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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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A customer came back saying they were overcharged yesterday and only remembers the amount. How do I find the sale?Open Find a sale on the POS. It searches by the receipt number, by the amount, or by the last four digits of a phone number if one was added to the sale. The sale shows every line, how it was paid and AnsweredA lot of my regulars pay with a payment app on their phone. Can I add that as a way to pay on the POS?Yes. Open Settings → The POS and go to How people pay. Fill What is it called with the name your staff should see on the button, then decide the two ticks: Opens the cash drawer, and Counts as cash in AnsweredEvery cafe near me uses an iPad point of sale. Can I run yours on the iPad I already own?Not the counter app today. The app you can download is Android, so a POS that sells, a kitchen screen or a waiter's phone needs an Android device. Your iPad is still useful: the whole dashboard and yo AnsweredI searched for a free POS system for my restaurant. Is any part of yours free?The plan comes with a free 15 day trial and no card is needed, and that covers the ordering page, the menu, stock, tables and the reports. The POS add-on is not free: it is one yearly price for the wh AnsweredCan I run the POS on an ordinary Android phone rather than a tablet?Yes. The same app runs on a phone, and it is the same restaurant management app whatever the screen size. A phone is the natural choice for a waiter, which is why one of the three device kinds is A wa AnsweredThe tablet's battery died in the middle of a sale. Did we lose it?It depends where you were. A basket that was still being typed is gone, because nothing is stored until the sale is charged. A sale that had been charged is safe even if the device died a second later AnsweredDo I need a printer at all?No. With no printer the receipt is shown on the screen for the customer to read, and you can send it to their WhatsApp if they want to keep it. Plenty of small cafes run exactly like that. Add a print AnsweredIs a four digit PIN really safe enough?On its own, no, and we do not pretend otherwise. It works because of what surrounds it: the PIN is useless without a paired device, it is checked on our side rather than on the tablet, five wrong trie AnsweredWhat is a Z report?The written record of one shift. It lists the sales and how many, how they were paid line by line, refunds, sales cancelled after printing, discounts given, the float, money in and out of the drawer, AnsweredCan I run this on a normal Android tablet?Yes, and that is the ordinary case. Install the app, pair it with a code from your admin, and it sells. Add a network or Bluetooth printer whenever you want paper. The one thing worth checking is the AnsweredCan I download my POS sales for my accountant?Yes. Reports, Shifts and the POS has a Download CSV button for whatever dates you have chosen. Your monthly statement under Reports covers your trading as a whole, and every order still has its own in AnsweredWhat is the float and why does it ask for one?The float is the change already in the drawer before you serve anybody. The POS asks for it when you open the shift because tonight's count is measured against it. Get it wrong in the morning and the AnsweredIs there a monthly fee for the point of sale?No. It is one price a year for the whole restaurant, on top of your plan, and it does not change with the number of devices. Your Settings, Plan and billing screen shows the price before VAT and the e AnsweredIf I change a price tomorrow, does last night's Z report change?No. The figures are written down at the moment you close and stay as they were. A closed day is history, and history does not get better arithmetic applied to it. It is the same principle as a closed AnsweredDo I have to type the card machine total every night?No. It is optional and the shift closes fine without it. Restaurants that take a lot of card usually do type it, because a difference found the same night is a five minute conversation with the person AnsweredShould I switch the tablets off overnight?It is fine once the waiting count is at zero and the shift is closed. Leaving them on and charging is easier, and they are already up to date in the morning. If a device has been off a while, open it AnsweredWhat needs a manager's approval at the counter?Refunding a sale, voiding one, taking money out of the drawer, and closing a shift when tables have not paid. Each asks for a manager's four digits in a box on the spot, without the cashier signing ou AnsweredWhere do I see what the counter took today?Reports, Shifts and the POS. It shows what was taken at the POS, how many sales, the average sale with your online average beside it, how far the drawer was out and how many sales were cancelled after AnsweredDo my cashiers see the whole menu on the POS, or only the dishes I choose for them?They see every dish that is on sale, in the order you arrange. Settings → Arranging the POS changes the order of the tabs and puts your busiest dishes in the Most sold tab, but it never hides a dish a AnsweredCan two people use one POS at the same time?One person is signed in on one device at a time. If two of you serve at once, pair a second device. There is no extra charge for that, because the yearly price covers the whole restaurant however many AnsweredMy cashier gave a regular ten percent off and the POS asked her for a reason. Why does it do that?Because a discount without a reason is money nobody can explain later. The Discount button always asks why, and the reason is stored on the sale itself rather than lost in conversation. A cashier can AnsweredCan the customer see what they are being charged as I ring it up?Yes. On a POS with a second screen facing the customer it appears there by itself. On a plain tablet you can open the customer screen from the device settings and turn the tablet round. It shows the l AnsweredMy accountant wants every counter receipt to be a proper tax invoice with my TRN on it. Can the POS do that?Yes. Save your tax number under Settings → Ordering rules, in the Invoices section, and every receipt the POS prints becomes a tax invoice with the VAT line and your TRN on it. Without a tax number sa AnsweredI am often away from the shop. Can I see what the counter is taking right now from my phone?Yes. A cloud based restaurant POS sends every sale to us within seconds of it being taken, so Reports → Shifts and the POS on your dashboard shows the open shift and what it has taken so far. Your das AnsweredWhat happens if I forget to renew the POS?The devices stop selling and show a screen saying the add on has stopped, with a Try again button. They stay paired, your people stay known, and any sale already rung up on a device is kept. Renew fro Answered
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