QR ordering from the table: how QR code table ordering works.

Part 8 of the deep-dive series is the table QR code. The guest orders from their own phone, while you keep full control of when to take the money and which order reaches the kitchen.

Like every part, it follows one real story and stops at every button.

A family sits down at table T05: mother, father and two children. Usually this is where the waiting starts: for the menu, for the waiter, for explaining the order again, and finally for the bill. In a rush, one waiter has five or six tables.

This guide shows how a small QR code on the table removes that waiting, while the counter stays in control.

Every table has its own QR code, which carries your restaurant's name and that table's identity. Scan T05's code and the order goes to T05. Scan the code on the next table, T06, and it goes to T06.

The guest does not tell anyone a table number and downloads no app; the phone camera is enough.

You do not have to get these codes made anywhere. In the left menu open Tables & Floor, then QR Codes. Every table's code is already ready; the top says eight tables, eight codes.

Each card has Download PNG and Print buttons. To get all of them at once, use Print All Tables at the top. Print them and put one on each table's stand.

WhereTables & Floor (left menu) → QR Codes → Download PNG / Print / Print All Tables

The father, Aarav, scans the code and the menu opens straight on his phone. The top reads Ordering for T05, Dine-in, with a Dine In T05 badge on the right.

The phone already knows which table this is.

WhereGuest phone → scan table QR

Read the second part of the same line: your order will go to the kitchen after payment is confirmed. This line follows a setting called Payment timing.

This restaurant currently has Pay upfront selected. What that means is shown later in the story.

At the top is a 100% Pure Veg badge, because this restaurant's whole menu is vegetarian. Below is the Most Loved row: dishes the restaurant itself wants to put forward.

Press Highly Ordered and only the items ordered most often are shown. For a new guest this is the easiest way in.

WhereGuest menu → Most Loved / Highly Ordered

Each category shows in brackets how many items it has, such as five in New Launch. Press the Menu button at the bottom and a list of all categories opens; one tap jumps to that category.

Even with a long menu, the guest does not have to keep scrolling.

WhereGuest menu → Menu button (bottom)

The kids want pizza. Search pizza and press Add on Margherita. It does not go straight into the cart: the size is asked first. In this restaurant's menu, Regular is ₹149 and Medium ₹249, and the price changes as you pick.

Then toppings; the top says up to six can be chosen. Add Extra Cheese, and the button at the bottom shows the full price, ₹288.

WhereGuest menu → search → Add → size → toppings

The screen asks the same question a waiter would ask at the table. In this restaurant it is pizza size and toppings. In your menu it could be half and full plate, or raita with biryani: guests see exactly the sizes and add-ons you created.

Then press Add to Cart.

The mother wants pasta, but less spicy because of the kids. Search garlic, and this time tap the item's name. The dish's full page opens: photo, price, and a Special instructions box below.

Write the note there, for example less spicy, kids at the table. There is a quantity control too. Press Add to Cart, and the note goes straight to the kitchen.

WhereGuest menu → tap item name → Special instructions → Add to Cart

And a shake: back on the menu, press Add on Premium Biscoff Shake in Most Loved. An item with no size or add-on goes into the cart in one tap.

The bar at the bottom shows the count and amount together: three items. Then View Cart.

WhereGuest menu → Most Loved → Add → View Cart

Opening the cart asks for a phone number once. Browsing the menu is open, but the order goes in the name of a verified number.

Enter the number and tap Send OTP via WhatsApp. A four-digit OTP arrives on the guest's WhatsApp; enter it and Aarav is signed in.

WhereGuest phone → View Cart → phone number → Send OTP via WhatsApp

Three reasons the number matters. Every order update goes to that number on WhatsApp. Loyalty points are added to that number. And nobody else can add their items to this table's bill, as shown later.

Aarav is a returning customer, so dishes from his past orders also appear at the top.

The top of the cart says clearly: Dine-in order, table T05. Below is every item: the pizza in Medium with Extra Cheese, and the pasta with the note that was written.

Any item can still get a note with Add note, and plus and minus change the quantity right here.

WhereGuest phone → cart

Below is the Bill summary, with nothing hidden. In this example: subtotal ₹526, 5% GST on it, then round off so the final amount is in whole rupees, and a total of ₹552.

The guest has already seen on their own phone the bill the counter will make, so there is no argument later.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Bill summary

Aarav is a loyalty member of this restaurant with 200 points. Use loyalty points shows 200 points as ₹20 off.

Switch it on and a Loyalty discount line appears in the bill: minus ₹20. A returning guest sees their benefit right here, before the bill is made.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Use loyalty points

There is also a card on the table: 10% off on QR orders, code TABLE10. Open Apply an offer, enter the code and press Apply. A green line at the top shows how much this order saves, and the bill gets an offer line: ₹52.60 off.

Notice that the loyalty switch turned itself off.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Apply an offer → code → Apply

One order gets one discount: either the offer or the points, not both. Here the offer was bigger, so Aarav kept it and his points stay for next time.

This offer was created only for the QR channel, so it will not show at the counter or on the website. You decide which offer runs on which channel.

Below is Add a tip: ten, twenty, fifty, or any amount. Aarav chooses ₹20 and a separate tip line appears in the bill.

The GST stays the same: the tip is not taxed and goes straight to your team.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Add a tip

The guest has two ways to pay. Pay Now is an online payment right away by UPI, GPay or PhonePe, and the order is made only once the money arrives. Pay at Counter means paying at the counter.

Pay at Counter comes pre-selected. Aarav wants to pay cash at the counter, so he keeps Pay at Counter.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Pay Now / Pay at Counter

Press Place Order. The screen says Almost there, pay at the counter: the order is on hold and goes to the kitchen as soon as payment is made at the counter.

Below are Aarav's token number, table and amount, with a message to go to the counter and pay; cooking starts as soon as payment is received.

WhereGuest phone → Place Order

The screen says order updates will come on WhatsApp. There are two buttons, Track Order and Add More Items, both used a little later.

First, what happened at the counter at this same moment.

WhereGuest phone → order placed → Track Order / Add More Items

On Rahul's Orders page at the counter, the Needs Approval section opens with a sound. The bell keeps ringing every few seconds until someone looks at the order.

The bell button changes this: Off, Once, or Continuous. Rahul chooses Once, so it now rings just once for each new order.

WhereOrders (left menu) → Needs Approval → bell button: Off / Once / