Tables, floor plan, QR & surcharges: how a restaurant floor plan works.

This deep-dive series follows one real story per part and stops at every button. Anything that doesn't click the first time is explained again with a second example.

Part 3 is Tables & Floor: your restaurant's map, a QR code for every table, and surcharges, the charges added on top of the menu price.

This restaurant is opening a rooftop this weekend: four new tables, a bar, and the stairs up. The owner has four jobs. One: draw the rooftop on the floor plan. Two: print a QR code for every new table. Three: add a charge for sitting on the rooftop, and a separate charge for weekend nights. Four: make sure the guest's bill comes out exactly as planned.

This guide follows those four jobs in order.

Open Tables & Floor in the left menu, then Floor Plan. This is the map of this restaurant's ground floor: eight tables, and the billing counter at the top. Under each table it says how many seats it has and what kind of table it is.

At the top it says Locked, Order mode. In this mode the map can't be changed; you just tap tables to work.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan

Next to it are the zoom buttons: minus and plus, 1:1 for real size, and Fit, which puts the whole floor on screen at once. If the restaurant is big and the tablet is small, Fit is the most useful one.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → zoom buttons

In locked mode, tap a table. Take T01, which is free: the popup shows the table's name, its seats and its status. Below are two paths: Details, the table's own page, and Create Order, a new order straight on this table.

Now tap an occupied table, T02. The title says who started the order, and below it how much the bill has reached and how many items it has. The button has changed too: View Order instead of Create Order, because an order is already running here. Next to it is a red Release Table button.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan (locked) → tap a table

Release Table is a safety net. Sometimes a table shows as occupied when there is actually no order on it, for example when the internet dropped and something got stuck midway. When you press it, the system first checks for itself.

If a real order is running, a yellow box warns you: releasing will not cancel the order; the table will just show as free and the order will be left without a table. That order is listed below. So an accidental release is made hard: you have to type the table's name yourself, T02, before the Release Anyway button opens, and you can add a reason above it.

When the table really is stuck, the same box comes up green: No active orders, safe to release. No typing, no warning; one tap and the table is free. This button is shown only to the owner and the manager.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → tap an occupied table → Release Table

Tap T01 and this time choose Details. This is the table's own page: its information (name, shape, seats, which floor, status), the current order (none here, so there is a New Order button straight away), today's bookings, and the table note at the bottom.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → tap a table → Details

The guests have just left and the table is being cleaned. Press Mark Cleaning at the top and the status changes to Cleaning. Go to All Orders at the top: on the board T01 is now red, meaning Needs attention. The counter can see from a distance not to seat a new guest there yet.

When cleaning is done, go back to the floor plan, T01, Details. The top button now says Mark Available. Press it and the table is free again for the next guest.

WhereTable details → Mark Cleaning / Mark Available

At the bottom is the table note. It sits on the table, not on an order. Say this table is booked for the evening, it's the guest's birthday, and they asked for the window seat. Press Edit Note, write it, and Save Note. Anyone who opens this table's page sees it first. When it's done, press Clear Note.

WhereTable details → Table Note → Edit Note

Now the real job: the rooftop map. Back on the tables page, press Unlock Layout at the top. It now says Edit mode, the table palette opens on the right, and a few new buttons appear at the top.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode)

First, a new floor. Press + Add Floor. It asks for a name: ground, first, rooftop, garden, whatever you call it. Here it's Terrace, then Create Floor. A new tab appears at the top and the canvas is empty, with a hint in the middle to drag a table in from the right.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → + Add Floor

But the staff call it Rooftop, not Terrace. No problem: the pencil on the tab, the new name, Save. This name goes everywhere: the orders board, the QR codes and the surcharge rules.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → pencil on the floor tab

Next to it is a switch, Restart numbers per floor. It decides how a new table's number is made.

With the switch off, numbering runs on across the whole restaurant: the ground floor has T01 to T08, so the rooftop's first table becomes T09. With it on, every floor starts again from one, so the rooftop's first table is T01 too. And if you delete a table, its number is the first to be used again.

