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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.
- 1024 questions answered
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My manager tried to switch off a cashier who left and the page refused. Why?Because adding somebody, changing a PIN and switching somebody off are owner-level. Each of them hands out or takes away the right to take money, so a manager signed in to the dashboard is refused pol 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](/ordering-system), the menu, stock, tables and the reports. The POS add-on is not free: it is one yea AnsweredWe are a food court stall with no tables at all. Is the kitchen screen still worth pairing?Yes. The kitchen display screen shows counter sales, orders from your ordering page and [delivery app orders](/docs/delivery-apps) as tickets, with no tables involved. The cook taps each dish as it is AnsweredCan I see who is one stamp away from a reward and give them a push?Yes, through a [campaign](/docs/promotions). Under Marketing → Campaigns the audience list includes Close to a loyalty reward, shown whenever your loyalty programme is on. Write a short message, pick 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 AnsweredCan I give my head chef manager rights on the POS without giving him a dashboard login?Yes. The two lists are separate. On Settings → The POS, under People at the POS, add him with What they may do set to Sell, and approve discounts. He can then approve a refund, cancel a printed sale o 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 AnsweredCan the reward be a free drink from a short list, or does it have to be one dish?One dish. When you choose a free item as the reward on Marketing → Loyalty & stamps, you pick a single item from your menu and that is what the reward gives. If you want the customer to choose, use a AnsweredWe are donating twenty gift cards to a school raffle. Can I make them all at once?One at a time, and it is about ten seconds each. On Marketing → Gift cards fill Amount in the Sell a gift card panel, add a Note such as school raffle so you can find them later, and press Issue the c AnsweredDoes your restaurant staff management software work out wages from the hours?No, and that is a choice. Reports → Hours worked shows hours only: every stretch with the [clock in](/docs/staff-hours), the clock out, the break taken off and the worked total, and a total per person AnsweredThe margin on my biryani is shown in amber. Do I have to raise the price?No. Amber means the margin is under fifty per cent, and it is a nudge to look rather than a rule. Some dishes are meant to be cheap and bring people in. Before touching the price, check the recipe on AnsweredMy business partner wants owner access as well. Can there be two owners?Not today. There is one owner account, the one that signed up, and it can never be removed. Everyone else you add under Settings → Team is a manager, up to five of them, each with their own email and AnsweredWill I get a WhatsApp when an ingredient goes below its par level, like I do for a dish?Not today. The WhatsApp warning belongs to dish counts: set an alert level on Menu → Inventory and your managers group is told once when the count drops past it. Ingredients work differently. A par le AnsweredAn app order shows a delivery fee and a discount. Do those go into my totals?The total we record is the total the app told us, to the fils, and we never change the numbers an app sends. In the manual door you type the [delivery fee](/delivery-dispatch) and the discount yoursel AnsweredIs there a touch screen ordering system for customers standing at my counter?Not a [kiosk](/blog/self-ordering-system-for-restaurants), no. What you have instead is the customer's own phone: a QR card from Settings → Tables & QR ordering opens your menu with the table already AnsweredWhat is actually in the print pack?A ZIP file. For every table accepting scans you get an A4 page in one PDF, plus a vector SVG and a 1200 pixel PNG. Give the SVG to a print shop; print the PDF yourself for tent cards. Tables you have 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 AnsweredMy app is not on your list. Can I still get its orders on my board?Yes, by hand. Use The manual door on the Delivery apps page: pick the app, type its order code, the customer, the lines with prices, the [delivery fee](/delivery-dispatch) and any discount, and press AnsweredCan I print tonight's book for the host stand?Yes. Press Download CSV on Orders → Reservations & waitlist. You get today and tomorrow by default, the bookings with times, names, numbers, party sizes, tables and notes, and the people waiting under AnsweredHow do I turn one time customers into regulars?Two things, in this order. Switch on stamps so the second visit is worth something, on Marketing, Loyalty and stamps. Then write one earned [gift card](/docs/gift-cards) rule so the fiftieth visit is AnsweredIs commission free online ordering really possible?On your own page, yes: an order placed on your Get Menu link pays no commission to anybody, and we take no share of it. The apps are a different matter. They charge their own commission on their own o AnsweredHow do I raise a purchase order?Open Menu, then Purchase orders. In New purchase order choose the Supplier, set Expected to the day you want it, add Notes if they need to know something, and press Create the order. It opens as a dra AnsweredWhat is the monthly savings statement I saw on the loyalty page?A short message once a month telling a customer how much they saved with you, from [coupons](/docs/promotions), rewards and tier discounts added up. It only goes out past a floor you set, so nobody ge AnsweredDo 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 iPad or an Android tablet, type a six character code, and the device already knows your menu, your peo AnsweredShould my reward be a discount or a free item?A free item, in most restaurants. It is easier to say out loud, it feels bigger than it costs, and it brings somebody in for a specific thing rather than for money off. Use a percentage when your bask Answered
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