Floor intelligence guides
Is your restaurant losing money to slow service? Do the math
Slow service never shows up as a line item. The POS records what you sold, not the party that walked at twenty minutes, the four-top that sat dirty through a rush, or the table that skipped dessert because nobody came by. Here is how to put a number on it.
The three invisible leaks
First, capacity: while guests wait at the door, every minute a table sits dirty or unwatched is seating you own and cannot sell. Second, check size: a party greeted late compresses its own meal, and the easiest things to drop are the second drink and dessert. Third, goodwill: slow nights produce comps, apologies and reviews, and those compound quietly. The first leak is the easiest to measure honestly, so start there.
A worked example, every number shown
This is a worked example to show the method, not a measured customer result. Take a 50-table restaurant, $100 average check per table, 60-minute average turn, open 26 nights a month.
- One table-minute = $100 ÷ 60 ≈ $1.67 of seating capacity.
- Say resets run 7 minutes and could run 3.5: 3.5 minutes saved per reset.
- Each table resets about twice a night: 50 × 2 = 100 resets.
- Only count minutes while guests are actually waiting, say 40% of service: 100 × 3.5 × 0.4 = 140 waiting-minutes a night.
- 140 × $1.67 ≈ $234 a night, ≈ $6,080 a month of seating capacity, before counting late greets at all.
Capacity is not guaranteed sales: it converts only when there is demand, which is why the formula multiplies by the share of service with a wait. Run it with your own inputs in the calculator.
Find your own number in one week
Pick your busiest week. Have the host tally parties that walk after hearing the quote, and when the lobby has a wait, note every table that sits dirty more than a couple of minutes. Time ten greets. At week’s end, run the formula above with your own check, turn and reset times. Most owners discover the number is specific, boring and much larger than zero, which is exactly what makes it fixable.
Closing the leak automatically
Every fix reduces to the same mechanism: see the state of each table the moment it changes, and get the right person there fast. TableWave does both from the CCTV cameras you already own: a live floor on the host screen, a timer on every table, and a single buzz to whoever covers a table that needs attention or cleaning. The 14-day payback report then shows week one against week two in minutes and money, with the formula printed on the page. See pricing or book a 30-day pilot; you pay the setup fee, read your own report, and monthly starts only if you continue.
Questions owners ask
Is this real money or a theoretical number?
It is capacity, honestly labelled. A freed table-minute becomes revenue only when a waiting party fills it, which is why the formula multiplies by the share of service with a wait and why quiet nights count for nothing. That restraint is what makes the number defensible.
We are rarely full. Does any of this apply?
The capacity math applies only to your waits, so if you never have one, it is small. The service math still applies: late greets and slow checks shrink spend and return visits at any occupancy. Fix greet times first; they cost nothing.
Why do you quote capacity instead of promising revenue?
Because we have not measured your restaurant yet, and promising revenue before measuring would be marketing, not math. The pilot exists to replace this worked example with your own figures, measured on your own floor over 30 days.
What does the pilot cost?
Your plan’s setup fee, listed on the pricing page. We install in person in a day; 30 days later you read your payback report. Continue, and your first month is on us; stop, and we remove the system and you owe nothing more.
Prove it on your own floor
The 30-day pilot is paid, on purpose: you cover your plan’s setup fee, we install in person, and you read your own payback report before any monthly billing starts.
The install is $1,500. If it earns its keep in 30 days, your first month’s on us. If it doesn’t, we take it out and you owe nothing more.
Prices in USD, before tax. Setup is non-refundable once installed; monthly starts only if you continue.