Thezi

Help  ›  Getting started

Getting started

Thezi takes about twenty minutes to set up. You do it once, from a phone or a laptop, and you can change any of it later.

1. Create your account

  1. Go to thezi.app/admin and choose Create an account.
  2. Enter your name, your email and a password of at least twelve characters. A few unrelated words is easier to remember than symbols.
  3. Tick the human check and press Create account.

We send one email to the address you gave. It says which address your account is under and has a link to confirm it. You do not have to click it to carry on — but do, because a password reset can only go to a confirmed address.

2. Name your venue

  1. Type the name as diners should see it — the name on the sign, not the company name.
  2. Check the timezone. It is normally right already.
  3. Read the terms, type your name to sign, and press Create venue.

3. Add a service and its hours

A service is a bookable sitting: "Lunch", "Dinner", "Sunday brunch". Diners cannot book until one exists.

  1. Pick a typical service from the row of suggestions, or choose Other and name your own.
  2. Set the sitting length — how long a party keeps its table. Ninety minutes for lunch and two hours for dinner are usual.
  3. Set the largest party you will take online. Bigger groups can still ring you.
  4. Press Add service, then Set hours: an opening and closing time, and the days it runs.

Diners are offered a start every thirty minutes, for as long as a whole sitting still fits before you close. So a dinner service from 5pm to 10pm with a two-hour sitting offers tables from 5pm to 8pm, and stops. See Services and hours for the details.

4. Add your tables

Either type them in — a label, and the smallest and largest party each one takes — or draw your room with Draw your floor plan. Drawing it gives you a live plan during service; typing them in is quicker. You can do one now and the other later.

See Tables and the floor plan.

5. Two decisions, then open

  • No-show cover. Whether to ask diners for a card when they book, so you can charge a fee if they do not turn up. Most venues start without it. See No-show cover.
  • Keeping in touch. Whether to ask diners if they would like to hear from you. Off by default. See Your guest list.

Neither blocks you. Once a service and a table exist, press Open for bookings.

What happens next

You now have a booking link, shown at the top of your dashboard. Send it to anyone, put it on Google, or put the booking form on your own website — that is the next thing to do: Put the booking form on your website.

Make a test booking yourself, then cancel it from the Bookings tab. You will see exactly what a diner sees, including the confirmation email.

Still stuck? hello@thezi.app reaches a person, usually the same day.