Point of sale basics

The Point of sale is the staff ordering and billing screen. Waiters and cashiers use it to take dine-in, takeaway and delivery orders, send them to the kitchen, print bills and take payment. It works on a laptop, tablet or phone, and keeps working when the internet drops (see Offline POS).

The POS is included in every plan, Starter included, and never uses up one of Starter's four module picks. Owners, managers, cashiers and waiters can use it.

Set it up for your outlet

Settings → POS settings picks a profile for the outlet: Restaurant, Bar, Café / counter, Shared tables or Quick service. The profile decides which order types show, whether there is a table picker, whether guests are asked for, and whether the POS is a one-tap Charge. You can then switch each of those on or off. See POS settings. The rest of this page describes everything that can show; your outlet may show less.

The POS screen at a glance

• Left: the menu. Search with Search dishes or type a code…, or tap a category (or All). Type a dish's short code and press Enter to add it (see below). Each dish shows its price ("from (price)" if it has sizes) and "options" if it has sizes or add-ons. Sold-out dishes are greyed out with an 86 badge and can't be added.
• Right: the check. Two tabs: New order (or Check #(number) when a check is open) and Open checks · (number), which lists every open check with its table or token, time, guest name and amount due. Checks where the guest asked for the bill say "bill requested".

Tap an open check to continue it. Press New to start a fresh order.

Starting an order: dine-in, tab, takeaway or delivery

On New order, choose the order type (only the types your outlet switched on are shown, in your profile's order). A short hint under the buttons says what each one means:

• Dine-in: a bill for a table. Pick the table under Choose table; it shows as occupied on the floor. Each table shows Free and its seats, or Open check (add to it) if it already has one. If your outlet asks for guests, set the number with the minus and plus buttons; when it is optional you can leave it empty. At a counter outlet with no tables this is Eat here: there is no table, and the bill gets a daily token.
• Several parties at one table (when your outlet runs shared tables): picking a table that already has a bill offers Add to T4·A, Add to T4·B or New check at T4.
• Tab: a running bill by name, no table needed. Good for guests at the bar counter. See Running bar tabs.
• Takeaway: packed to go. Parcel prices and the packing charge apply.
• Delivery: packed and delivered. Needs a name, phone and address (with PIN code).

For takeaway, enter the Customer name and Phone (needed for WhatsApp updates and loyalty); for a tab, the Guest name for the tab. Or bill a Walk-in: no name or phone is kept, and a walk-in tab gets a number (Walk-in 1, 2…). Press Add details to type them after all. If your outlet turns on Start every order as a walk-in (see Outlet settings), new orders start as walk-ins. Deliveries always need the guest's details.

Takeaway and delivery orders get a daily token (see Takeaway tokens and pickup) and appear on the Takeaway & delivery board. Packed orders use each dish's parcel price (see Parcel pricing), and a packaging charge from Settings → Takeaway is added once per order.

Unless your outlet runs shared tables, never open a second check for the same table. If a table already has an open check, choose Open check (add to it).

Adding items, options and kitchen notes

1. Tap a dish to add it, or type its short code (for example BC) and press Enter. 2*BC adds two. A barcode scanner works the same way (see below). If it has sizes or add-ons, a window opens: pick the Size and options (required choices must be made), set the quantity and add a Note for the station (optional) such as "no onion" or an allergy.
2. Press Add · (price).
3. In the check, use minus and plus to change quantity. At quantity 1, minus removes the line.

Allergies and special requests belong in the note, not only by word of mouth.

Adding dishes by short code or barcode

The fastest way to take an order is from the Search dishes… box:

• Type a short code and press Enter, for example OC180 for Officers Choice 180 ml. The dish is added and the box clears for the next one. Type 2*OC180 (or 2 OC180) to add two.
• Scan a barcode: scan a product anywhere on the POS and the dish with that Scan code (for example 8901544011144) is added, with a short beep. You do not need to click the search box first. A USB or Bluetooth scanner works like a keyboard, so there is nothing to install; the scanner icon at the top of the POS shows whether scanning is on. You can also type the barcode and press Enter, or scan with a phone camera where the browser allows it. See Barcode scanner.
• If the dish has sizes or add-ons, the options window opens first; pick them and press Enter again.
• If no dish has that barcode, you see Not on the menu and the code. If you can edit the menu, Assign to a dish… saves the code on a dish and adds it to the bill. (Offline, you only see the message.)

Short codes and scan codes are set on each dish in the menu builder (see Menu builder basics). Guests never see them.

Faster with the keyboard: press T and type a table (4, T4) to jump to it, / to jump to the search, Enter to add the top match, Ctrl + Enter (⌘ + Enter on a Mac) to send, and Alt + 1 to 9 (⌥ on a Mac) to pick a category. Press ? to see them all. See Short codes and fast POS entry and Keyboard shortcuts.

Sending to the kitchen and adding rounds

The send button names where the new items go, from each dish's station: Send to Kitchen, Send to Bar, Send to Kitchen & Bar, or Send (3 stations) when more are involved, followed by the item count. After sending you see, for example, "Sent to Bar · #(order) · Token (n)". A ticket appears on that station's screen on the Kitchen display and prints on the kitchen printers for each dish's station.

Without a kitchen display the POS runs the whole check. The button says Add to check and the list heading is On the check; nothing shows as "in the kitchen". Takeaway, delivery and token orders are the exception: they still show as Preparing on the order-ready screen until staff press Mark ready on the Takeaway & delivery board, so guests aren't called the moment the order is rung up. Kitchen tickets still print on your kitchen printers if printing is on. If there is no kitchen printer, a Print kitchen ticket button appears after each send (Settings → POS settings can open the browser's print window by itself).

On a counter profile with Quick bill, the big Charge button takes the money straight away and a token is issued; the send button only shows if a station needs telling.

Each send is a round. For the next course or extra drinks, open the same check, add items ("They go to the kitchen as round 2") and press Send again. QR orders from guests at the same table are added to the same check as rounds too.

For dine-in, Pack this round as a parcel marks a round to take away: the ticket shows PARCEL, the round uses parcel prices and the packaging charge is added once. To pack just one item, press the parcel button on that item: it gets its parcel price and a Parcel tag on the kitchen screen and ticket (see Parcel pricing).

Items already sent show a pencil button to change or void them (see Discounts, voids and tips).

Printing the bill and settling on the POS

• Print bill (under an open check) prints the bill on your bill printer with a UPI QR for the amount due, or opens a printable bill if no printer is set up. Reprints are marked DUPLICATE.
• Pay sends any unsent items first, then opens Settle check to record the payment. The check closes when fully paid.
• Split the bill by person, by items or by amount: every guest gets their own printed bill and pays on their own. See Split bills.

The check shows Subtotal, Discount, Packaging, Service charge (dine-in only; staff can remove it from a bill, see Discounts, voids, service charge and tips), taxes, Paid and Due. See Recording payments.

Moving a check to another table

If a party changes tables, move the check instead of opening a new one:

1. Go to Tables and hold (or double-click) the table to open its panel.
2. Under "Move this check to another table", choose the new table. You'll see "Check moved".

Moving tables is on the live floor, which is included in the Growth plan and above. It needs the internet.

Installing the POS as an app

The POS can be installed like an app, named "AirQR POS". In Chrome or Edge, open Point of sale and use the browser's install option (the install icon in the address bar, or the browser menu). It then opens straight into the POS in its own window, and loads even when the internet is down. Open the POS once while online on each counter device so it's ready for outages.

Troubleshooting the POS