POS Restaurant Reservations Management
Unifying Fragmented Reservation Systems
OVERVIEW ✍️
Reservations should grow your business—not eat into it.
For diners, booking a table takes just a few clicks. But for restaurant owners, juggling reservations across multiple platforms is messy, time-consuming, and often costly. Double-bookings, commission fees, and scattered data turn a simple task into a daily headache.
OVERVIEW 🗺️
Atlas is a restaurant operating system that brings together all the moving parts of running a restaurant — from menu syncing and orders to data insights and customer personalization. But when it came to reservations, the existing tools in the market focused almost entirely on diners. Restaurant owners were left juggling fragmented platforms, double-bookings, high fees, and little visibility into their own customer data.
As the lead designer, I worked with Atlas to redesign reservation management — turning it from a source of stress into a tool that drives growth and builds stronger guest relationships.
Hey there,
When was the last time you made a restaurant reservation?
Did you think about what happens after you hit “confirm?
Who keeps track of cancellations, no-shows, and fees?
THE PROBLEM 🚩
Restaurant owners faced three persistent challenges:
THE SOLUTION
Reservations auto-align across all platforms (website, third-party apps, phone calls) and sync into one dashboard. Transforms fragmented reservations into structured insights for better decision-making.
THE SOLUTION #2
The system automatically connects to diner history, including past visits and purchase spending. This gives staff the context to recognize loyal customers and create a more memorable dining experience.
THE SOLUTION #3
Dynamically updates availability in real time by accounting for table turnover, cancellations, walk-ins, and partial seat usage — minimizing double-bookings and maximizing occupancy.
MY ROLE ✍
As the solo product designer at Atlas, I created end-to-end experiences for five core devices in the restaurant ecosystem:
POS (Point of Sale) – cashier and staff-facing system for smooth transactions
KDS (Kitchen Display System) – real-time order tracking for the kitchen
Dashboard – centralized control for reservations, menus, and analytics
Self-Service Kiosk – customer-facing interface for independent ordering
Scan to Order – mobile QR code menu for seamless table-side ordering
MAPPING PAIN POINTS 😵💫
We mapped the journey of a restaurant owner managing reservations across channels and identified the main struggles in each phase.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS 🎲
To understand the space, we analyzed existing reservation platforms (OpenTable, Resy, Yelp Reservations), along with POS systems and hospitality tools.
We evaluated their strengths, weaknesses, UX design, and business models, focusing on how they impact restaurant owners (our primary users).
📌 Key Findings:
High commission fees reduce profitability for owners.
Data silos make it hard to track reservations across platforms.
Most tools focus on diners’ convenience, not staff workflows.
DESIGN ITERATIONS ✏️
❌ 1st Iteration
What I tried: A simple list view of reservations, organized by status (upcoming, seated, archived).
What went wrong: While easy to scan, it lacked prioritization. Staff had to manually check details, which slowed down response time. It also didn’t surface important context (special requests, customer notes).
❌ 2nd Iteration
What I tried: Added clearer categories (Requested, Waiting, Cancelled) and introduced countdown timers to show urgency.
What went wrong: This helped with speed, but it still buried important details. Staff had to tap into reservations to see customer context, and they found it overwhelming in busy service hours
✅ Final Design
What I changed: Combined speed with context. Reservations now show essential details upfront (party size, contact, occasion, special requests) and highlight status (upcoming, late, archived).
Why it worked: Staff could act quickly and personally — seating guests faster, acknowledging birthdays/anniversaries, and avoiding mistakes. This balanced operational efficiency.
THE SOLUTION 🎯
After multiple rounds of testing with restaurant owners and staff, the final product was delivered and is still being improved. Feedback shaped every step — from reducing double-bookings to making table views easier to scan. What we launched solved the immediate problems owners faced, while leaving room to keep refining the details as restaurants grow.
FINAL PRODUCTS 🖥️
The final product of Atlas Reservations transformed reservations from a scattered, stressful process into a unified system that drives both efficiency and guest satisfaction. By centralizing data and layering in intelligence, Atlas gave restaurant owners not just a booking tool — but a growth tool.
✅ Streamlined Operations – Unified reservations from multiple channels, reducing double-bookings and no-shows.
✅ Smart Capacity Management – Real-time updates for turnover, cancellations, and partial seating optimization.
✅ Revenue Insights – Connected reservations to spend patterns, enabling smarter business decisions.
TAKEAWAYS: WEARING MULTIPLE HATS 🎭
Working as the solo product designer at Atlas meant stepping into many roles at once. I wasn’t just designing screens — I was collaborating with sales to understand client pain points, working with ops to streamline workflows, aligning with product managers on strategy, and partnering with engineers to bring designs to life. This experience taught me how to balance business needs, technical constraints, and user expectations while keeping design at the center.
