Taking orders

The order screen opens when you open a tab on the floor. This page covers its layout and totals, the category bar and ★ Favorites, search, ringing up and quantities, the line sheet, notes, seats, sending to the bar, deleting and voiding lines, and marking products out of stock (86).

Opening and moving tabs is in The floor and tabs, and charging is in Taking payment.

The order screen

One screen for one check. On the left: the way back to the floor, the category bar, a search field and the product tiles. On the right: the check — its header, the seat controls, the lines in the order they were rung, the totals, and the buttons that print the bill, send the round and take payment.

Everyone signed in can ring up, in every role.

The left side

1. The strip at the top: Tables on the left takes you back to the floor. At the right end, the connection light reads Synced, Connecting… or Disconnected.
2. Under it: the category bar, then the search field Search name or code, then the tiles. A tile shows the product's name (up to two lines) and its price. While one of the product's happy-hour windows is open, the tile shows the happy-hour price with a small Happy hour mark (see Pricing).

The check

1. The header. The title is the table and the guest's name ("T4 · Ana"), or the table and the guest count ("T4 · 4 people"). Under it: the guest count (when the title shows a name), the server's short name, when it was opened ("opened 9:04 PM") and the check's reference — the guest's name, or # and four characters. A PARTIAL chip shows once part of the check is paid. On the right: Table ▾.
2. Under the header, the seat controls (see Ring up by seat), then the lines.
3. At the bottom, the totals, then the buttons: the printer icon (print the bill), Send (N) while anything is unsent, and Charge $X. A check with nothing on it shows Close empty table instead.

Each line shows its quantity (tinted in the category's color), its name, a blue ➤ sent mark once it has been sent, a second line with the price breakdown when options were chosen ("Base $150.00 · Double +$80.00"), its note in italics, and the line's price on the right. A line with a discount shows its full price struck through and the discounted price in brass. A line rung at a happy-hour price shows a small Happy hour mark under its price, for as long as it's on the check.

The totals

• If your prices include tax, the totals are one line, "Total · includes IVA $X", beside the big total.
• If tax is added on top, there are three rows: Subtotal, IVA (16%) (with your venue's rate, or plain IVA when the venue has no rate) and TOTAL.
• Discount shows as a brass row when the check has a check discount. A line discount shows on its line.
• Once part of the check is paid, Paid amount and Remaining rows appear, and Charge shows what is still owed, not the check total.
• A line is its quantity × (its price + its options), less its own line discount; a check discount and IVA follow. See Discounts and comps. The totals are worked out again with every change, so every iPad shows the same figures.

In the back office, under Settings › Venue › Venue › Taxes (admins only):

Use Table ▾

1. Tap Table ▾. It lists Transfer to another table…, Merge into another table…, Move a seat… (only when two or more seats have lines), Assign to another server…, Edit guests and name… and Check discount / comp… — and, only while the check has a comp that can be undone, Undo a comp….
2. Transfer, merge and moving a seat take you back to the floor with the move ready: tap the table it goes to. See The floor and tabs. For the check discount and undoing a comp, see Discounts and comps.

Print the bill

• Tap the printer icon to print the whole bill. Once any seat has paid, the tap prints the remaining seats on one paper instead.
• Press and hold it for the versions that apply: Full bill, Remaining seats, By seat (all seats, one seat, or the shared items) and Split evenly (2 to 6 parts).
• The icon only shows when the check has lines. See Printing and receipts.

Changes from other iPads

• Lines another iPad adds appear live, with a note such as "Ana added 2 items" and a short blue tint on the new lines.
• If the check is paid or closed on another iPad, this iPad goes back to the floor with "This check was paid or closed on another terminal." If another iPad takes the table over, see The floor and tabs.
• There is no barcode scanning on the order screen.
• Everything needs a connection; nothing is kept to send later. A change that fails says "No connection — check the network and try again."

Pick a category or Favorites

The bar across the top of the left side chooses which tiles show. ★ Favorites — the venue's best sellers of the last 30 nights — leads it whenever there is something to show; the venue's categories follow.

1. Tap a category. It lights up and the grid shows that category's tiles.
2. Drag the bar sideways to reach more categories. Its right edge fades, and a scroll bar flashes, as the cue.
3. Tapping a category also clears a search in progress.

