Taking orders at a restaurant till: tables, checks and the check view

The order-type bar

Under the shift bar, the till shows the order types your shop offers: Tables, Counter, Takeaway and Delivery. Each device remembers the last one it used. Tables opens the floor; Counter, Takeaway and Delivery open a numbered order instead of a table. A delivery needs a customer before it is paid, and its address and phone go under Delivery address.

The floor map, and the Tables list on a phone

On a till or a tablet, Tables shows the floor in four views. Map draws one area as it is laid out, with Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit. Tiles, List and Board show every area, with a chip for each area to narrow them. Every table shows its status as a colour, an icon and a word: Free, Reserved, Seated, Ordered, Waiting on kitchen, Bill printed, Partly paid, and Paid, not cleared, with a red ring when it is overdue. Go to table opens a table by its number.

On a phone, Tables is a list grouped into Needs attention, In progress and Free and reserved, with a filter by area and a Go to table number field. Order tables by Status or by Time seated. Needs attention collects the tables that are overdue, whose bill was printed, or that are paid and not cleared yet.

Open a check

1. Tap a free table. If Ask for the number of guests is on, answer How many guests? and press Seat them.
2. The check opens. Tap products to add them, as on the register. A product with choice groups asks its questions first.
3. A table that already has two checks asks which one to open, or offers a new check on the table.
4. Tables, at the top of the check, takes you back to the floor (Alt+G on a keyboard).

Seats, courses, choices and notes

• Seats: with Seats on in Restaurant settings, each item belongs to a seat or is Shared, and Totals by seat shows what each seat owes.
• Courses: with Courses on, each item belongs to a course, such as Starters or Mains. Items of a later course wait on the check, Held until Fire, until their course is fired. Sending and firing explains it.
• Choice groups: a product can ask for choices, such as a size or a sauce, with a minimum and a maximum, and the till adds it only when the answers fit the rules.
• Notes: Note for the kitchen adds up to 140 characters to one item, and Recent notes offers the notes used lately.

Reading the check

Group by sorts the lines by Seat, Course, Round (each send to the kitchen) or Order added. Each line shows its state: New, Held until Fire, Sent, Preparing, Ready, Served or Voided; Preparing and Ready show where the shop has a kitchen screen. Wide check gives the check more room on a large screen. When someone else has the same check open, a note at the top names them.

The line menu, and taking an item back

• Select a line to change its quantity, its Seat…, its Course…, its Note for the kitchen or its choices (Change choices).
• Fire now, on a held item, sends its course to the kitchen at once.
• Move to another check… moves the item, as splitting, moving and merging explains.
• An item that was not sent yet is simply removed, with no reason asked.
• An item the kitchen already has is taken back with Void (sent)…, with a reason. The kitchen gets a VOID ticket, and if it had started the item, Record as waste is ticked, so the stock it used is written off as waste. Void (sent) needs a permission the Waiter and Cashier roles do not have as standard.

Check options

Check options sets the number of Guests, renames the check, attaches a Customer, adds a Delivery address and phone for a delivery, and gives a discount on the check. When the service charge is on, it can also remove the service charge from this check, which needs its own permission, or add it back.