks, and the hybrid setup that fixes it.
In Malaysia the reservation book is often a WhatsApp thread on one phone. Here is how to keep the channel guests love, fix the failure modes and put a real system underneath.
Visit Malaysia 2026 is live, 2025 closed at 42.2 million foreign visitors, and the Michelin Guide keeps pointing the world at KL and Penang. Tourists are coming. Whether they end up at your tables depends on six practical things: Google Maps, online booking in their language, clear halal and dietary information, honest pricing, payments that work for foreign cards, and protection on the bookings that matter.
In October 2022, more than 900 outlets sent delisting notices to Swiggy Dineout over deep discounting. If you are weighing the same move today, here are the real options: stay on your terms, switch aggregators, adopt reservation software, or build a direct booking channel at 0% commission.
Two different lines confuse Malaysian diners on every bill: the 6% service tax and the 10% service charge. One is a tax you remit to Customs, the other is not a tax at all. Here is exactly what an F&B owner must charge, display and remit, with the maths done properly.
Mandatory service charge is off the table in India, and the CCPA is fining restaurants that keep auto-adding it. Here is the operator-side guide: the timeline, the enforcement record, and everything you may still legally do.
One Taiwanese group owns both local booking marketplaces, the incumbent bills in US dollars, and nobody offers an unlimited free plan. Here is the honest Malaysian comparison, prices and fine print included.
Swiggy Dineout, District, EazyDiner, Eat App, Petpooja: who publishes a price, who charges commission, and where the real free plan is. The honest Indian comparison.
A table of eight that never turns up on a Saturday night takes the evening's profit with it. Here is the Indian no-show playbook: UPI advances, reminder discipline, a walk-in queue, and a policy that stands on Indian contract law, not imported advice.
No Malaysian statute bans or blesses restaurant no-show fees. The real rules live in the Contracts Act, a 2019 Federal Court case and the Consumer Tribunal. Here is how to charge a deposit that holds up.
No other market runs Chinese New Year reunion dinners, Ramadan buffets and Deepavali through the same dining room in one year. Here is the Malaysian restaurant calendar, season by season: when to open bookings, when to take deposits, and when the city empties out.
A deposit policy is only as good as the rail that collects it. DuitNow QR cannot hold money, FPX links cost from RM1.25 a transaction, and only a card can be pre-authorised. Here is how each option works for a Malaysian restaurant, with verified fees.
A 20-guest booking that never shows up can wipe out a Saturday. Here is the Indian playbook for booking advances: when to take one, how much, which UPI rails to use, and the refund ladder to put in writing.
For thirty days, every guest arrives at the same minute and the whole night rides on one seating. Here is the operator's playbook for the Malaysian iftar season: pricing benchmarks, early-bird and corporate strategy, deposits, and the quiet weeks that follow.
Every booking your restaurant takes is personal data under Malaysia's PDPA, and since the 2024 amendments the stakes include RM1 million fines and a 72-hour breach clock. Here is what the law actually asks at the host stand: notices, marketing consent, allergy notes, and the platform question nobody puts in writing.
SSM registration, the PBT premises and signboard licence, KKM food handler training, the liquor licence, SST thresholds and the e-invoice rules: every step to open a restaurant in Malaysia, in the right order, with the sources.
FSSAI registration, GST, Shops and Establishments, the trade licence, fire NOC, liquor licence and music licences: every step to open a restaurant in India, in the right order, with sources for every fee.
From June to September, rain decides how many covers you seat. Here is the monsoon playbook for Indian restaurants: flexible rescheduling, seasonal menus, mid-week offers and a booking funnel that keeps working when walk-ins stop.
From late March to the end of May, IPL match nights can fill a restaurant on a Tuesday. They can also park one table on your best screen for four hours. Here is the operator playbook: seating windows, minimum spends done the Indian way, group advances and the screening licence.
Halal certification is voluntary for Malaysian restaurants, yet it can decide who books your iftar buffet and your corporate dinners. The real JAKIM fees, the MYeHALAL process, the staffing rules, and an honest look at when certification pays for itself.
Neither GrabFood nor foodpanda publishes a rate card, yet every Malaysian operator knows the commission line is the one that hurts. Here is what the platforms reportedly charge, what delivery really costs once packaging and boosting are counted, what the Uber takeover of foodpanda's parent means, and how to grow the one channel that takes 0% of anything.
A handful of festive nights decide an Indian restaurant's year. Here is the operator playbook: prepaid New Year's Eve packages, Diwali corporate groups, muhurat clustering and the monsoon trough.