To ring from Favorites, tap ★ Favorites. The best seller comes first; tap tiles as usual.

How Favorites are picked

• They are the products with the most units sold on paid checks over the last 30 service nights, tonight included. Voided and comped lines don't count, and lines on checks not paid yet count once they are paid. Archived products drop out. Sold-out products are ranked like any other.
• Most units first; a tie goes by name, A to Z, so every iPad shows the same order. At most 24 tiles. Every iPad and every staff member sees the same list.
• The list is refreshed when the menu reloads: at sign-in, after a menu change in the back office (which reaches the iPads within seconds) and after every 86 change — not after each payment.
• A sold-out favorite keeps its place, dimmed with its 86 badge, and can't be tapped.
• There is no ★ Favorites chip while the venue has no paid sales in the last 30 nights, or when the list can't be read.
• A favorite can't be pinned or removed by hand, and the 30 nights and 24 tiles can't be changed.

How categories show

• Only active categories show, in the back office's order, each with a dot in its color. Their names, colors and order come from Menu › Categories, and the products from Menu › Products — see Products and categories.
• The iPad remembers the last category used, even after the app is closed. The bar opens on the category already open, else the one this iPad remembers, else ★ Favorites (when it has tiles), else the first category. A menu change from the back office keeps the category that is open.
• Inside a category, tiles keep the products' order: a new product goes to the end, and so does each row of a menu import, in file order. The back office can reorder categories, but not products.
• A product with no category, or whose category is archived, can't be reached from a category, but can still show in ★ Favorites and in search.
• A category's guest-menu switch doesn't affect this bar.

Search the menu

Search finds a product anywhere on the menu by its name, its Spanish name or its code, whatever category is open.

1. Tap Search name or code and type part of a name or code ("tito", "espadin", a SKU).
2. The grid shows the matches from the whole menu.
3. Tap a tile to ring it up. The keyboard goes away but the search stays, so another tap rings another.
4. To clear it, tap ⊗ in the field, or any category.

Search on the keyboard, or scrolling the grid, also puts the keyboard away.

• A product matches when what you type appears anywhere in its Name (EN), Nombre (ES) or SKU (its fields in Menu › Products). Capitals and accents don't matter: "espadin" finds "Espadín". Several words must appear together, as typed.
• Search covers every active product, including ones with no category. Sold-out products show, dimmed.
• Tiles always show the Name (EN), whatever the iPad's language.
• Options, descriptions and category names aren't searched.
• The search is forgotten when you leave the check.

Ring up drinks

A tap on a tile puts one on the check. Tapping the same product again adds to the same line (2×, 3×…) when nothing tells the two apart. Quantities are changed in the line sheet; there is no number pad for them.

1. Tap the tile.
2. If the product has an option group that needs a choice, the options picker opens instead: choose, then tap Add · $X. See Modifiers and the iPad picker. A custom drink opens its builder (see Custom drinks).
3. While the iPad waits, the tile shows a brass outline and a small count. The line appears at the bottom of the check, and the list scrolls to it.

Ring up with options or a note

1. Press and hold the tile.
2. Tap Add with modifiers… or Add with a note…. The picker opens (with the cursor in the note box for the second one).
3. Choose, type, and tap Add · $X.

Change a quantity before Send

1. Tap the line. The line sheet opens.
2. Tap − or + beside Quantity. − at 1 removes the line.
3. Tap Done.

Rules for lines

• A line keeps the price the product had when it was rung, plus the prices of the options chosen then. A later price change in the back office, or a happy-hour window closing, doesn't touch lines already on checks. Each line also records who rang it.
• The iPad rings the price set on the product in Menu › Products — or, while one of the product's happy-hour windows is open at the moment of the tap, its happy-hour price. See Pricing.
• A tap adds to an existing line only when that line hasn't been sent, is the same product at the price a tap would ring now, has the same options and the same note, has no line discount, and is on the same seat. Anything else starts a new line. So a happy-hour line takes more taps only while its window is open; after it closes, the next tap starts a new line at the full price.
• + in the line sheet adds one more at the line's own price — a happy-hour line's too, even after its window has closed.
• Each tap is its own: two quick taps ring two.
• An unsent line's quantity goes from 1 to 99.
• A sold-out tile does nothing when tapped.

