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Restaurants and cafés: order types and the service charge

Make a till a restaurant till: each order is dine-in, takeaway or delivery, a dine-in order carries its table, and the service charge is added to the bill.

Who can do this: Managers set the till type and the service charge (Point of sale → Tills); anyone who can sell takes the orders

One app for shops and restaurants

Sevo's till works for restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaways too. A restaurant till is the same till with a few more things switched on; a counter till sells exactly as before. One company can have both, for example a bakery counter and a café.

Starting as a restaurant

When you sign up, choose Restaurant, café or bakery under What kind of business? Your new tills then start as restaurant tills taking takeaway orders, and the dashboard checklist adds Set up the kitchen tickets. You can still change any till under Point of sale, Tills.

Tick Add a sample café menu to try things first: drinks, food and bakery items with sizes and extras, the Bar and Kitchen stations and a restaurant till. Remove it in one step under Settings, Company when you are ready; the till and the stations stay.

Make a till a restaurant till (managers)

  1. In the back office, go to Point of sale → Tills.
  2. Click the till's row.
  3. Set Till type to Restaurant.
  4. Under Orders start as, choose what most orders are: Dine-in for a sit-down restaurant, Takeaway for a counter café.
  5. Click Save. The till picks up the change the next time it opens or syncs.

Take an order

The bill, the e-mailed receipt and the Sales screen show the order type and the table, for example Order: Dine-in · Table 4. The Z report shows the sales by order type.

  1. Each new order starts as the till's usual type. Three big buttons above the items show it: Dine-in, Takeaway and Delivery. Tap one to change it.
  2. For dine-in, tap Add the table or the guest's name and type, for example, Table 4. It shows on the order and on the bill.
  3. Add the items and take the payment as usual.

Add-ons: size, sugar, extras

Add-ons are what a guest picks with an item, such as a size, sugar or extra cheese. Each choice can have a price, which goes on top of the item's price. On the till, tapping an item with add-ons opens one screen: the choices the guest must make come first, and the price adds up as you tap. The bill shows the add-ons under the item.

  1. Go to Catalogue → Add-ons and click New add-on group.
  2. Type a Group name, for example Size.
  3. Under How guests choose, pick Choose one (required) for a size, Choose one or none for sugar, or Choose any for extras.
  4. Type each choice and its price, for example Regular 0 and Large 100. Click + Add a choice for more.
  5. Click Create group.
  6. Open a product, tick the group under Add-ons and save.

The same item with other add-ons is its own line on the order; the same choice again adds to the quantity. Items with add-ons cannot be put aside for a customer.

Kitchen tickets

Each station (Kitchen, Bar, Bakery) gets its own ticket with only the items it makes. Tap Send to kitchen when the guest has ordered: the till prints a slip per station with what the kitchen does not have yet. Items sent show Sent on the order. Add more and send again: the next slips say ADDED. A takeaway's tickets print by themselves when it is paid.

Taking off an item the kitchen already has asks why, then prints a VOID slip for its station so the cooks stop, and keeps the reason for the owner. The shift's Z report lists each one with when, who, what, why and what it was worth.

  1. To set up the stations, go to Point of sale → Tills. The Kitchen tickets card shows once a till is a restaurant till.
  2. Click + Add a station and type its name, for example Bar.
  3. Tick the categories it makes, for example Drinks. An item goes to the station of its category, or of the nearest parent category ticked.
  4. Tick Everything else on one station to take the items no station lists.
  5. Click Save.

The tickets print on the till's own printer, cut apart. Tap Print the last tickets again if a slip was lost.

The service charge

A restaurant till adds a service charge of 10% to dine-in orders until you change it. It is worked out on what the customer pays after any discounts and shows on its own line above the total and on the bill. Its VAT follows the VAT of the items.

  1. To change it, go to Point of sale → Tills. The Restaurant service charge card shows once a till is a restaurant till.
  2. Tick or untick Add a service charge.
  3. Type the Rate (%), for example 10. It can be up to 25.
  4. Under Add it to, choose Dine-in orders or Every order.
  5. Click Save.

A cashier who may give discounts can tap Remove on the service charge line to take it off one order, and Add it back to undo. A refund gives back the item's share of the service charge too.

In your books

The service charge goes to its own account, 4400 Service charge, without its VAT. If you share it with your staff, your accountant can point it at another account under Finance → Posting rules.

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