EazyDiner has the strongest premium coverage of India's dining aggregators, and no public rate card. Here is the honest operator view: what it does well, what it costs, when it makes sense for your outlet, and how to build a direct booking channel alongside it.
Eatigo fills quiet time slots with discount-hunting diners and only charges you when they show up. Here is the honest maths on what a 50% table costs a Malaysian restaurant, and when the deal works.
Most of what circulates about e-invoicing for Malaysian F&B is out of date: the exemption threshold moved to RM3 million on 1 September 2026. Here is the current picture, from the phased rollout to consolidated e-invoices, the MyInvois portal, and how booking deposits are treated.
Every table booking is personal data: a name, a mobile number, a note that says pure veg or birthday. India's DPDP Act will put real duties on every restaurant that holds a guest list, with no small-business exemption and penalties up to ₹250 crore. The substantive obligations arrive around May 2027, which means the clock to get your guest data in order has already started.
Reunion dinner tables in Malaysia are gone before the menus are even out: booked a year ahead, sold as set menus, secured with deposits. Here is the operator's playbook for the biggest booking peak of the Malaysian F&B year, including the 2027 calendar collision nobody else has.
Chope has been absorbed into Grab, Quandoo is shutting down, and almost every system sells by quote. Here is the honest Singapore comparison, fees and fine print included.
A no-show fee is legal in New Zealand, but only if it is disclosed at booking and reflects your real loss. Here is what Kiwi restaurants actually charge, and how to write a policy that holds up.
No Singapore statute caps restaurant deposits or cancellation fees: it all comes down to what you disclosed at booking. Here is what local venues charge, what the law actually says, and how to write a policy that protects your margin without ending up on Mothership.
Quandoo is closing, OpenTable barely exists here, and almost nobody publishes NZD prices. The honest New Zealand comparison of restaurant booking systems, fees and fine print included.
Time-and-a-half plus a day in lieu makes public holidays the most expensive days to open. Here is how to set a surcharge that is fair, legal and clearly disclosed.
Every booking you take creates personal information, and the Privacy Act 2020 applies to your restaurant no matter how small it is. Here is what that means in practice, from allergy notes to CCTV to a stolen laptop.
Every booking is personal data, and in Singapore the PDPA applies to your F&B business from day one, whatever your size. Here is what that actually means at the host stand: consent, the Do Not Call Registry, breach deadlines, and the questions to ask any booking platform that holds your guest list.
ACRA registration, URA change of use, the SFA Food Shop Licence, liquor licence classes, MOM foreign worker quotas, CPF and GST: every step to open a restaurant in Singapore, in the right order, with the official links.
Companies Office registration, the Food Act 2014 and your Food Control Plan, the on-licence from the District Licensing Committee, staff costs under the Holidays Act and GST: every step to open a restaurant in New Zealand, in the right order, with the official links.
The "++" on Singapore menus is not a habit, it is a specific IRAS concession with conditions attached. Here is who may use it, how to bill it correctly, and the S$5,000 fine for getting price display wrong.
First Table costs restaurants nothing and fills early tables at 50% off food. Here is the honest maths on when that deal makes money for your venue, and when it quietly loses it.
December is the peak of the New Zealand hospo year, and the work-do enquiries start landing in September. Here is how to package, price and protect your function season, from minimum spends to deposits and pre-orders.
The platform that named itself after the Singlish word for reserving a seat now belongs to a super-app. Here is what the Chope-Grab migration changes for your F&B business, and the questions to ask before you renew.
Reunion dinner is the single biggest booking night of the Singapore F&B year, and the season around it runs for weeks. Here is the operator's playbook: when to publish menus, how to run seatings, what deposits to take and how to keep the tables full for all fifteen days.
Tips belong to your staff, but every province draws the lines differently. The owner's guide to running a legal tip pool in Canada, from the Ontario ESA to the CRA.
From 1 October 2026, Australian restaurants can no longer add a card surcharge to the bill. Public holiday menu surcharges stay legal. Here is the operator's guide to the new rules and the repricing maths.
Most comparisons of reservation systems are written for the US market. Canadian restaurants deal with USD billing, per-cover fees and a consolidation wave. Here is the honest Canadian comparison.
In most provinces a no-show fee is a simple matter of contract law. In Québec it has been regulated since July 2025, with a $10 per person cap and strict conditions. Here is the Canadian playbook.