If a drink doesn't go on

• A sent line's quantity can't change. A void takes off the whole line, so to take back one of three sent drinks, void the line and ring two again (they print on the next Send).
• "This check was just closed on another terminal — start a new tab." — the check was closed on another iPad; nothing is added. A failed add from the picker says "Error adding item: …".
• "This line just changed on another terminal." — you pressed − or + on a line another iPad sent, voided or moved to another check in the meantime. Nothing changes, and the line is read again.

Custom drinks

A product marked Custom drink in the back office opens the custom drink builder instead of ringing its own price — for drinks that aren't on the menu. The builder itself is described in Custom drinks.

1. Open the category that holds the custom drink product, or search for it. Its price line reads "from $X".
2. Tap the tile. The builder opens, titled Custom drink.
3. Build the drink and add it. When you are ringing by seat, it lands on the selected seat.

• Press and hold › Add with modifiers… or Add with a note… opens the same builder.
• If the venue has switched it on, a Custom drink button sits at the start of the category bar. It stays there whatever the bar shows — any category, ★ Favorites or a search — and opens the same builder.

Rules for custom drinks

• A custom drink tile never rings on its own: a tap always opens the builder.
• The Custom drink button opens the venue's first active custom drink product, in grid order, skipping one that is 86'd. It only shows when the setting is on and an active custom drink product exists; if every one is 86'd, there is no button. It doesn't move when the category bar scrolls.
• The line takes the name the builder gave it — for a menu drink with another spirit, "Paloma with Mezcal Espadín" — on the check, on prep tickets and on the bill.
• The line sheet has no Modifiers row for a custom drink, and there is no way back into the builder. To change one before Send, remove it and build it again. − and + work.
• A custom drink product can be 86'd like any other.

The line sheet

Tapping a line opens one card with everything about it: quantity, seat, note, options and discount, and the button that removes or voids it. The swipe and press-and-hold shortcuts do the same jobs; this is the visible way in.

1. Tap the line. The card shows its name and, under it, the line's unit price · its category · not sent yet or already sent. For a line rung at a happy-hour price, Happy hour follows the price: "$60.00 · Happy hour · Cocktails · not sent yet".
2. Quantity: − and + (unsent lines only; a sent line shows the number).
3. Assigned seat — only when you are ringing by seat: Whole table takes the line off any seat; 1, 2… puts it on that seat; + puts it on a new seat. A paid seat shows a lock and can't be picked.
4. Note: type into "Extra dry, light ice, etc." — unsent lines only. A sent line shows its note but you can't change it.
5. Modifiers — only for products with option groups, and never for a custom drink. It shows the options chosen, or Choose a preparation…. Tap it to open the picker again with the line's choices and an Update · $X button. You can't change it once the line is sent.
6. Discount: shows No discount, "15% · -$45.00" or "-$20.00". Tap it for the line discount. See Discounts and comps.
7. At the bottom: Remove for an unsent line (one tap, gone). For a sent line, Void — or Void — asks for manager PIN when a PIN will be asked.
8. Tap Done to close it. Closing it any other way (✕, or swiping it down) still saves a changed note.

• The card always shows the line as it is now: a change made here or on another iPad redraws it.
• Update · $X adds the new version of the drink with the same quantity, seat and note, moves the old line's discount onto it, and then removes the old line (it counts as one line removed before send). Each step waits for the one before, so if the add fails, nothing is removed.
• The new version keeps the price the old line was rung at — its happy-hour price included, even after the window has closed. Only the options are priced again.
• The card closes by itself when its line leaves the check (here or on another iPad), or when the line's seat gets paid. Lines on a paid seat don't open the card at all.
• If Update · $X loses a race with Send on another iPad, both lines stay: "This drink was just sent to the bar — void it from the check instead."
• If the discount can't move to the new line, the new line is taken off again and the old one stays: "The discount could not move to the new line, so the line was left as it was: …".

Add a note to a line

A short instruction on one line ("no ice", "chilled glass") that prints under the item on the prep ticket when the round is sent.

1. Swipe the line to the left and tap Note. The Note card opens.
2. Type the note.
3. Tap Save, or Return. Cancel leaves it as it was.

