Serve tables
See every table at a glance, open one to work its guests' bills, take orders for guests without a phone, take items off, and offer tips.
On this page
The Tables view of the Orders page shows the location's floor: every table, who is sitting there and what they owe. Open a table to see each guest's bill and every order of the visit, and to take an order, change a bill or record a payment there.
Who can do this: Owner and Admin, and at their location: Location manager, Shift lead, and Floor staff
Before you start
- Your plan includes table service: On Pro and Ultimate.
- The location has tables — see Add tables and print their codes.
The floor
Open Orders, then Tables. Tables are grouped by zone. Each one shows its guests, how long they have been seated and what they owe, under one word for what the table needs most:
| The table shows | What it means |
|---|---|
| Bill requested | A guest asked for the bill. |
| Waiter called | Someone called a waiter. |
| New order | An order is waiting to be accepted. |
| Preparing | An order is in the kitchen. |
| Unpaid | Everything is served, and the bill is not paid yet. |
| Seated | Guests are seated and owe nothing. |
| Free | Nobody is seated. |
When a table needs several things, it shows the first in this list. Pickup, below the tables, lists the pickup orders not paid yet.
- A table asking for the bill, with its guests, how long they have been seated and what they owe.
- Pickup: pickup orders not paid yet.
A table's guests and bills
Select a table to open it. Every guest at the table is numbered — Guest 1, Guest 2 — never named. Each phone that orders becomes a guest with a bill of their own, and a guest without a phone gets one when you order for them.
The table lists, under Bills, each guest's bill with its dishes' total, the service fee, VAT and tip, and under Orders, every order of the visit, with what the kitchen is doing, what was taken off and whether it is paid. A waiter call or bill request still open is shown at the top.
- Add items takes an order at this table.
- Join bills lets one guest pay for others.
- A joint bill: Guest 1 pays for Guest 2, with a 10% tip. Below it, what you can do with the bill.
Take an order at the table
Use this for a guest without a phone, or when a guest asks you rather than ordering themselves.
Open the table
In Tables, select the table, then Add items. On a free table, the button reads Start a new order.
Add the dishes
Choose the Menu — any menu the location serves — and find dishes with Search dishes. Select a dish to choose its size, add-ons and quantity, add a Note for the kitchen (optional), then add it to the order.
Say who it is for
Under For, choose a guest of the table, or New guest without a phone to start a bill for someone new. A free table starts on a new guest.
Place it
Check the total and select Place order. The order goes to the kitchen already accepted, and its ticket on the board is marked Staff order.
The total is worked out from your current prices. If a price changes while you take the order, you see the new total and confirm it before the order goes out. Orders you place aren't held back by a menu's serving hours or by a pause of new orders, but a dish marked sold out can't be ordered.
- Menu: any menu the location serves.
- For: a guest of the table, or a new one.
- Place order sends the order to the kitchen.
Take items off an order
When the kitchen runs out of a dish or a guest changes their mind, take the dish off rather than cancelling the whole order.
Find the order
Open the table. Under Orders, select Remove items on the order.
Choose what goes
Set how many of each dish to take off, and choose Why: Out of stock, Guest changed their mind, Entered by mistake or Other reason.
Confirm
Select the button that names how many items you are removing. The guest's bill goes down, and the guest sees what was taken off and why.
Taking everything off cancels the order and its kitchen ticket. Before a dish is served, anyone who works the tickets can take it off — the kitchen too. Once it is served, taking it off means giving it away, which only these roles may do:
Who can do this: Owner and Admin, and at their location: Location manager and Shift lead
Staff who look after the stop list also see Also mark as sold out at this location: guests can't order that dish at this location until someone makes it available again.
Join and split bills
One guest can pay for others at the table. Guests do it from their phones: one offers to pay, and the others join from their own bill. You can do it for them:
Open the table
Select the table, then Join bills.
Choose who pays and for whom
Choose the guest under Who pays?, tick the guests under Pays for, and select Join bills.
Only bills that are still open, in the same currency, can be joined. The paying guest's bill now says whom it pays for and adds up everyone's dishes. To undo it, Pays separately beside one guest lets them pay on their own again, and Split bill releases everyone.
Tips
Tips are off until you switch them on. In SettingsOrdering, under Tips:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Offer tips | Guests choose a tip on their bill. Nothing is preselected. |
| Percentages offered | Up to four percentages, lowest first. No tip and Another amount are always offered as well. |
| Offer tips when a service fee applies | When it's off, a bill that carries a service fee asks for no tip. |
| Offer tips on pickup orders | When it's off, only guests at a table are asked for a tip. |
A location can choose differently on its own Ordering tab. A tip is worked out on the dishes and isn't taxed — see Set VAT and the service fee. On a joint bill, the paying guest's tip covers everyone's dishes.
To change the tip for a guest — say they tipped in cash — open the table, select Tip on their bill, choose the tip and select Save tip. You can also change it while recording the payment — see Take payment at the venue.
Free a table
A visit ends by itself once every bill is paid or written off and nothing is left in the kitchen: the table shows Free again, ready for the next guests. A visit that owes nothing also ends after three hours without activity.
When guests leave a table that owes nothing — say their only order was turned down — open it and select Close table. A table that still owes money needs its bills paid or written off first, and one with an order in the kitchen needs that order done or rejected.