No Australian law bans no-show fees, and none caps them either. Legality comes down to contract law and the Australian Consumer Law: disclose before booking, keep the amount fair. Here is the full picture.
A reservation is personal data: a name, a cellphone number, sometimes a shellfish allergy. Here is what Canadian privacy law actually requires of a restaurant: PIPEDA's principles, the provincial laws in Alberta, BC and Quebec, CASL's consent rules for marketing emails, and the habits that keep you out of trouble.
Here is the part most guides bury: if your restaurant turns over A$3 million or less a year, the Privacy Act 1988 probably does not apply to you at all. That is not the end of the story. The Spam Act binds every business, a new privacy tort commenced in 2025, and your guest list is still your most valuable asset. The honest Australian guide.
TheFork left, Quandoo is closing, and every local booking system starts at a paid subscription. Here is the honest Australian comparison, with real prices in AUD.
Business structure, ABN and GST, council registration, the Standard 3.2.2A food safety supervisor, state liquor licences and RSA, award penalty rates: every step to open a restaurant in Australia, in the right order, with the official links.
December is the peak of the Australian restaurant year, and the function enquiries start landing in August. Here is how to package, price and protect your end-of-year season, from minimum spends to deposits and pre-orders.
Libro built its name on commission-free reservations. Now it belongs to OpenTable. Here is what the acquisition actually changes, what remains open, and your real alternatives.
All reservations, walk-in only, or a deliberate mix of both? Each model wins in a different restaurant. Here is how to choose yours, how many tables to hold back, and why overbooking is a trap for restaurants even though it works for airlines.
Eat-in at 20%, cold takeaway at 0%, and a dozen traps in between. A plain-English guide to VAT for UK restaurants, with worked examples in pounds.
February 14 does not get a do-over: demand lands on a single night. Here is the complete method for peak dates, from the set menu to the D-30 run sheet, including protection against the year's worst no-shows.
Tripadvisor has lost ground to Google, but writing it off would be a mistake, especially if you serve tourists. Here is what still deserves your time: the listing, the ranking, fake reviews, and what you should think twice about paying for.
Tock and Resy both belong to American Express and are now sold from the same pricing page. Here is what actually still separates them, with verified prices, and when neither is the right fit.
Since 1 October 2024, UK restaurants must pass 100% of tips and service charges to staff, keep records and publish a written policy. Here is what the Tipping Act really requires.
The tip credit, tip pooling, service charges and the new federal tips deduction: the rules a US restaurant owner actually has to follow, with the primary sources.
TikTok sends real diners to real restaurants, but virality is a lottery ticket, not a strategy. Here is what actually works for an independent: three repeatable formats, a sustainable rhythm, and a booking link that catches the demand.
Mother's Day is the biggest dining day of the year in the US, and Thanksgiving fills restaurants with large family parties and pre-orders. Here is the owner's calendar, date by date, with menus, deposits, staffing and a timeline checklist.
One sells reach: the largest diner network in the industry, billed per seated cover. The other sells depth: a guest CRM priced by quote. Here is an honest, dated SevenRooms vs OpenTable comparison for US and UK restaurants, and a simpler third option.
Six hundred restaurants join NYC Restaurant Week every edition, yet plenty of owners swear they will never do it again. Here is the honest math behind prix-fixe weeks, who actually benefits, and how to turn a one-time deal hunter into a regular.
Is a Google listing enough, or does your restaurant need a real website? An honest answer, the pages that actually matter, realistic price ranges, and the classic mistakes that cost you covers.
Every "sorry, we're fully booked" said on the phone is a guest who reserves at your competitor, often for good. Here is how a well-run waitlist turns those refusals into served covers, and into guests who come back.
Service fees, credit card surcharges, automatic gratuities: US junk fee laws now regulate all of them. Here is what a restaurant can still charge, state by state, and how to stay compliant.
Your first paying guests will judge a team that has never worked a real service together. A soft opening fixes that: formats, duration, invite lists, pricing trade-offs, and how to keep early reviews from hurting you.
A full dining room does not guarantee a profitable restaurant. Prime cost, break-even covers, seat occupancy: here are the numbers to track every week to steer your margin, with sourced US and UK benchmarks.
It's 8:15 pm, the dining room is full, and the phone rings. Answering means abandoning a table; letting it ring might mean losing a party of six. Here is how to escape that dilemma, with a voicemail script ready to copy.
Yes, US restaurants can charge no-show fees, but only if the policy is disclosed and agreed to before the reservation. Here is what the law, the card networks and your guests expect.
