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Notifications

Who gets pinged for what events, by email or push, with role-based presets and tips to avoid alert fatigue.

Decision: who on your team gets pinged when, by what channel. Get this right and your team is informed without being interrupted; get it wrong and people start ignoring notifications entirely.

What can trigger a notification

The full list of events:

Category

Events

Calls & Texts

All Calls, All Texts, Phone Order

Reservations

New Reservation Request, New Reservation Link Sent, New Group Reservation Request, New Reservation, Reservation Modification, Reservation Cancellation, Reservation Confirmed, Incomplete Reservation/Modification/Cancellation

Guest Experience

Late Arrival, Lost Item, Complaint, Catering Request

Operations

Handoff

16 event types. You don't subscribe one person to all 16 — that's the trap.

Channels

  • Email — supported today. Goes to whatever address you specify.

  • Push notifications on the iPad / iPhone app — supported today. Real-time. The most common channel for front-of-house staff.

  • Slack / Teams — on the roadmap. Ask if it's ready.

  • SMS to staff — not supported. Use push notifications instead.

Suggested presets by role

Owner / GM (least frequent, most important)

  • Email: Complaint, Incomplete bookings.

  • Push: off, unless you genuinely want to know about every call.

Front-of-house iPad (the main daily user)

  • Push: New Reservation, Reservation Modification, Reservation Cancellation, Late Arrival, Lost Item, Catering Request, Handoff.

  • Email: off — push covers it.

Manager / AGM

  • Push: Complaint, Incomplete reservations, Catering Request.

  • Email: Daily summary (coming).

Catering / events coordinator

  • Push: Catering Request, New Group Reservation Request.

  • Email: Same, redundant but useful for archival.

Owner of a multi-venue group

  • Email: Complaint (across all venues), Incomplete bookings (across all venues).

  • Push: off — you're not on shift.

How to set it up

In the app: Configuration → Notifications.

  1. Click Add notification.

  2. Pick the channel (Email or Push).

  3. Enter the recipient (email address, or pick a Tablevoice user account for push).

  4. Tag it with a role description — "Owner alerts," "FOH iPad," "Catering." Helps you find it later.

  5. Pick the events.

  6. Save.

Repeat for each role. Most venues end up with 3–5 notification entries, not 1 mega-entry.

Avoid the spam trap

If your team gets pinged for every call — including the routine reservations Foodie handles cleanly — they'll mute the app within a week and miss the actually-important alerts. Subscribe to outcomes that need a human, not to all activity.

Push notifications on iOS

This is the part that gets skipped. After a team member installs the Tablevoice app on their iPad/iPhone home screen, they need to:

  1. Open the app.

  2. Tap the menu icon (top-left).

  3. Tap their username → Account.

  4. Scroll to Push Notifications → Enable.

  5. Tap Allow when iOS prompts.

Missing this step is the #1 reason staff complain that "Tablevoice isn't notifying us." See Turn on push notifications for the full walkthrough.

How to change it later

Notification entries can be added, edited, or removed any time. Adding a new event type to an existing entry: currently you remove and recreate (we're improving this).

Common questions

Can two people get the same notification?

Yes. Add two notification entries with different recipients but the same events.

Can I get notified only for after-hours activity?

Not today. The events are time-agnostic. Workaround: check the dashboard once a morning instead of subscribing.

Will the push notifications wake me up at 3 AM?

They can, if you've subscribed to events that fire after-hours and your phone isn't in Do Not Disturb. We strongly recommend Do Not Disturb on personal devices for any role that takes Tablevoice notifications.

Wizard decision_key: notifications

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