Waiter ordering

Guest ordering, scanning a QR code, browsing the menu, placing an order, covers most tables, but not every order comes from a guest’s own phone. Waiter ordering lets staff place an order on a guest’s behalf from their own device, the same way a server would ring something in on a traditional POS.

Turning it on for an employee

Waiter ordering is granted per employee from Employees, as one of the “Handheld waiter access” permissions:

• Open new tabs, so a server can start a table’s first order.
• Place orders, so a server can add to a tab once it’s open.

Grant either independently. A server who only ever adds to tables a host has already seated doesn’t need “Open new tabs”; a host who greets and seats guests but never places food orders doesn’t need “Place orders.” See Employees for how permissions work generally.

An employee whose only permissions are these two sees a simplified view the moment they sign in, table numbers and the menu, instead of the full dashboard. Anyone with any other permission, managing the menu or sections, being a manager, keeps seeing the full dashboard as usual. This simplified view is meant for a handheld device dedicated to taking orders, not for running the rest of the restaurant.

Placing an order

1. Sign in on the handheld.
2. Pick the table by number.
3. Browse the menu and tap items to add them, choosing a variant first if the product has one.
4. Review the order and place it.

Placing the order opens the table’s tab if it wasn’t already open, or adds to it if a guest (or another staff member) already started one. Either way it lands in Lists & orders exactly like a guest-placed order, kitchen and other staff see it the same way regardless of who placed it.