Deposits and no-show fees are legal in the UK, but only if they are fair, proportionate and clearly communicated. Here is what the law actually says, in plain English.
A markup copied from the previous owner, prices matched to the place next door, an increase postponed for two years: most menus are priced by habit. Here is the full method, from recipe costing to menu engineering, with a worked example.
You do not need a 30-metric dashboard to run a restaurant. Nine KPIs, all computable from your POS and your reservation book, tell you where the money is going, and a simple weekly scorecard keeps them honest.
Health inspections are unannounced, scored, and in some cities the result hangs in your window. Here is how the US system works, the violations cited most often, and a routine that keeps you inspection-ready every day.
Every scraped plate and every unsold special costs you twice: once at purchase, once in the bin. Here is how to measure your losses in one week, what the law now requires in the UK and the US, and the levers that actually work, from purchasing to your reservation book.
Same room, same team, same menu: one restaurant serves 40 covers a night, another serves 70, with guests just as happy. The difference is the floor plan and how the tables turn. Here is how to win covers without turning your dining room into a train station.
Social reach is rented; your email list is owned. Here is how to build a guest list legally from your reservations, which campaigns actually fill tables, how often to send, and how to measure results now that open rates lie.
Up to 30% commission on a delivered order, 0% on a direct pickup order: before you choose a channel, run the numbers. Real platform rates, packaging, errors and margin, with no wishful thinking.
You do not need a points app or a punch card to make guests come back. Real loyalty comes down to three things: knowing your guests, showing them you remember, and reaching out at the right moment. Here is how to do it in practice.
No, UK GDPR does not ban you from keeping a customer database in your restaurant. It sets rules on what you collect, how long you keep it and what you do with it. Here they are, ICO guidance included, without the jargon or the panic.
Most independent restaurants sit below the CCPA's thresholds, but that does not mean guest data is a free-for-all. Here is what actually applies in the US: state privacy laws, CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, breach notification duties, and the good habits worth keeping regardless.
Cancellation windows, no-show fees, large parties: here is how to write a cancellation policy that protects your restaurant without scaring guests away, with three ready-to-copy examples and the US and UK rules that make it enforceable.
A booking confirmed in writing is a booking that gets honored far more often. Here is why instant confirmations work, when to send reminder emails, and 5 templates you can copy today.
FALCPA labels do not apply to your menu, but that does not mean you are off the hook. Here is what US restaurants actually owe guests with food allergies: FDA Food Code duties, state and city rules, ADA exposure, and a playbook that starts at the reservation.
Which allergen rules actually apply to a UK restaurant? The 14 allergens, the FSA's requirements for food served at the table, where Natasha's Law does (and does not) apply, and how to get compliant without rewriting your menu every week.
A one-star review should never be answered in anger, and never ignored. Here is the method, 7 response templates for the most common situations, how your reservation log exposes fake reviews, and how to flag the ones that break the rules.
A reserved table that stays empty is pure lost revenue. Here are 7 concrete, complementary fixes to reduce no-shows in your restaurant, from automatic confirmations to card holds.
QR code menus save on printing and keep prices up to date, yet surveys show most diners would rather have paper. An honest look at when a QR menu helps your restaurant, when it hurts, and the checklist for doing it properly.
A private room that sells is a second business inside your restaurant: predictable revenue, known headcounts, corporate clients who come back every quarter. Here is how to price it, sell it and protect it.
Fee caps, the 14-day consultation, smoke-free seating, accessibility rules: the permanent pavement licence regime explained simply, plus the question nobody covers, how to handle bookings for a capacity that depends on the British weather.
OpenTable bills $149 to $499 a month plus per-cover network fees; Resy charges a flat $289 to $459. Here is an honest head-to-head on pricing, diner networks, no-show tools and guest data, with a third option both sides ignore.
Entity formation, EIN, business licenses, county health inspections, the liquor license question, workers' comp, ADA: every step to open a restaurant in the US, in the right order, with official sources and a realistic timeline.
Company registration, FSA food business registration 28 days before opening, premises and personal licences, HACCP, employer duties: every step to open a restaurant in the UK, in the right order, with the official links.
Mother's Day was OpenTable UK's biggest dining day of 2025, and most of the bookings arrive in the final week. Here is how to plan sittings, price the set menu, take deposits on big tables and protect the busiest Sunday lunch of the year.
