Every order: how restaurant order management works.

Every part of this series follows one real story and stops at every button. Anything that doesn't click the first time is explained again with a second example.

Part 2 is about orders: the whole orders board, and each order's own page, where almost every mistake at the counter gets fixed.

Sunday afternoon, the lunch rush. Six of eight tables are taken, with two takeaways and one delivery in the queue.

Over the next few minutes one small problem after another hits the counter: a table wants to move, an item lands on the wrong table, someone wants to swap a dish, a table leaves without eating, and a payment gets recorded the wrong way. All of it gets sorted out from two pages: the orders board and the order page.

Open Orders from the menu on the left. This page stays open on the counter screen all day and updates by itself: when an item is added to a table, the kitchen finishes something, or money comes in, you see it here that very moment. There is no need to press refresh.

WhereOrders (left menu)

Four cards sit at the very top. Active: how many orders are running right now. Completed Today: how many orders were billed and closed today. Delivery: how many deliveries are in progress. Voided Today: how many orders were cancelled today.

Check the last card every day. With no voids it says No voids. As soon as an order is voided, it shows the count along with how much money was lost. The section Voided today: money lost shows it changing.

WhereOrders board → cards at the top

Below the cards are three tabs. Active Orders shows the orders running now, with the count in brackets. Due shows orders on credit, with the total amount outstanding. Order History holds every past order.

WhereOrders board → Active Orders / Due / Order History tabs

The Active tab shows your floor, with the meaning of each colour on the right. Green is a free table. Orange is occupied, meaning an order is running there. Red is Needs Attention, like a table that's being cleaned. Blue is Reserved, meaning someone has booked it.

From across the room, one glance tells you where the next guest will sit.

WhereOrders board → Active tab → colour legend (right)

There are two ways to view the floor. Floor Plan is a map laid out exactly the way the tables stand in your restaurant. Table Numbers shows identical numbered boxes, one after another.

The second view helps when you have many tables. With forty tables across three floors, hunting on the map takes time, while numbered boxes show them all together, and the boxes can be made smaller or bigger. The choice is remembered separately on each device.

WhereOrders board → Floor Plan / Table Numbers

Floor Plan has zoom: minus, plus, and tapping the percentage in the middle fits everything again, so a small tablet can show the whole floor at a glance.

Next to it, Edit Layout opens the page where this map is built.

WhereOrders board → Floor Plan → zoom (− / % / +) and Edit Layout

My orders only helps when several waiters share one tablet. In this restaurant Simran is handling two tables and Rahul the rest. When four waiters share a tablet in the evening, everyone is hunting for their own tables.

Tap My orders only and other people's tables fade out while yours stay in front. Tap it again and everything is back.

WhereOrders board → My orders only

The bar at the very top stays on every page. The bell shows notifications. All Orders brings you back to this board in one tap from any page. + New Order starts a new order.

Open Drawer opens the cash drawer without making a bill, for example to give someone change. This button only shows when a cash drawer has been added in Settings.

WhereTop bar (every page)

Each table tile packs a lot in. At the top are the table number and who is serving it; if it says You, it's your table. Then a phone button that adds the customer's number even later, how many guests are seated, and for how many minutes.

Below are six buttons. Most of the work happens right here, without opening the order.

WhereOrders board → table tile

View doesn't open the order page, it gives you a quick look: which items, how much each, and the total bill. You can even swap or pack an item from here.

Take a look, close it, and you're right back on the board.

WhereTable tile → View

Add puts more items on this table's order. At the top right is what's already been ordered; it's read-only and can't be changed there.

Three buttons sit at the bottom: just add, add and print the kitchen ticket right away, or add and collect payment too. If you don't want to add anything, press Cancel.

WhereTable tile → Add

KOT is the kitchen order ticket, the slip that goes to the kitchen. An orange dot on the KOT button means some of this table's items haven't been printed on any ticket yet. Tap it. When no printer is connected, the system offers to make a PDF instead.

The ticket shows the KOT number on top, then table, time, the waiter's name, and every item with its quantity. There are no prices, because the kitchen doesn't need them. With a printer at the counter, the same ticket comes straight out, and the dot on the tile disappears.

WhereTable tile → KOT

You don't have to wait for the order to be created to print a KOT. On the New Order screen, right next to Place Order, is a chef button: it creates the order and sends the KOT to the kitchen that same moment.

If Auto-print KOT is on in Settings, every new order prints its ticket automatically. The tile's KOT button is then only for items added later, or for printing a ticket again.

WhereNew Order → chef button next to Place Order; Settings → Auto-print KOT

The guests on T03 say the sun is in their eyes and want to sit elsewhere. Tap Move. Only free tables can be picked; occupied tables are greyed out, so two orders never end up on one table by mistake.