Or tap the line and type in the line sheet's Note row, then tap Done.

• To ring a drink with a note: press and hold the tile › Add with a note… › type › Add · $X.

• To remove a note, clear the text and save.

• Notes exist only before Send. Once a line is sent, Note disappears from the swipe and the line sheet shows the note without letting you change it: the ticket has already printed, and a later note would never reach the bar.

• The note shows in italics under the line and prints on the prep ticket. It doesn't print on the guest's bill or receipt.

• A line with a note only takes more of the same drink with the same note; a plain tap on the tile starts a new line.

• An extra charge typed in the picker needs a note that says what it is for. See Modifiers and the iPad picker.

• Saving fails without a connection; the card stays open with the error.

Ring up by seat

Seats record which guest each line is for, so a table can pay seat by seat. A check is worked as Whole table — lines carry no seat and the table pays as one; the screen says "They pay together" — or By seat, where each new line goes on the selected seat.

1. On a check with two or more guests, tap By seat (unless the venue already opens checks by seat). The seat bar appears with Seat 1 selected, in brass.
2. Tap the seat of the guest who is ordering.
3. Ring up: every new line lands on that seat.
4. Tap the next seat for the next guest. + adds a seat and selects it.

Add a guest to a tab for one

Tap Add a guest. Seat 2 appears and is selected, the check switches to By seat, and the lines already on it move to seat 1.

Move a line to another seat

• Press and hold the line › Move to seat › Seat N, or Seat N (new).
• Or tap the line › Assigned seat › tap a number. Whole table takes it off any seat.

Put two seats on one bill

Press and hold a seat chip or a seat header › Merge into seat N. Every line of the first seat moves to the second. The empty chair stays on the seat bar, and the guest count doesn't change.

See a paid seat's lines

Tap its header — paid seats start collapsed. Tap again to collapse it.

Go back to one bill

Tap Whole table. Seats already on lines are kept; new lines get no seat.

How seats work

• The seat controls only show when the tab has two or more guests, or a line already sits on seat 2 or higher. A tab for one (a register sale, a stool opened for one) shows only Add a guest.
• The venue's setting decides whether a check opens as Whole table or By seat. The switch on the check lasts for that visit only — except that a check whose lines already carry seats always opens By seat, on every iPad.
• Seats go from 1 to 99. The bar shows as many seats as the largest of: the guest count, the highest seat in use, and the seats added with + on this visit. Extra seats added with + and left empty are gone the next time the check is opened.
• Working By seat with seats in use, lines are grouped under seat headers (in seat order, and in the order they were rung within a seat). Lines on no seat come last, under No seat.
• With two or more seats in use, each header shows that seat's share of the bill: the check total — IVA, any check discount and the lines on no seat included — split in proportion to what each seat ordered, after each line's own discount. A drink discounted for one guest lowers only that guest's share. It is the same figure the payment screen charges for that seat. The selected seat's header is brass.
• Moving lines between seats never changes the check total: a seat is a label, and the money comes from the lines.
• Paid seats: a payment taken for a seat locks it, on every iPad. Its chip is dimmed and can't be selected, so new lines go to the next open seat or a new one. Its lines are dimmed and collapsed under the header, and can't be tapped, swiped, moved or merged; nothing can be moved onto it either ("That seat has already paid — its lines stay put."). Barform refuses, with the same sentence, any change to a paid seat's lines — a void, a comp, a discount, another quantity — and any new line on that seat, whichever iPad tries. The header shows Paid once the seat's payments cover its share. A paid seat's figure is what it still owes: $0.00 once covered, more if its share grew after it paid.
• The back office says bar seats never ask; on the iPad the guest count decides, so a stool tab opened for two or more guests shows the seat controls.
• One thing, three names: a line on no seat is under No seat on the check, Whole table in the line sheet, and Shared on the bill and the payment screen.
• To move a whole seat to another table, use Table ▾ › Move a seat… — see The floor and tabs. Paying by seat is in Taking payment.

In the back office, under Settings › Venue › iPads and service › The iPads (admins only):

The guest count is changed with Table ▾ › Edit guests and name… (1 to 20). More guests means more seat chips.

Send the round to the bar

Send sends everything not yet sent on the check to the bar or kitchen at once: the lines are marked sent, and a prep ticket prints at each station their categories print at. A successful Send takes you back to the floor.

