Restaurant seating, solved by a constraint solver
Sturgeon builds three seating plans for every service with a constraint solver, the kind of optimization airlines use for crew rosters. Capacity and allergies are hard rules; balanced sections and VIPs are objectives. Your host picks one.
How it works
Three plans, not one guess
Nobody has time for floor Tetris at 5:45 on a Saturday. Sturgeon plans the whole night at once and gives the host three plans that trade off differently: VIPs apart with even sections, the patio held for the large parties, or the fewest table combines.
Hard rules it never breaks
Capacity and allergies are constraints, not preferences: a plan that breaks one is never offered. Reservations you protect are never moved, and combines and splits are suggested only where they help.
Seat next, with the reason
For the waiting list, Sturgeon suggests a table for each party and says why: a quiet zone was requested, the table frees up before the next booking, that server's section is the lightest. The host seats them in one tap.
Sections that stay balanced all night
When a table seats, the server already covering the tables around it takes it, never past an even split, with VIPs going to the best-scored server. One tap re-balances the whole floor.
Questions
What is a constraint solver?
A constraint solver is optimization software that searches every possible arrangement for the best one that satisfies a set of hard rules. Airlines use it to roster crews; Sturgeon uses it to assign parties to tables so capacity and allergies are never violated while sections stay balanced.
Does Sturgeon work with OpenTable, Resy, and SevenRooms?
Yes. Seating plans are built from the reservations in OpenTable, Resy, or SevenRooms, plus walk-ins on the waiting list.
Which plan includes seating?
The Full stack plan, which includes the live floor, seating, and the floor plan editor.
See your own numbers in Sturgeon in under a week, with your POS connected, your forecasts calibrated, and Stu answering. White-glove onboarding is included.
No credit card. No six-month contract. Your data stays yours.