Order entry: the register

Once an order is open, the register is where the shift happens. Learn the zones on this one screen and the rest of the system follows.

The register screen

Register screen zones. Categories carry a colour stripe; the quantity column rings several of an item at once; hot buttons along the bottom are set per menu.

The ticket sits on the left. It lists each item with its quantity, unit price and line total, and under it are the buttons that end a step: Send fires the items to the kitchen and returns to the floor plan, Send/Stay fires them and keeps the ticket open, Done closes the ticket without sending, and Pay goes to payment. Clear Unsent removes everything that has not gone to the kitchen yet, and Item Options opens the actions in the last section of this page.

The menu picker in the top bar switches between menus, for example Food and Bar. Under it, the column of categories belongs to the selected menu; each category carries a colour stripe so staff can find it by eye. The narrow column of numbers is the quantity pad: tap 3, then the item, to ring three at once. The tiles on the right are the items in the selected category, with a search field above them and an Add Open Item button for the dish that is not on the menu.

Along the bottom right sit ten hot buttons per menu. Each can jump to another menu or category, act as a shortcut to an item, or run a function. The demo restaurant uses them for Bar, Catering, a DON'T MAKE flag, Print Check(s) and Open Cash Drawer.

Categories and subcategories

Categories can hold subcategories: Draft and Bottled under Beer, for example. That keeps the register tidy, and it gives reports a finer breakdown because sales roll up by category and subcategory.

Home screen

Each menu can have a home screen of the items ordered most, with photos on the buttons if you like. Behind a bar it saves a category tap on every round.

Specials and time-based pricing

An item can carry a special price tied to a day of the week or a time of day, either as a dollar or percent discount or as a replacement price. The button shows Special while it applies, so staff do not have to remember when happy hour starts.

Working with items on the ticket

Select one item on the ticket, or several, and act on them together through Item Options:

Apply a discount.
Reprint to the kitchen printer.
Reorder adds the same item again with its modifiers already set, which is what you want for the second round.
Void several items at once. This is a manager function.
Transfer an item to another order.