Turn time is the average time a table is occupied by a single party, measured from seating to clear.
Capacity formula: Maximum covers per service = (Seats × Service window minutes ÷ Turn time) × Average party size factor
Industry-standard ranges
- Casual lunch: 35–50 minutes. Tighter operations target 40 minutes; relaxed operations let lunch run 50.
- Casual dinner: 60–90 minutes. Two-course casual concepts target 75 minutes; concept-driven dinner-houses run 90+.
- Fine dining: 120–180 minutes. Multi-course tasting menus run longer; à la carte fine dining lands at 130–150.
- Bar / lounge seating: 45–75 minutes. Different rhythm than the dining room — guests order in waves, not courses.
What matters less than the absolute number is the variance across tables. A dining room where every table runs 90 minutes has predictable capacity. A dining room where some tables turn in 60 and others in 120 makes reservation pacing impossible.
Why turn time is the capacity ceiling
If a restaurant has 60 seats, runs a 4-hour dinner service, and average party size is 2.5, the maximum covers it can serve is constrained by turn time:
- At 60-minute turn: 60 seats × 4 hours × (1 turn/hour) = 240 cover-slots, but only ~96 actual covers because tables don't fill instantly each turn (call it 60% utilization). Realistic: 144 covers per service.
- At 90-minute turn: ~96 covers per service.
- At 120-minute turn: ~72 covers per service.
A 30-minute swing in turn time changes covers-per-service by ~50%. That's the difference between a sold-out Saturday and a half-full one.
How to measure turn time
- Pull seating timestamps from the host system or reservation platform.
- Pull check-close timestamps from the POS for each ticket.
- Subtract: close − seat = turn time for that table.
- Average across the service period, ideally segmented by daypart and party size.
Two-tops typically turn faster than four-tops. Eight-tops can run 50% longer than four-tops. Track the segments, not just the aggregate.
Common operator mistakes
- Using check-close as the turn-end signal. Some guests linger 15+ minutes after paying. The real turn end is when the table is reset, not when the check closes — which means turn time is often 10–20% longer than POS data suggests.
- Targeting unrealistically tight turn times. Pushing waiters to "flip" tables creates a worse guest experience and rarely delivers the cover-count gain it promised. The right target is consistent, not minimum.
- Not segmenting by party size. A 90-minute average that mixes 60-minute two-tops and 130-minute six-tops hides the real reservation pacing.
Related concepts