How to run a restaurant waitlist: quote times guests trust and turn walk-ins into covers

Three in four Friday and Saturday dinners out that start between 5pm and 10pm start before 7.30pm, in our analysis of the US government's American Time Use Survey. Walk-ins arrive together, and on those nights the door is where covers are won or lost.

To run a restaurant waitlist well, quote each party a wait worked out from your tables, not a guess: divide the usual turn time for their table size by how many of those tables you have, multiply by the parties ahead of them plus one, and quote a range with the top end ten minutes higher. Text when the table is ready, hold it for a fixed time, then move to the next party. Last checked: 5 November 2026.

How do you work out a wait time?

Every wait quote rests on one number: how often a table of the right size comes free. You can work it out from two things you already know.

Minutes between free tables = average turn time for that table size
                              / number of tables of that size

Quoted wait = minutes between free tables x (parties ahead needing that size + 1)

Turn time is how long a table is occupied from seating to clearing, including the reset. Measure it from your own floor for a few busy nights, by table size, because a table of six stays far longer than a table of two.

Worked example: a Friday night door

A 60-cover restaurant has ten tables for two, six tables for four and two tables for six. On Friday nights, its tables for two turn in about 75 minutes, its fours in 90 minutes and its sixes in 110 minutes.

At 8pm the list holds three parties of two, two parties of four and one party of six. A new party arrives:

• A couple: three couples ahead, so 4 x 7.5 = 30 minutes. Quote "30 to 40 minutes".
• A four: two fours ahead, so 3 x 15 = 45 minutes. Quote "45 to 55 minutes", and offer a two-top pushed together if two free up first.
• A six: one six ahead, so 2 x 55 = 110 minutes. Do not quote it as if it were likely. Offer a booking on another night, or two tables at different times, and let them decide.

Two refinements make the quote sharper once you trust the basic sum:

• Look at the floor. If three of your two-tops were seated over an hour ago, the next ones will free sooner than the average says. Tables seated longest free first.
• Adjust for the hour. A party arriving at 9.30pm waits less, because tables that free up then are not refilled by bookings.

When do walk-ins arrive, and how long do they stay?

They arrive together and stay longer than most hosts assume. In our analysis of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey for 2023 to 2025, three in four Friday and Saturday dinners out that started between 5pm and 10pm started before 7.30pm.

The same diaries put the median time spent eating out at 60 minutes, with a quarter of meals lasting 90 minutes or more and one in ten lasting two hours. Two things follow for the door. The rush is the normal shape of a Friday, not bad luck: the list fills between 5pm and 7.30pm and thins out after. And turn times spread widely, which is why you quote a range and look at the floor, not a single number.

Method. ATUS activity and respondent microdata for 2023, 2024 and 2025 (downloaded 5 November 2026): activity code 110101 (eating and drinking) with location "restaurant or bar", starting 5.00pm to 9.59pm on a Friday or Saturday diary day, 595 episodes, weighted with the survey's final person weight. Shares are rounded. Times are as respondents reported them, often to the nearest 15 minutes. The survey covers the US; count your own door for a few Fridays to check the shape in the UK.

The wait-time quote table to copy

Fill in your own turn times and table counts once, then print it for the host stand.

WAIT-TIME QUOTE TABLE                      Night: [Fri/Sat]   Updated: [ ]

Table size | Tables | Turn time (min) | Minutes between free tables
2          | [ ]    | [ ]             | = turn / tables = [ ]
4          | [ ]    | [ ]             | [ ]
6+         | [ ]    | [ ]             | [ ]

QUOTE = minutes between free tables x (parties ahead of that size + 1)
Round up to the next 5 minutes, then quote a range: [quote] to [quote + 10].

Parties ahead ->     0       1       2       3       4       5
Party of 2 waits    [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]
Party of 4 waits    [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]
Party of 6 waits    [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]

Over [60] minutes: offer a booking for another time instead of the list.
Largest party we put on the list tonight: [ ]

HOLD RULE: when a table is ready, text the party and hold it [10] minutes.
At [10] minutes, call once. No answer: mark "no response", seat the next party.

END OF NIGHT
Parties added [ ]  Seated [ ]  Walked away [ ]  No response [ ]
Seated within their quoted range: [ ] of [ ] = [ ]%

How accurate should a waitlist quote be?

