Zenchef is a solution provider for restaurants that takes reservations and manages tables. Integration with Lightspeed Restaurant allows restaurateurs to streamline their operations and centralize their customer information, freeing up time for their core business.
To do this, you will need active accounts in both Zenchef and Lightspeed Restaurant.
The integration between Lightspeed Restaurant and Zenchef can only work if the floor plan is identical on both applications: the tables must have the same names.
Connecting Zenchef
Start the integration in Zenchef.
- In Zenchef, navigate to Settings > Partner
- Under Point of Sales, click Connect next to Lightspeed.
- Enter your Lightspeed login credentials and click Connect.
- Enable Reservation-API and Financial-API, then click Authorize.
- If necessary, choose the establishment to be connected from the drop-down list at the top left of the screen and click Connect.
Configuring the Back Office
- Log in to the Back Office with your Lightspeed Restaurant credentials.
- From the navigation menu, select Menu > Menu management.
- Click the three dots (⋯) next to a menu > Edit menu.
- Click the main screen REZA.
- Click Add button > Web extension.
- Select the Zenchef extension and click Add button.
- (Optional) Edit the button as needed and click Save.
- Click Update and reload devices.
Using the Zenchef integration
Seating a guest at their table
To open an order on the Lightspeed table for your Zenchef reservation you can use one of two workflows:
- Marking the reservation as seated via Zenchef.
- Marking the reservation as seated via Lightspeed.
Once the reservation has been marked as seated, an order will be opened on the designated table(s) in Lightspeed.
To ensure a smooth process, we recommend assigning the reservation to the correct table(s) in Zenchef before marking it as Seated.
Synchronizing walk-in reservations
When a walk-in reservation is created in Zenchef, an order is automatically opened on the corresponding table in Lightspeed. Likewise, when an order is opened in Lightspeed, a walk-in reservation is created in Zenchef. This bi-directional synchronization ensures that occupancy remains accurate and up to date across both platforms using a single action.
You can be disable this synchronization via the settings for the Zenchef marketplace integration.
Deducting a prepayment from the bill
If a deposit is prepaid for a reservation, that information is synchronized with the cash register. This allows the deposit amount to be deducted from the final bill.
Freeing up the table and retrieving billing information
Once the bill is paid in Lightspeed, the corresponding reservation in Zenchef is automatically marked as Finished, freeing up the table for new guests.
Zenchef then retrieves the billing details, including ordered items and the total bill amount, and saves them to the reservation. Based on this data, total spend and average spend are calculated and stored on the guest profile, enabling restaurants to segment guests based on their spending behavior.
Best practices and important notes
- Walk-in reservations are not synced between the two systems.
- If the table number of a reservation is changed in Lightspeed Restaurant, the table number will not be updated in Zenchef. We advise you to assign the reservations to the proper table via Zenchef.
- Zenchef reservations are visible for a maximum of 1 hour. After that it is not possible to mark the reservation as 'seated' via Lightspeed Restaurant.
- The following information logged in Zenchef is not visible in Lightspeed Restaurant: experiences, allergies, remarks, selected area, and referral.
- To ensure that bill details are forwarded from Lightspeed Restaurant to Zenchef, you must mark reservations as seated and close the reservation’s bill in Lightspeed Restaurant. You cannot change these statuses in Zenchef.
- Zenchef also maintains their own support page for the Lightspeed Restaurant integration.