Zenchef, TheFork: What Does Online Booking Really Cost a Restaurant?
Booking software like Zenchef costs at least €129 a month with a one-year commitment, and over €150 once you add a website. A platform like TheFork also takes a commission on every cover. For an independent restaurant, a good share of that price pays for features it will never open. Here are the real numbers, and what you actually need.
What Zenchef Costs in 2026
Zenchef publishes its plans on its pricing page. As of October 2026:
| Plan | Monthly price | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve | €129/month | €1,548 |
| Manage | €169/month | €2,028 |
| Grow | €249/month | €2,988 |
Three things to read before you sign:
- A one-year minimum commitment. If the tool doesn’t suit you after three months, you still pay for the next nine.
- No yearly discount: the annual price is exactly twelve times the monthly price.
- Add-ons stack up. Website: €29/month. Automatic texts: €49/month. Marketing suite: €29/month. Group management: €29/month. AI concierge: €99/month.
Online payments (deposits, card guarantees, gift vouchers) cost extra: 2% to 6% per card transaction depending on the plan.
A concrete example. A restaurant on the Reserve plan with the Zenchef website pays €158 a month, or €1,896 a year, locked in for twelve months. Add text reminders and it’s €207 a month, close to €2,500 a year.
What TheFork Costs
TheFork doesn’t publish its restaurant prices. Comparisons published in 2026 agree on a two-part model:
- a software subscription to TheFork Manager, whose amount depends on the deal you negotiate;
- a commission on every cover booked through the platform, estimated at €2 to €4 and tied to your average ticket.
The second part is what gets expensive: the more TheFork fills your tables, the more you pay. As an illustration, 15 covers a day booked through the platform, at €2.50 per cover, over 26 service days, add up to €975 in commissions a month. And some of those covers are regulars who would have come anyway: they simply got used to booking through the app.
For a restaurant in a busy tourist area, the platform’s reach can justify that cost. For a neighborhood restaurant that lives on its regulars, it’s a tax on its own customers.
Are You Paying for Features You Don’t Use?
Booking software is built to serve everyone: the 30-seat bistro, the 200-seat brasserie, the ten-location group. Its pricing reflects all of those needs, and you pay for all of them.
This isn’t specific to restaurants. Across software in general, a study by Pendo (2019, anonymized usage data from 615 customers) estimated that 80% of the features in the average product are rarely or never used.
Try the exercise for your restaurant. Here’s what a full-featured tool offers, and what really matters for an independent:
| Feature | Useful day to day for an independent? |
|---|---|
| Booking widget on your website | Yes, it’s the whole point |
| Automatic or manual confirmation | Yes |
| Confirmation email and day-before reminder | Yes, it’s what cuts no-shows |
| Floor plan and table assignment | Yes |
| Entering phone bookings | Yes |
| Exceptional closures (holidays, private events) | Yes |
| Text message reminders | Useful, but an email with a cancel link covers the essentials |
| Card guarantee, prepayment | Only if no-shows are a real problem for you |
| Waitlist | Rarely, unless you’re very much in demand |
| CRM, email campaigns | Only if someone works on them every week |
| Multi-location management | No, if you have one restaurant |
| AI phone concierge | No, for most restaurants |
The first six rows are enough to fill your tables online and limit no-shows. The rest makes sense for bigger operations with a team to run it.
The Alternative: Booking Built Into Your Website, With No Commission
That’s the choice we made with Resto1Click’s Pro+ plan: keep the essentials, do them well, and include them with your website.
- Online booking on your floor plan, with no commission, however many covers
- A floor plan you draw, or import from a simple photo of a sketch
- Automatic or manual confirmation, to fit the way you work
- Confirmation and day-before reminder emails, with a cancel link that frees the table instead of a no-show
- Phone bookings and closures entered from the same dashboard
- Your professional website included: menu, photos, hours, Google reviews, custom domain
- Also works on your current website (Wix, WordPress, Squarespace…): one line of code is enough, step-by-step guide here
All for €49 a month excl. VAT, with no commitment, and €39 excl. VAT for life for the first 30 restaurants.
| Zenchef Reserve + website | Resto1Click Pro+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | €158 | €49 excl. VAT (€39 founder price) |
| Per year | €1,896 | €588 excl. VAT (€468 founder price) |
| Commitment | 1 year minimum | None, cancel any month |
| Commission per cover | None | None |
| Website | €29/month add-on | Included |
| Floor plan | Yes | Yes, with photo import |
| Day-before reminder | Yes (texts as a €49/month add-on) | Yes, by email |
Over a year, the difference is more than €1,300, and with no commitment you stay free to change your mind.
When a Fuller Tool Is Still the Right Choice
To be fair: Pro+ doesn’t cover every case. A tool like Zenchef is a better fit if:
- you run several locations and want a shared customer database;
- no-shows are bad enough that you need card guarantees or prepayment;
- someone runs your marketing campaigns and CRM every week;
- you want bookings to come straight from Google’s Reserve button and Instagram.
If that’s you, the price is justified. Otherwise, you’re mostly paying for the list.
How to Decide in 5 Minutes
- Count last month’s covers booked through a platform, and multiply by the commission you pay.
- Add up subscription and add-ons for your current tool over twelve months.
- In the table above, tick the features you actually used this month.
If the total runs to several hundred euros a year for what you ticked, booking built into your website, with no commission, saves you money from the first month. To go further, our guide to online reservation systems compares each approach for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Zenchef cost per month? As of October 2026: Reserve €129/month, Manage €169/month, Grow €249/month, with a one-year minimum commitment. The website (€29/month), automatic texts (€49/month) and marketing suite (€29/month) are add-ons, and online payments are charged 2 to 6%.
How much does TheFork charge per cover? TheFork doesn’t publish its prices. 2026 comparisons estimate the commission at €2 to €4 per cover booked through the platform, depending on your average ticket, on top of a software subscription.
Is there commission-free online booking with no commitment? Yes: Resto1Click’s Pro+ plan includes booking on your floor plan and your website, for €49 a month excl. VAT with no commitment (€39 excl. VAT for life for the first 30 restaurants), including on an existing website.
When is Zenchef still the right choice? For a group with several locations, a restaurant that needs card guarantees, or a team that really uses the CRM and marketing campaigns.
Prices checked on October 20, 2026 on Zenchef’s pricing page. TheFork’s prices aren’t public: estimates come from comparisons published in 2026. Always check the quote you’re offered.
Your website and your bookings, with no commission and no commitment.
✓ Online booking on your floor plan, no commission ✓ Automatic confirmation and reminder emails ✓ Your professional website included ✓ €39/month excl. VAT for life for the first 30 restaurants