1. Ring up the round.
2. Tap Send (N). N is the number of drinks not sent yet (drinks, not lines).
3. The iPad goes back to the floor. On the check, those lines now show ➤ sent.
4. When more is rung on the same tab, Send (N) comes back with the new count.

• Every unsent line on the check is marked sent in one step, and an Open tab becomes Sent (a partly paid tab stays Partial). The tickets print exactly the lines that were marked, so if two iPads press Send on the same tab at once, only one prints.
• One ticket per printer (station), listing its lines with quantity, options, note and seat. A printer problem shows as a printer notice; it never blocks the Send.
• "Unsent" means rung but not sent: the lines are already saved on the check and every iPad sees them; only the bar hasn't been told.
• Leaving with Tables while lines are unsent puts an amber chip in the floor's top bar — for example "3 unsent · T1" — and the table shows a small count of unsent drinks. Nothing is lost. The chip clears itself after about 6 seconds; tapping it opens that check again. See The floor and tabs.
• Charge doesn't send: lines still unsent when the check is paid never print a ticket.
• Once a line is sent, its quantity, options and note can't change, and its red action becomes Void.
• There is no Send button while nothing is unsent.
• A Send that fails stays on the check: "Error sending: …" — for example, for a check paid on another iPad.
• Nothing prints at the bar for a void or a seat move. Tell the bar.

Delete a line before it is sent

Takes a line the bar hasn't been sent yet off the check in one tap — no reason, no PIN.

1. Swipe the line to the left. The actions show: Note, Discount, Delete.
2. Tap Delete. The line dims for a moment and goes.

Swipe it back, or tap anywhere else, to close the actions without deleting. You can also tap the line › Remove, or − when the quantity is 1.

• It is recorded as a void, under whoever is signed in. It shows on the iPad's Close the day card as "Void — Removed before send" and counts in that card's voids. Today, Sales and Income count it under voids too. See Closing the day.
• Nothing comes off stock for it.
• There is no undo: ring it again.
• If another iPad sent it in the meantime: "This drink was just sent to the bar — void it from the check instead." The line redraws as sent; use Void.
• If the check was closed in the meantime: "This check was just closed on another terminal — start a new tab."
• If another iPad moved the line to another check in the meantime (with Move a seat…): "That check changed on another iPad — try again." Nothing is deleted.

Void a sent line

Takes a drink that was already sent to the bar off the check, with a reason. The same sheet can comp the line instead, which records the giveaway.

Anyone can start a void. When the venue's Voids of sent items switch is on (the default), it needs a manager: a signed-in manager or admin approves it themselves, and anyone else is asked for a manager's PIN. A comp follows the Comps — and discounts that wipe a line or the check switch instead (also on by default). See Signing in on the iPad.

1. Swipe the line to the left and tap Void — or tap the line, then Void at the bottom of the line sheet.
2. The Void Item sheet shows the line, for example "1× Mezcal Espadín · $170.00", with its ➤ sent mark.
3. Pick the reason: Guest sent back (already selected), Wrong item, Spilled, or Other… and type it under Specify the reason.
4. Tap Void — or Void — asks for manager PIN, with a lock, when a PIN will be asked.
5. If asked, a manager enters their PIN on the card "Void: 1× Mezcal Espadín · $170.00", with "Already sent to the bar" and your name under it.
6. The line leaves the check and the totals update.

Comp it instead

At step 3, pick Comp · guest or Comp · staff. The button turns amber: Comp, or Comp — asks for manager PIN. What a comp records is in Discounts and comps.