This restaurant keeps the switch off, and gives its tables their own names anyway.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → Restart numbers per floor

On the right is the table palette: round tables on top, square below, each from 2 to 10 seats. The rooftop's first table is a 4-seat round one. Pick it up and drop it on the canvas. The table is made, T09, labelled 4 seats, Round, and a small message appears in the corner.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → table palette (right)

The second table is a 6-seat square one. As you drop it, it settles onto a 20-pixel grid so lines stay straight. Now move it: when it comes in line with another table a thin line appears and the table snaps there, edges aligned. No need to line things up by hand.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode)

If you need four identical tables, you don't have to drag each one from the palette. Hold Shift and drag a table: its shadow follows, and when you let go a copy is made. Same 4 seats, same round shape, and a new number by itself.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → Shift + drag a table

Select a table and an orange dot appears on top. Drag it to rotate; the table stops every 5 degrees. Or use the buttons at the top: minus 5, plus 5 and 90 degrees. Pressing R on the keyboard also turns it 5 degrees. The zero button straightens the table again.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → select a table → orange dot or rotate buttons

Double-click a table to get Rename Table. Instead of T09, R1, for Rooftop 1. Save. Select the second table and this time use the Rename button at the top: R2. The same for the rest: the third, the 6-seat square table, is R3. For the fourth, drag a small 2-seat round table from the palette, double-click, and name it R4.

Now R1 prints on the kitchen slip too, and the staff know without asking that the table is on the roof.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → double-click a table, or Rename at the top

Mistakes happen. Say someone dragged in this long 8-seat table, but there's no room for it on the rooftop. Select it and press Delete. Keep in mind: nothing is asked here, the table goes the same moment.

Every change to the map saves itself: moved, rotated, renamed. There is no separate Save button.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → select a table → Delete

Now make the map real. Below are the fixtures: wall, door, window, pillar, stairs; then counter, reception, bar, buffet, kitchen and waiter station; and toilet and sink. On the rooftop, first the stairs: drag them from the palette to where guests come up. Then the bar, top right.

Fixtures move like tables: drag the bar right into the corner. To name it, double-click the bar, type Rooftop Bar, and Save. It rotates like a table too, 5 degrees at a time from the top buttons. Last, a toilet in the corner. For the staff this is no longer just boxes; it's the actual roof.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → palette → Fixtures

At the top right is Floor display: Compact, Comfortable and Spacious. It doesn't change this editor. It changes the size and spacing of tables on the orders board, on the table-picking screen and in the waiter app.

Waiters with small phones: Compact. A big screen: Spacious. This restaurant picks Compact; its effect shows on the board shortly.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → Floor display (top right)

Need to remove a floor? Say someone made an extra floor by mistake, Garden. Press the cross on its tab. Here the system does ask: delete Garden and all its tables? This can't be undone. Delete Floor.

The last floor can never be deleted; you need at least one.

WhereTables & Floor → Floor Plan → Unlock Layout (edit mode) → cross on the floor tab

The map is ready. Press Lock Layout. A message appears: Layout locked, tap tables to take orders. Locking is there so nobody's finger moves a table during a rush.

A floor with no tables at all won't lock; the system asks you to place a table first.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → Lock Layout

Now All Orders at the top. The board has two floor tabs: Ground and Rooftop. Open Rooftop: the same map, the same stairs and bar, R1 to R4. The tables are smaller and closer together than before; that's Compact at work. Draw the map once and every screen shows the same.

WhereAll Orders (top) → floor tabs

The second job: QR codes. In the left menu, Tables & Floor, then QR Codes. The count at the top: 12 tables, 2 sections and 12 QR codes, so every table is covered. The rooftop tables got their QR codes the moment they were made; nothing extra to do.

Each card has the QR, the floor's name in the corner, the table, its seats, and below it the link hidden inside the QR. That link carries the table's identity, so whatever a guest orders from this QR lands straight on this table. Nobody has to ask for the table number.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → QR Codes

Only want the rooftop QR codes? Choose Rooftop in Section at the top. Or type the table's name in search, R1. On the right, list view shows each table as a short line; switch back to grid.

