Fine Dining
A tasting menu with a fixed number of covers, paid up front, with the dietaries in before the order goes out.
Restaurant event ticketing The kitchen buys for a number.
Sell one cover too many and you are turning people away at the door. Sell one too few and it goes in the bin. Every other night is service - these are the nights that need a count you can trust.
The count
Twenty-four covers means twenty-four.
Set how many covers the sitting has and it will not sell past them. When they are gone it closes itself, so the figure you shop against is the figure that sold.
It closes itself
No watching an inbox and no doing sums at eleven at night. The last cover sells and the sitting stops taking money.
More than one price? One pool
Two ticket types are counted separately unless you say otherwise. Set the sitting to Combined Total and they share a single count, so twenty-four stays twenty-four however many ways you sell it.
Counted per date
A sold-out Saturday does not stop the following Saturday selling. Each date keeps its own count, which is what makes a repeating supper club work.
Paid before they sit
The money is in before the shopping goes out, so a no-show is somebody else's problem rather than a hole in your week.
Pro Selling covers at a price is Pro, at R199 a month; a free sitting takes names on any plan and has no ceiling. The money goes through your own Stripe or PayPal account, with no platform fee on top of theirs on either plan.
The cutoff
Close the door before you shop.
A late booking is worse than an empty chair once the order has gone in. Give the ticket a date and time to come off sale, and the count is final while you still have a morning to buy against it.
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One date, set on the event It is a single moment you choose for that sitting, not a rule that repeats each week. For a dinner that runs once, that is exactly right.
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Sales stop on their own You do not have to remember to switch anything off on Thursday night while you are on the pass.
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The list is final Whatever the total says on Friday morning is what you are cooking. Nothing can be added behind you.
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It can open on a date, too Announce the dinner before bookings open and give the ticket a date to go on sale. With the "Notify me" card switched on, anyone who leaves an email on the event page is told when it does.
Free Opening and closing dates are part of selling tickets, and the interest list costs nothing on any plan.
The week before
one sitting
Mon
On sale
12 covers
Wed
On sale
17 covers
Thu
Sales close 11:59pm
19 covers
Fri
You shop for 19
final
Sat
Service
19 covers
Nineteen sold, nineteen cooked. The two numbers were never allowed to drift apart.
At checkout
FreeAttached to the ticket, so the answer arrives with the sale.
Any allergies or intolerances?
Free text
Main course
Beef / Halibut / Squash
Wine pairing?
Yes / No
Answers come through with the sale, so the pass list and the guest list are the same list.
The questions
Ask about the nut allergy in January.
Not at seven on the night, from a section that is already down. Questions can sit on the ticket and be answered when people pay, so the kitchen has the list before it writes the prep.
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One list, not twoFree The answers are attached to the sale, so you are not reconciling an email thread against a booking list at four in the afternoon.
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Ask what you actually needFree Allergies as free text, a course choice from a set of options, a yes or no on the pairing. It is your question, not a fixed field.
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Export itPro Take the sales out as a CSV with the answers included, and hand the kitchen something it can read.
Free A question on the ticket works on every plan, with the person booking answering once for their party. On Pro, each guest can answer for themselves.
Private hire
The room at the back has its own link.
Private dining is a different conversation from a wine dinner, and it does not belong in the same list as the things anyone can buy.
Enquiries come to the page
Turn on booking requests and people ask about a date through your schedule instead of a form that lands in a shared inbox nobody owns.
Nothing posts without you
Every enquiry waits for you to accept it, and you are emailed when new ones are waiting. The public page only ever shows what you agreed to.
Its own strand, its own link
Put private dining on a sub-schedule and you can share a link that shows only those events, without splitting the restaurant into two pages.
Free Enquiries, sub-schedules and the schedule itself cost nothing. An event can also stay a Draft until you are ready to announce it.
Who it is for
Any night you have to shop for.
Wine Bars & Tapas
A tasting on a Tuesday, priced per head. Small counts, sold in advance, closed off before the bottles are pulled.
Farm-to-Table
The menu depends on what came in, so the count has to be settled early. Close sales, then go to the market.
Supper Clubs
The same night every month, each one with its own count, so selling out in March leaves April untouched.
Casual Dining
Quiz nights, live music, a set menu at Christmas. Most weeks nothing, and a page for the weeks there is something.