What a void records

• A void takes off the whole line, every unit on it.
• The line keeps the reason and who voided it: the manager whose PIN approved it, the signed-in admin or manager, or — with the switch off — whoever is signed in. When a manager approves, the person who asked isn't recorded.
• Stock: nothing moves at void time. Stock comes off when the check is paid, and a voided line is skipped then. A comped line still comes off stock, because it was poured. See Recipes, wells and stock.
• Reports: Today, Sales and Income count every voided line — deleted unsent lines and comps included — at what it would have sold for, on the night the tab was opened. The count is lines, not drinks. The iPad's Close the day card lists each void with its reason since the day was started.
• Voiding prints nothing at the bar.
• Lines on a paid seat can't be voided.
• If another iPad has just moved the line to another check (Move a seat… to another table), nothing is voided: "That check changed on another iPad — try again." The line is on its new check, which bills it.
• On a partly paid check, a void can bring the total below what has already been paid. The check then owes $0 but can't close: Close — no charge on the payment screen answers "Payments exceed the total — refund pending: $X. Void the extra payment under Payments taken." A manager voids the payment that is now too big, in Payments taken, and then you charge the right amount again. If that payment was by card, also void it on the card terminal. See Payment corrections.
• If the check was settled in the meantime: "This check was paid or closed on another terminal." If the line was removed elsewhere: "That line was removed on another iPad." A second tap on a line already voided is accepted quietly, with no second record.
• Other… with nothing typed still voids, with an empty reason.

"Each switch asks for a manager PIN before that action on the iPad. Off, the action goes through and records who did it." The iPads read the switches at sign-in; an iPad that can't read them asks for the PIN.

Mark a product out of stock (86)

Marks a product sold out ("86") so nobody can ring it, and back again when it is in. The tile never disappears: it stays where it was, dimmed with an 86 badge. The change reaches every iPad within seconds.

Who can do this: on the iPad, a signed-in manager or admin directly, and anyone else with a manager's PIN — no setting turns this PIN off. In the back office, admins and managers.

From the order screen

1. Press and hold the tile.
2. Tap Mark sold out (86). When a PIN will be asked, it reads manager PIN under it.
3. If asked, a manager enters their PIN on the card "Mark Mezcal Espadín sold out (86)".
4. The tile dims and shows 86.

To bring it back, press and hold the dimmed tile › Mark available (with a PIN if asked).

From the 86 list

1. On the floor, tap ··· › Out of stock (86). The screen is titled Availability (86).
2. If it says Availability locked, tap Enter manager PIN and have a manager enter theirs ("Enter the manager PIN to change availability."). A signed-in manager or admin goes straight in; the manager's name shows at the top right.
3. Find the product: search with Search products, or scroll. Products are grouped by category, sold-out ones first.
4. Flip its switch: off is sold out (the row reads SOLD OUT (86)), on is available. The row says saving… until the change is confirmed.
5. The chip at the top counts what is sold out ("3 sold out"). Sold out only shows only those.
6. Go back with the back arrow, then tap Done.

From the back office

In Menu › Products, switch the product's Available off — the list shows it as 86'd. Switch it on to bring it back. See Products and categories.

How 86 works

• There is one switch per product, shared by every iPad and the back office.
• On the order screen, a sold-out tile stays in its category, in ★ Favorites and in search results, dimmed with a red 86 badge beside the price. A tap does nothing, and its press-and-hold menu only offers Mark available.
• Lines already on checks aren't touched.
• The 86 list shows the products of active categories, in category order. Its search finds the name, the Spanish name or the code, like the order screen's.
• Unlocking the 86 list lasts until you leave it: every change made in that visit is recorded under the manager who unlocked it, whoever taps.
• An iPad that hasn't reloaded its menu yet can still ring a product for a moment after it was 86'd.
• A change that fails shows an Error alert — "Could not update availability: …" — and the switch goes back.
• A product with no category, or in an archived category, isn't on the 86 list. 86 it from its tile instead (through search or ★ Favorites).
• 86 works on products. To mark an option out, see Modifiers and the iPad picker.

Close a tab with nothing on it

A tab opened by mistake, or one whose lines were all deleted or voided, closes without going through Charge.

1. Tap Close empty table, which shows in place of Send and Charge.
2. The tab closes and the floor comes back.

• The button shows for an Open or Sent check with no lines left on it. It doesn't show on a partly paid check.
• A plain empty tab is closed with no money, and who closed it is recorded. A tab that carries a comp — a comped line or a whole-check comp — closes as a $0 paid check instead, with a comp receipt when printing is on, so the comp stays in the books.
• "This table has items — charge or void them first." — something was rung on another iPad in the meantime.
• You can also close an empty table from the floor. See The floor and tabs.

Related

• The floor and tabs
• Taking payment
• Discounts and comps
• Modifiers and the iPad picker
• Custom drinks