WhereTables & Floor → QR Codes → Section / search

Now printing. Download PNG saves a large QR file, named after the table, straight to the computer. Send this file to your print shop and have a table standee or sticker made.

WhereTables & Floor → QR Codes → Download PNG

Or print from here. This is the card that goes to the printer: a big QR, the table's name, its seats and the link.

At the top, Print All Tables puts every table in the current filter on one sheet, three to a row. Rooftop was selected, so these four print together.

WhereTables & Floor → QR Codes → Print / Print All Tables

Here's what the QR actually does. A guest sits at R1 and scans it with their phone. The menu opens, already showing Table R1 at the top. They pick food and order.

The order goes straight to R1: on the board the table turns orange, and a slip goes to the kitchen. The waiter never had to go to the table and write the order.

The third job: surcharges. In Tables & Floor, open Surcharges. A surcharge is a charge on top of the menu price, by place or by time. The full rules are written at the top of the page, and the next few sections walk through them with examples.

Four cards at the top: how many rules are on, how much money they brought in over the last 30 days, how many bill lines they created, and how many were waived.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges

A charge can be one of three kinds. Take a bill of ₹1,240 for four people. First, percent of the bill: 10% is ₹124, and as the bill grows, so does the charge. Second, a flat amount per order, like ₹100: whatever the bill, it stays ₹100. Third, per guest, like ₹30: four people is ₹120, two people is ₹60.

One more thing: GST is charged on a surcharge too, at the same rate as the food.

The first rule: a charge for sitting on the rooftop. Press + New Rule. First the internal name, which is only for you. Then where it applies: the whole restaurant or one floor. The floors listed are the ones drawn on the floor plan, so pick Rooftop. Charge type Per guest, amount ₹30.

When: Any day, All day, so always. The name the guest sees: Rooftop seating. This is what prints on the bill, so keep it clear.

Applies to: dine-in orders from the counter and the waiter, always; QR orders, your choice; takeaway, delivery and kiosk, never, because there is no table. At the bottom a preview shows what the bill comes to with this rule alone. Save Rule.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → + New Rule

The second rule: weekend nights. Name it, choose Rooftop, and this time 10% of the bill. Untick Any day and the days and times open. Turn off Monday to Thursday, leaving Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Time: 7 pm to midnight. Times always follow the restaurant's own clock.

The guest sees it as Rooftop charge. Read the yellow box carefully: the guest-facing name decides which rule wins. Two rules with the same name never apply together; only the one with the higher priority does. With different names, both apply on their own lines. Leave the priority at 10 and Save.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → + New Rule → untick Any day

An example. On Saturday nights the rooftop has a DJ, and that night the charge is 15%, not 10%. So you make another rule with the same guest name, Rooftop charge, but priority 20. At 9 pm on Saturday both rules apply, but they share a name, so the higher-priority 15% is charged and the 10% drops out by itself. The guest sees one Rooftop charge, not two.

Rooftop seating has a different name, so it keeps applying alongside.

Now create it: DJ night, Rooftop, 15%. Days: Saturday only, 8 pm to midnight. The same guest name, Rooftop charge, and priority 20. Save.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → + New Rule

One last rule: a late-night charge on the whole restaurant. All areas, 5%, every day, 11 pm to 2 am. Because the time crosses midnight, a note appears below by itself: it runs past midnight into the next day, and the day counted is the day it started.

Name: Late night charge, priority 5. Save.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → + New Rule → All areas

The list now has all four rules. Each line shows the rule and its priority; where it applies (by area, or by time only); when; how much; the name the guest sees; and whether it's on. The card at the top says the same: four rules on, three by area, one by time only.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges

The most useful part of this page: if a guest sat down now, what would they pay? Choose the place, day, seating time, number of guests, bill amount and channel, and below you get exactly the calculation a real order would get.

