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Ask a questionRestaurant owners, comparing notes
Questions about running a restaurant on Get Menu, answered by the team and kept public so the next person finds them. Also see the help centre.
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Do I need somebody technical to install a restaurant point of sale?No. There is no server to install and nothing to configure on your network. You put one app on an Android tablet, type a six character code, and the device already knows your menu, your people and you AnsweredWhat should my opening routine look like?Sign in, clock in, open the shift and count the change already in the drawer as your float. That is it. Opening a shift is also the moment dishes the kitchen marked sold out yesterday come back, so it AnsweredDo I need a receipt printer on the first day?No. Without one the POS shows the same receipt on the screen instead, with a line saying why, and the customer can read it there or have it on WhatsApp. You will want a printer soon, because a kitchen AnsweredCan I run the whole thing from one Android phone: orders, the counter and stock?Yes, with two things open. The dashboard works in the phone's browser: the orders board, the menu, stock and every report. The POS is a separate app that pairs with a six-letter code from Settings → T AnsweredWe write orders in a notebook today. Is moving to a POS realistic?Yes, and the notebook is usually the reason the numbers never add up. Start with the smallest version: the menu on the page, one tablet on the counter, cash, and a shift opened and closed each day. Th AnsweredHow much of the counter can I set up before I pay for the add-on?Almost all of it. People and their four numbers, printers, kitchen stations, the ways you take money, gift cards, house accounts, tables and the floor plan can all be prepared while the add-on is off. AnsweredMy staff are more comfortable in Arabic. Will they manage the POS?Yes. Each device has its own language setting for its own screens, so the tablet on the counter can be in Arabic while your dashboard stays in English. The receipt language is chosen separately under AnsweredWhich do I set up first, the ordering page or the counter?The ordering page. It is included from day one, it takes an afternoon, and everything you build there is what the restaurant POS system then sells from. Once the page is right, adding the counter is m AnsweredDo I have to finish my menu before I add the POS?No, but it helps. The POS sells from the same menu your ordering page uses, so anything you add later shows up on the counter by itself. Most restaurants get their categories, prices and options in fi AnsweredHow long does it take to train a cashier?Minutes, not days. A cashier taps their name, types four numbers, taps dishes, presses how the customer paid and hands over the receipt. The things that need thought, such as giving money back or canc AnsweredIs there a checklist so I do not miss a step?Yes. Settings, then Getting started. It is the same list we would read to you, each row linking to the screen that finishes it, and it works out what you have already done from your real data rather t AnsweredCan I start with one tablet and add more later?Yes, and it is the sensible way. Start with the busy counter, learn it for a week, then add a kitchen screen or a waiter phone when you know what you want from them. Adding a device is the same six ch AnsweredDo I have to stop taking online orders while I set the counter up?No. Your page keeps taking orders the whole time. Adding devices, people, printers and stations changes nothing a customer can see. The only visible moment is when the counter starts selling, and even AnsweredI run a small cafe with one counter. Is this too much software for me?No. Most restaurant point of sale systems are built for chains and feel that way. This one is built for a place with one counter and a few people on it. You can use the selling screen, cash, a printer AnsweredDo I have to be in the restaurant to set the counter up?Only for the last step. People, printers, stations, ways of paying and the floor plan are all set from your dashboard, which is a browser page you can open anywhere. Pairing needs somebody standing at AnsweredWhat is worth doing on my first day with the POS?Four things, in this order. Add your people under Settings, then The POS, so every sale carries a name. Pair one device and sell one real item on it. Open a shift with the change that is actually in t AnsweredWhat do I plug the cash drawer into?The printer. A cash drawer works here the way it does with any POS system: the drawer cable goes into the receipt printer, and the POS sends the pulse when a sale is taken with a way of paying you mar AnsweredCan my team practise before we go live?Yes. Open a shift, ring a small item, take it as cash, print or show the receipt, then give it back as a refund and close the shift. Your team sees the whole path in ten minutes. Everything you do is AnsweredWe open in three days. Is that enough time to be ready?Yes, if your menu is written down somewhere. A realistic run is menu and prices on day one, hours, delivery areas and WhatsApp on day two, the counter on day three. Pairing a device and adding people AnsweredCan I keep my old cash register running for a week while we learn?Yes, and plenty of restaurants do. Nothing forces you to move everything on one day. Run the new counter beside the old machine, compare the two at closing, and switch fully when your team stops looki AnsweredCan my old sales history be brought across?No. Your history stays with the system that recorded it, so keep whatever export or reports you have from it. Your reports here start from your first sale on Get Menu. It is worth going live at the st AnsweredIs the platform only for restaurants in the UAE?It is built UAE-first (VAT handling, building-based delivery, prayer-time awareness for Ramadan) but it is not confined to it: the product runs in seven countries' currencies and timezones today, and AnsweredI have a food truck. Is any of this useful?Yes. The counter app runs on an ordinary Android phone or tablet, so a POS for a food truck is one device in somebody's hand. Sales are written on the device first and sent second, so a weak mobile si AnsweredHow fast can I realistically go live?Same day. Menu with prices, opening hours, delivery areas, scan the WhatsApp QR — restaurants who have their menu ready in a document usually finish in under an hour. AnsweredMy restaurant name is taken as an address — what now?The signup checker suggests variants (add your area, a word like 'kitchen'). The display NAME on the page itself can still be exactly your restaurant's name — only the web address needs to be unique. Answered
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