Pick the new table, here T06. The whole order, items, bill and everything, moves to the new table, and the old table frees up by itself.

WhereTable tile → Move

When a table's food is ready in the kitchen, a new button appears on its tile: Served. Once the waiter has put the plates on the table, tap Served.

That tap is recorded in the order's timeline, and the button's place now shows Settle, meaning only the payment is left.

WhereTable tile → Served

A tile has little room, so the remaining buttons live under More, such as Receipt. If the money has come in, Receipt prints the real bill; if not, it prints a provisional bill.

The provisional bill shows every item, prices, GST and total, and at the bottom it clearly says UNPAID. This is what you hand to the table to ask for payment.

WhereTable tile → More → Receipt

Mark Due puts the order on credit, for example regular customers who settle up at the end of the month. Credit can only be recorded against a person, so it asks for a phone number and name.

Enter the reason, such as monthly account, and press Mark Due. The Due tab count at the top goes up, along with the total amount owed.

WhereTable tile → More → Mark Due

You decide what order the tile buttons sit in. Tap Tiles at the top. The first five buttons stay on the tile; the rest go into More. If every table at your place gets a provisional bill first, bring Print Receipt into the top five with the up arrow, and press Done.

Receipt is now up front on the tile and Settle has gone into More: there are only five spots, so when one comes up, another goes down. The change applies only to this device, so the counter tablet can have Receipt first and a waiter's phone KOT first. To go back, press Reset to default.

WhereOrders board → Tiles → up/down arrows → Done (Reset to default)

T04 has paid and its food has gone out. Auto-clear is on at this restaurant, but with a one-hour delay so guests can sit comfortably. These guests have already left and people are waiting outside, so the table is freed by hand.

Press Paid in More. A small question pops up first, Complete order?, so a running table never gets closed by mistake. Press Complete & Free Table and the table turns green right away, ready for the next guest.

WhereTable tile → More → Paid → Complete & Free Table

Below the floor are the takeaway queue and, next to it, the delivery queue. Each row shows the token, customer, bill amount, paid or not, and how far along it is in the kitchen: Preparing or Ready.

The buttons are the same here: View, KOT, Print Receipt, Add Item, Settle and Mark Due. Delivery rows have one more, Assign Rider, for who takes the delivery. Once a takeaway is paid and the kitchen has finished it, the order moves into history by itself; that is a setting too.

WhereOrders board → Takeaway Queue / Delivery (below the floor)

Instead of the floor you can see a list: tap List at the top. Every order is one line: number, type and table, items, customer, status, time and amount. To find one order, type the last digits of the order number in search and press Enter. Clear the search and the full list is back.

Next to search are two filters. Type: dine-in, takeaway or delivery. Channel: where the order came from, the counter, the waiter app, the table QR or the kiosk. If the kitchen asks during the rush how many takeaways are pending, pick Takeaway and the answer is in front of you.

At the end of each row is Settle, and a three-dot button with Add Item and Mark Due inside. Click anywhere on a row to open that order.

WhereOrders board → List

Tap a table on the floor to open that order's own page. At the top is the token number, the number both the kitchen and the customer call out. Then order type, table, when the order was placed, and who took it.

Two pills on the right show the state: Unpaid means the money is still pending, In Progress means it's being cooked. A small label below says where the order started, for example Started at the counter. An order from the waiter app or the table QR says that instead.

WhereOrders board → tap a table

Right at the top of the order page is its own row of buttons: customer display, the kitchen ticket, void, payment, receipt, and the clock button that opens this order's full history. Each of them is covered in the sections that follow.

WhereOrder page → buttons at the top

Rahul's shift is ending and Simran will handle T02. Tap Transfer table. You see the whole staff list with each person's role under their name, and a note at the top that every transfer is recorded. Pick Simran, and the banner now says Serving: Simran Kaur.

A new button appears: Take this table. If Simran later has to go to another floor and Rahul needs the table back, one tap makes it Rahul's again. No one has to be asked, but this is recorded too.

WhereOrder page → Transfer table / Take this table

If the number wasn't taken when the order was placed, the customer section says No phone on file. Press Add phone number and type it. For a returning customer the name appears below by itself; pick it and Save.

The customer section now shows the number and name, and this bill counts towards that customer's account.

WhereOrder page → customer section → Add phone number → Save

Each line under Order Items shows quantity, name and a New mark, meaning the item hasn't gone out on any kitchen ticket yet. Then three small buttons, how far along the item is in the kitchen, and the price.

The three buttons, Move item, Replace and Pack, fix the mistakes that happen in every rush.