Accurate enough that most guests are seated within the range you gave them. A useful target is eight in ten. Track it at the end of each night with the last line of the quote table.

• Below about 70% within range: your turn times are out of date, or the host is quoting from memory. Re-time the tables.
• Most parties seated well before the range: your quotes are too cautious, and guests may be walking away before they need to. Count walk-aways.
• Walk-aways rising: guests are leaving after joining. Shorten the range, text earlier, or let guests wait nearby instead of at the door.

Seating a party five minutes early feels like good service. Seating them fifteen minutes late, after a confident quote, feels like being forgotten. That is why the range has its top end above the estimate.

What party sizes should go on the list?

Set the smallest and largest party you will take on the list each night, based on the tables you have. In the example, a party of six has only two possible tables, so one six already on the list means the next waits nearly two hours. A host who adds them anyway is promising something the room cannot do.

A reasonable rule: take parties on the list only up to the size where at least three tables fit them. Larger groups get a booking, a later time or an honest "we can't seat you tonight". Pushing tables together during service wrecks the turn on every table around them.

How long should you hold a table after texting a guest?

Ten minutes is a common hold at most venues; five on your busiest hour. Then call once, and if there is no answer, seat the next party. Say the hold time when they join, so it is fair:

HOST SCRIPT AT THE DOOR
"It's about [30 to 40] minutes for a table for [two]. If you leave your name and
mobile, we'll text you when it's ready and hold it for 10 minutes, so you can
wait somewhere warm nearby."

TEXT WHEN THE TABLE IS READY
[Restaurant]: Your table for [2] is ready. Please come to the host stand within
10 minutes. Reply or call [number] if you need longer.

TEXT IF THE WAIT IS RUNNING LONG
[Restaurant]: Sorry, your table is taking longer than we said. We expect
about [15] more minutes. Call [number] if you'd like to come off the list.

In the US, end each text with "Reply STOP to opt out", the simplest way to disclose an opt-out method.

Keep these texts to the table and nothing else. A waitlist text the guest asked for, about their own table, is generally a service message. Add an offer or a promotion and it becomes marketing:

• UK: the ICO treats messages sent purely for customer service, with no promotional content, as service messages rather than direct marketing (ICO guidance on identifying direct marketing). Marketing texts need consent or the soft opt-in; see our guide to email and text marketing consent.
• US: under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules in 47 CFR 64.1200, a "your table is ready" text to the number the guest gave for the list is an informational text, which needs only their prior express consent. Marketing texts need prior express written consent, and from 25 November 2026 a "stop" must be honoured within 10 business days. Our guide to restaurant text message rules covers consent wording and opt-outs.

Check with an adviser if you plan to use waitlist numbers for anything beyond the table.

How do you run the waitlist on Valentine's Day and other peak nights?

On a fully booked night, the waitlist is your cancellation list. Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February 2027, and many guests will walk in hoping for a late-cancelled table.

• Keep the list open even when you are full, for parties of two only, and say plainly that a table depends on a cancellation.
• Text the first party the moment a booking cancels or no-shows, not when the table is reset. Every minute matters on a sitting night.
• Quote by sitting, not by minutes: "If a table frees up in the 8.30 sitting, we'll text you by 8.40."

The set menu, sittings and deposits for the night are covered in our Valentine's guides for the UK and the US. How many tables to keep off the online book for walk-ins is covered in our pub booking system guide, and what to do about booked guests who do not turn up is in our guide to reducing no-shows.

Paper, a spreadsheet or a digital list?

Any of them works if the host quotes from the table and keeps a record.

Whichever you use, the end-of-night count (added, seated, walked away, seated within the quote) is what turns a busy door into something you can improve.

Can TablePort handle this for you?

TablePort's waitlist is part of reservations, on the same floor plan as your bookings.

1. Guests join from a link or a QR card at the door with their party size, name and mobile, with nothing to install.
2. Every waiting party is on one screen, with their wait so far and who has been texted.
3. Text the guest when the table is ready, then seat them from the list. A tab can open automatically when they are seated. If a guest replies STOP, TablePort stops texting that number from your restaurant (US and Canadian numbers; UK sender names cannot receive replies).
4. Set the smallest and largest party that can join, and turn the waitlist on or off per venue.

The honest limit: each text is metered by destination and billed monthly, and the host still sets the quote and decides who is next. See the waitlist.