Table turn time is the minutes from seating a party to the table being ready for the next. Add up seated minutes for a period and divide by the number of parties served. Track it by party size and day part, then pace reservations to match what the kitchen can send.
The formula
Turn time = total minutes tables were occupied divided by the number of parties served in the same period. For example, if twelve parties occupied tables for a combined 960 minutes, the average turn is 80 minutes. Those figures are made up, to show the arithmetic.
Also track table turns: parties served divided by tables available. It tells you how many times each table filled in a service.
Split it up
An average across the restaurant hides the useful facts. Track turn time by party size, by day part and by day of week. A party of two at lunch might stay half as long as a party of six at dinner. If you plan reservations with one average, you will over-book some hours and under-book others.
What affects it
Order timing, kitchen speed, how soon the check is offered and how fast payment is taken all matter. Each one is something you can measure. A common leak is the time between asking for the check and the guest leaving. Handhelds and pay-at-table can shorten it.
Targets
There is no single right number. Published benchmarks exist, but concepts differ [VERIFY any figure you adopt, and cite the source]. Set a target for each party size from your own history, then aim to shave the slowest part, not the whole meal.
Pacing
Pacing means limiting how many covers you accept per time slot so the kitchen is not buried. If the kitchen can send forty covers a quarter hour, accept fewer than that for the busy quarter hours and spread the rest. Check your kitchen display for ticket times at the peak to see the limit.
A starting routine
For two weeks, record seat and leave times. After that, compute the average by party size. Set your reservation spacing to match. Review after a month and adjust.
Tools
Zorveta One's turn-time pacing uses your own seating history, and the floor plan shows table states. See kitchen display for ticket times.