A table of 20 can make your best service of the week, or ruin it if nobody shows. Set menus, deposits, card holds, minimum spend, private dining: here is how to secure and profit from large group bookings.
No, you do not need to post every day. Here is how a restaurant attracts local diners with Instagram in a few hours a week: an optimized profile, 2 to 3 well-chosen posts, useful Stories and properly disclosed creator partnerships.
You don't need a 10% price rise to earn more. A couple of dollars extra per cover, every day, changes your month. Menu engineering, suggestion timing, dessert scripts, set menus: here are the levers that actually work on the floor.
Your Google rating is the first thing potential guests check. Here is how reviews influence your local ranking, how to collect more without breaking the rules (or the law), and how to reply well.
Your Google listing gets seen more often than your website. Here is how to claim it, complete it and optimize it point by point, backed by Google's official documentation, so it shows up on Maps and turns searches into reservations.
More than half of UK consumers now check hygiene ratings before choosing where to eat. Here is how the FHRS works, how to prepare for the inspection, and how to fix a low score.
Beginning inventory plus purchases minus ending inventory, divided by food sales: one small formula decides a large part of your margin. Here is how to calculate it, in dollars and in pounds, and what to do when the number is wrong.
On Saturday you turn people away; on Tuesday you count occupied tables on one hand. Here is a concrete plan to fill your restaurant on slow nights without slashing prices: targeted offers, recurring events, local partnerships and reservations captured around the clock.
The paper book has done the job for decades, and it does it well. Here is what a digital reservation book actually adds, what it costs, and how to move from paper to screen without upsetting your service routine.
Card hold, deposit, prepaid booking: they are not the same thing. Here is how credit card holds really work for restaurant reservations, what US and UK practice looks like, how much to ask for and how to announce it without scaring guests away.
December is the busiest month of the year, and the riskiest. Here is how to run Christmas party bookings with deposits that hold up, pre-orders that save your kitchen, and a timeline that starts in September.
OpenTable, Resy, Tock, SevenRooms, Yelp Guest Manager, Toast Tables, Eat App and ViteUneTable: an honest comparison for US restaurants, with pricing checked on each vendor's own site.
OpenTable, ResDiary, TheFork Manager, SevenRooms, resOS, simpleERB, ViteUneTable: an honest comparison of restaurant booking systems for UK venues, with the pricing models explained and every claim checked on the vendor's own site.
Forget the lists of 25 random tips. Here is a prioritized action plan to attract more customers to your restaurant: start with your Google profile, turn visitors into bookings, bring guests back, then squeeze more out of every service.
Yelp Guest Manager has a great waitlist and no cover fees, but the best price requires annual billing and the Basic plan caps your covers. Here are 6 alternatives with verified pricing.
Tock now belongs to American Express and starts at $289 per month plus a 3% fee on prepayments. Here is an honest look at what it does brilliantly, what it costs, and the alternatives worth considering.
Toast Tables only makes sense inside the Toast ecosystem. Here is an honest look at what it does well, what it really costs, and the alternatives for restaurants that want reservations without the POS lock-in.
Quote-based pricing, a fee on every diner the marketplace seats, and a discount culture driven by Yums: why UK restaurateurs look for an alternative to TheFork, and what an honest comparison actually shows.
SevenRooms is a powerful CRM and reservation platform built for restaurant groups, hotels and nightlife venues, with pricing only available by quote. For an independent restaurant in the US or the UK, there is a simpler, transparent, commission-free way to take bookings.
Resy now starts at $289 per month and belongs to American Express, alongside Tock. Here is an honest look at what it costs, what it does well, and the alternatives worth considering.
resOS is one of the cheapest ways for a UK independent to start taking online bookings, but its free plan stops at 25 bookings a month and every growth step raises the bill. Here is an honest, source-checked look at the alternatives.
ResDiary is a commission-free veteran of UK hospitality, but its core plans are quote-only and the useful extras are paid add-ons. Here is an honest, source-checked look at the alternatives, including a free one.
Quandoo has officially announced it is ceasing operations: the platform takes bookings only until 30 September 2026. Here are the dates to note, the real alternatives for UK restaurants and how to migrate without losing bookings or guest data.
Per-cover fees on every network reservation, $149 to $499 a month, a one-year auto-renewing contract: here is an honest, numbers-first comparison between OpenTable and a flat-price alternative for US and UK restaurants.
Eat App's free plan caps you at 100 covers a month, and the first paid step is $99. Here is an honest, dated comparison with a reservation system whose free plan has no cover limit at all.