Tables & table rental
Salons often have more than one grooming station, and often rent one out to a self-employed groomer. Two screens cover this, both under Finance and both only shown if you offer grooming.
Groomer — Tables
Your bookable stations. Give each a name and Pet Central keeps two dogs from being booked onto the same table at the same time, and lets you see the day station by station. Set them up first — the rental screen refers to them.
Groomer Table Rental
Where you rent a table to someone else, this tracks what they owe. Set their terms on the Team page, record the letting — who has which table, on which days — at the bottom of the Tables screen, and it appears in your figures as income alongside everything else, rather than living in a separate notebook.
Hybrid: a share only above a target
A hybrid is a low base to cover the utilities plus a smaller share of what they take. Set a target on the Team page and the share is taken only on takings above it, per period — four weeks of a table means four times the weekly target to clear. Leave the target at zero and the share is taken on everything, which is what happened before and stays the default.
Settling up when you take the money
Tick Customers pay us, not them on their record where you take payment at the front desk. The Table Rental page then shows what actually changes hands: their share of the takings, plus their tips, less the rent for the same period. It can land either side of nothing, and the screen says which way — Record payout when you owe them, Create invoice when they owe you.
A payout is written as an expense, because that is what a payment to a subcontractor is, so it reaches your figures rather than living on a screen. Check the category before you save it.
Where they take payment themselves, leave it unticked: you never held their share, so the only thing moving is the rent.
The commission on the Team page
Once somebody rents a table, the Keeps figure on the Team page stops being editable and is worked out from their rental terms instead. On a 60/40 deal you record the salon’s 40% here, and the Team page shows they keep 60% — one number, so the two screens cannot drift apart. On a fixed rent they keep 100%, because you are paid in rent rather than in a share.
An employed groomer is unaffected: their commission is a bonus on a wage, which is a different thing entirely, and stays a box you can type in.
Self-wash and anything else you only offer sometimes
A treatment can be given its own days and hours on its edit screen, under the pricing switches. Leave it alone — as nearly everything should be — and it is offered whenever you are open. Set it, and customers are only offered slots inside that window.
That is what makes a self-wash tub work: set it up as a treatment at your tub price, give it a table of its own so it does not take a grooming station, and restrict it to the quiet evenings you want to let it out. The same applies to a hand-stripping day or a clinic that only runs on a Tuesday.
Finished by means exactly that. A slot that would start inside the window but run past its end is not offered, so nobody books a ninety-minute wash at ten to eight.
Worth knowing
Table hire you pay for a venue is an expense and belongs under Expenses instead. This screen is for hire you charge for.
Both screens are hidden unless Groomer is one of your services, since table hire is a grooming arrangement.
Example
A salon with three tables rents the third to a self-employed groomer two days a week. The bookings never clash, and the rental shows up in the month’s income without anyone adding it by hand.
FAQ
Where are these?
Finance → Groomer – Tables and Groomer Table Rental. They only appear if grooming is one of your services.
Do I have to use tables?
No. Leave them empty and bookings behave exactly as before — they are only useful with more than one station.
What if I pay to rent a table elsewhere?
That is a cost rather than income, so record it under Finance → Expenses. This screen is for hire you charge for.
Does rental income count in my reports?
Yes. It appears alongside your other income, so a month’s figures are complete without adding anything separately.