Chef's Tables & Pop-Ups
Twelve seats in somebody else's room. Sell them all in advance and take the questions while you are at it.
How it works
Three decisions, then it runs.
Set the covers
The quantity is how many you will cook for. Selling at more than one price? Combined Total keeps them in one pool rather than one count each.
Set the cutoff
A date and time for sales to stop, chosen so you still have a morning to buy against a final number.
Set the questions
Allergies, a course choice, a pairing. Answered at checkout and attached to the sale.
Free forever. Upgrade when you're ready.
Free registration for as many people as you like. When you start charging, zero platform fees on every plan - the only deduction is your payment processor's own.
Free
R0
forever, no card
Everything you need to publish a schedule and fill the room, for as long as you like.
- Unlimited events, sub-schedules and recurring dates
- Two-way Google, Outlook and CalDAV sync
- Unlimited free registration and RSVPs, scanned at the door
No expiry, and no card asked for.
Pro
Most picked
R199
per month
Start charging, and the rest of the selling kit arrives with it.
- Sell paid tickets, with the live check-in dashboard
- Promo codes, add-ons, passes and gift cards
- The REST API, webhooks, and no Event Schedule branding
7-day free trial, cancel any time.
Enterprise
R499
per month
For a room with a seating chart, a team, and a domain of its own.
- Reserved seating, drawn once and reused every date
- Your own domain, and up to five team members
- Internal and unlisted events, and 1,000 newsletter recipients
Included free on every selfhosted install.
Questions
Asked across the pass.
Is Event Schedule free for restaurants?
The schedule itself is free forever: your public page and its link, sub-schedules for private dining or a supper club, enquiries for private hire, Drafts that keep an event off the public page until you announce it, two-way calendar sync, an embeddable calendar and up to 10 newsletter emails a month, counted per recipient rather than per send. Selling covers at a price is the one part that needs Pro, at R199 a month, and the cutoff and the questions on the ticket come with it. A free evening, a quiz or a tasting on the house, can take registrations up to a capacity per date on the free plan, and there is no monthly ceiling on how many names come through. Event Schedule charges zero platform fees on sales either way.
How do I stop selling more covers than the kitchen can cook?
Give the ticket a quantity and that is the number of covers. It is counted per date, so a sold-out Saturday does not stop the following Saturday selling. When the quantity is gone the sitting closes itself, which means the number you are cooking for is the number that sold.
Can sales stop before the night, so I know what to buy?
Yes. A ticket type takes a date and time to come off sale, so you can close Thursday at midnight and do the ordering on Friday against a final number. It is a single date set on that event rather than a rule that repeats, which is exactly what a one-off dinner wants.
Can I announce a dinner before bookings open?
Yes. Switch on the free "Notify me" card, put the dinner up with a date for its tickets to go on sale, and anyone who wants a seat can leave an email address on the event page without an account. They get one email when bookings open, one if the dinner is cancelled, a reminder shortly before it, and any change notice you send, and nothing else. You can see how many people are waiting on the event's Tickets panel, it is never shown publicly, and it is free on every plan.
Can I collect allergies and dietary requirements?
Yes, on every plan. Put the question on the ticket and it is asked at checkout, so the answers arrive with the sale rather than in a separate email thread you have to reconcile against the list. Ask for allergies, a course choice, or a wine pairing. On the free plan the person booking answers once for their party; on Pro, each guest can answer for themselves, and the sales CSV export carries every answer.
What about private hire enquiries?
Turn on booking requests and people can ask about a date through your page. Every enquiry waits for you to accept it, so nothing appears publicly that you have not agreed to, and you are emailed when new ones are waiting. Keep private dining on its own sub-schedule and you can share a link that shows only those events.
Can I refund a booking if a guest cancels?
Yes, from the Sales page, on Pro. A booking paid through Stripe or PayPal can be refunded in full or in part, and the money goes back through the provider before the sale is marked refunded. A full refund puts the cover back on sale for that date. A partial refund, if you keep a cancellation charge, leaves the booking and its cover in place. A booking paid in cash or through a payment link is recorded with Mark as Refunded, which moves no money. The guest is not emailed about a refund, so let them know yourself.
Free to start
Cook for the number that actually sold.
The schedule is free, and so is every free sitting you take names for. Pro at R199 a month is what puts a price on a cover, and none of the ticket price comes to us.
.eventschedule.com
Put a sitting on sale
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