WhereOrder page → Order Items

The waiter punched Cheese Fries onto T02, but T06 ordered them. Press Move item, the first button on that line. A list of tables appears, and next to each it says Append, meaning the item joins that table's running order, or New, meaning a new order starts on a free table. Pick T06, Append.

The fries leave this bill and join T06's bill. Nothing is cancelled and nothing is punched again. It also works when a group sits at two tables and one friend asks for an item on their own bill.

WhereOrder page → item line → Move item → Append / New

T02 wants to take both shakes home. Tap the box button on the shake line and the line now says Packed.

On the kitchen screen these shakes show separately, under Pack to-go.

WhereOrder page → item line → box button

The guest changed his mind: not pasta, he wants a pizza puff. Tap Replace on the pasta line. The menu opens, and on the right the pasta is marked Replacing. Pick the new item. Below is the maths, how much the bill went down or up, worked out automatically. Type the reason and press Replace.

The new item now stands in place of the old one. Replace is only available until the kitchen starts making that item: swapping something already cooked is a real loss, so that path doesn't open.

WhereOrder page → item line → Replace

The chef button at the top of the order page carries a count: how many items haven't gone out on any ticket yet. Tap it (here, as a PDF) and you get KOT number one for the whole order. Every item is together, with the packed items separate under Pack to-go.

On the right the ticket is logged in KOT History, and the New mark disappears from the items.

WhereOrder page → chef button (top)

Midway through the meal the guest asks for a Coke. Press + Add Item at the top, find the Coke, tap it, and this time press Add & Print KOT to add and print together.

The new ticket is KOT number two, with only the Coke on it. The earlier items aren't printed again. If they were, the kitchen would think it all had to be made again, which is exactly how food gets cooked twice and wasted.

WhereOrder page → + Add Item → Add & Print KOT

Sometimes the kitchen needs the whole ticket, for example when the shift changes and the new chef wants to see the whole order at a glance. When nothing is pending, the chef button shows no count, and pressing it prints the full ticket.

Every item of the order is on it, and it says FULL ORDER on top so the kitchen doesn't mistake it for a new order and cook it again. It is logged separately in KOT History, as FULL.

WhereOrder page → chef button (no pending items)

To get a copy of one particular ticket, like just the Coke one, press Reprint next to it in KOT History. You get the same ticket, marked REPRINT on top.

The history records the reprint too, so later it's clear the ticket was printed again and not that a new order went to the kitchen.

WhereOrder page → KOT History → Reprint

The order timeline has five steps: order placed, accepted by the kitchen, in progress, ready to serve, and billed or closed. A green tick means done; the clock shows where the order is now and for how many minutes.

You don't press anything here; each step fills in by itself.

WhereOrder page → Order Timeline (top right)

Order Notes holds one note for the whole order, not for a single item. It's a birthday at T02, so type candle with the cake and press Save Note.

WhereOrder page → Order Notes → Save Note

In Discount, press Add discount. There are two ways: Offer, where you enter a code or pick a running offer, and Manual. In Manual pick Percent, enter ten, type the reason, birthday, and press Apply manual discount.

The bill now has a separate discount line, and GST is charged on the price after the discount, not before. The reason is recorded too, so at month end you can see how much discount went through offers and how much was given by hand.

WhereOrder page → Discount → Add discount → Offer / Manual → Apply manual discount

With no money in yet, the receipt button at the top prints a provisional bill: every item including the later Coke, the birthday discount, GST, total, and UNPAID at the bottom.

Once paid, the same button prints the real bill.

WhereOrder page → receipt button

The family pays three hundred in cash now and the rest next week. Press the rupee button, Mark Payment Received. The full amount shows at the top. Pick Cash and enter what you actually got, three hundred. It says clearly that if you don't get the full amount, the rest stays due. Press Confirm Payment.

This restaurant has automatic bill printing on payment switched on, which is why the printer question appeared again.

The banner now shows the balance due and how much is paid. On the right, Payments received lists each payment on its own line, how it came in and when. Even if one order is paid three times, all three show separately.

WhereOrder page → ₹ Mark Payment Received → Cash → Confirm Payment

For the rest of the money, press Mark Due. The phone number was already added, so it isn't asked again. Enter the reason, will pay next week, and press Mark Due.

Two new buttons appear on the banner: Settle Due, for when the money comes in, and Return to Active, in case it was marked due by mistake.

WhereOrder page → Mark Due → Settle Due / Return to Active

The clock button opens Order history: everything that has happened on this order, top to bottom. When items were added, who the table was given to and who took it back, which table the fries went to, what the pasta was swapped for, when tickets printed, and how much money came in.