Ground floor, Friday 9 pm: nothing applies, and the reason is written: the rooftop rules are a different area, and late night is outside its window. Same Friday 9 pm on the rooftop with two guests: two lines, Rooftop seating ₹30 × 2 = ₹60 and Rooftop charge 10% = ₹124. Different names, so both apply; the DJ rule is out because it's Friday.

Saturday 9 pm: Rooftop charge is now 15%, ₹186, and the weekend 10% has moved down with the reason spelled out: overridden, same label, lower priority. The bill still has just one Rooftop charge.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → simulator

And on a Saturday the DJ didn't come? No need to delete the rule: press Pause on the DJ line in the list. The line now says Paused, and in the simulator the weekend 10% is back by itself. The next Saturday the DJ is there: Resume, and it's 15% again.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → Pause / Resume on a rule

Picture Saturday 11:30 pm, rooftop, four guests: Rooftop seating, the DJ's 15% and the late-night 5% all at once. The charges would come close to 30% of the bill. That's why there is a guard rail: an upper limit on the total surcharge, here 20%. However many rules apply, the total never goes above it. Any excess is cut from the lowest-priority line first.

In the simulator: Saturday, 11:30 pm, four guests. It says Capped. Late night had the lowest priority, so it was cut completely. It was still too much, so the next lowest, Rooftop seating, dropped from ₹120 to ₹62. The total surcharge is exactly ₹248, the full 20% of ₹1,240 and not a rupee more.

The limit sits in the Guard rail box on the right: Maximum total surcharge, 20%. You can change it; type a new percent and a Save button appears. Two notes below it: a manager can waive any single charge from the order, and every charge shows to the guest under its own name, never hidden in tax.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → Guard rail (right) → Maximum total surcharge

To change a rule, press Edit on its line: the same form, filled in. The late-night rule isn't needed for now: Edit, then Delete at the bottom. It also goes the moment you press it, with no question asked, so be careful. The list now has three rules.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → Edit on a rule → Delete

The fourth job: make sure the real bill comes out right. From the left menu, Floor Plan, then the Rooftop tab at the top: the same map just drawn. Tap R1 and Create Order. The new order opens straight on R1; the top says Selected table R1, so there is no table to pick.

Add two items (type the name in search and tap), then look at the order summary on the right.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Floor Plan → Rooftop tab → R1 → Create Order

There's a new part at the bottom: Guests, and right under it the charge for this table. The counter knows what will be charged before the order is even placed. Today is Tuesday, so no weekend charge, only Rooftop seating. One guest, ₹30. Press plus: two, three, four.

By the maths it should be ₹120, but it shows ₹41.60. That's the guard rail: the bill is only ₹208 so far, and the charge can't go above 20% of it. Now Place Order.

WhereNew Order → order summary → Guests

On the order page, Rooftop seating sits on its own line in the bill, not hidden in tax or mixed into another charge. Under it, it says clearly: four guests, and how much remained after the cap.

GST is charged on the amount including this charge. And the bill total at the bottom is exactly what the counter saw before placing the order.

WhereOrder page → bill

Now the guests say: we come here every day, why this charge? A manager can waive this one charge. In the bill, next to that line, is a small Waive button. Press it and a small box opens. Type the reason, Regular guest, and press Waive. The line is struck through, it shows who waived it and why, and GST is recalculated.

One condition: this works only before the money is taken. Once the money is in, the charge isn't waived; it's refunded.

WhereOrder page → bill → Waive on the charge line

Take the payment: the rupee button at the top, Cash, and Confirm Payment. Then go back to the Surcharges page. The top cards count only orders whose bill has been made. Charge lines built now shows 1, Waived also 1, and Collected 0, because the only charge was waived.

At month end the owner sees at a glance how many charges applied, how much money came in, and how many were waived.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → Surcharges → cards at the top

One new rooftop, start to finish: the map drawn, tables placed, rotated and named, QR codes printed, four rules made, the simulator showing every calculation in advance, and on the very first order the charge came out exactly as planned.

The next deep dive opens the kitchen screen the same way.