Every line has the time and who did it. If next week the customer says they never ordered the fries, you don't rely on anyone's memory: it says here which table the fries went to, when, and who sent them.

WhereOrder page → clock button → Order history

T07 ordered a burger and fries, but an urgent call came and they left without eating. The burger was already made, the fries not yet. Open T07 from the board and press the red circle button at the top, Void Order.

It first tells you the order is unpaid: nothing to collect, nothing to refund. A red box warns that this can't be undone. Under Items, already cooked?, the burger is already ticked because the kitchen had finished it. Ticked items are recorded as wastage; the fries were never made, so no loss is counted for them.

Pick a reason: customer changed mind, wrong order taken, kitchen unable to prepare, or other. Press Confirm void. If the money had already come in, the same button becomes Void & refund and shows exactly who gets how much back, and if cash was returned it makes you tick that too.

WhereOrder page → Void Order (red circle button) → Confirm void

Back on the board, the Voided Today card now shows one, along with how much money was lost.

This number goes up and down every day, but if it keeps climbing on one cashier's shift, that's the first sign an owner should look at.

WhereOrders board → Voided Today card

T08 has already paid in cash, but of the two chocolate shakes, one was never made. Press the pencil button at the top, Adjust order, then Edit items. It says the bill was paid in cash, so the difference will be returned in cash. Pick the shake and Reduce qty from two to one.

The system asks whether that shake was made. If it was, it goes to wastage. If not, No, never made, its ingredients go back into stock. A reason is required; without one the button won't press.

Below is the full maths: how much was received, the new bill, and how much cash to hand back. Press Reduce qty & refund.

WhereOrder page → pencil button (Adjust order) → Edit items → Reduce qty & refund

The guest paid by UPI but the cashier pressed Cash, so the cash drawer would come up short in the evening. Open Adjust order again and press Correct payment. Pick UPI, type the reason and press Apply correction. The system first shows how much is recorded under which method, and whether anything will be left after the correction.

The old cash entry isn't deleted, it's reversed, so the accounts are right and the record stays intact. Payments received now shows the original cash entry, its reversal and the new UPI, each on its own line with the reason. Below, Post-payment edits shows which shake was reduced, how much cash went back, and the stock that was returned.

With the food already ready and the payment now complete and correct, the order closed by itself and T08 is free for the next guest.

WhereOrder page → Adjust order → Correct payment → Apply correction

The Due tab lists every order on credit, older dues included. Each line shows the order, customer, how much is owed, and since when. A strip at the top says when payment reminders are off.

Reminders are switched on in WhatsApp's Message Settings. Once on, the Remind button on each line works: one tap and the customer gets a WhatsApp reminder of how much they owe, with no awkward phone call.

WhereOrders board → Due tab → Remind; WhatsApp → Message Settings

By customer groups all of one customer's dues together: how many orders, the total, and how old the oldest one is. For a customer with a running account, the whole balance is on one line.

In By order, an order marked due by mistake goes back with Return to Active. When money for an older due comes in, press Settle, pick Cash and Confirm Payment. The due is cleared, that order drops off the list, and the count and amount at the top go down.

WhereDue tab → By customer / By order → Return to Active / Settle

Order History has a full row of filters: payment method, paid or pending, completed, cancelled or voided, a from-to date range, and how many rows per page. Click a column name to sort by it.

To see which orders were voided today, pick Voided in status. If a customer says their UPI was charged twice last Tuesday, enter the date and pick UPI under payment, and all of that day's UPI orders are in one list.

WhereOrders board → Order History tab → filters

In Settings, General tab, Auto-clear table frees the table by itself once payment is complete and the kitchen is done. Clear after sets after how many minutes.

This restaurant set sixty, which is why T04 had to be completed by hand. Set it to zero and the table frees up that very moment.

WhereSettings → General tab → Auto-clear table / Clear after

Auto-complete orders covers takeaway, kiosk and delivery: once paid and handed over, the order goes into history by itself.

Separately for each channel you can choose to clear the order as soon as the kitchen is done, without waiting for the hand-over.

WhereSettings → General tab → Auto-complete orders

In the Receipt & Print tab, Auto-print KOT prints the kitchen ticket by itself as soon as an order is placed, and again whenever items are added later. Auto-print bill prints the bill as soon as payment comes in.

At a small counter keep both on. In a big restaurant where someone checks every ticket first, keep them off and print with the chef button.

WhereSettings → Receipt & Print tab → Auto-print KOT / Auto-print bill

One full hour of a rush: a table moved, the waiter changed, an item went to the right table, a dish was swapped, a discount was applied, half the money came in and half went on credit, an order was voided, a payment was corrected, and every single thing is recorded in the order's history.

The next part opens up the kitchen screen the same way.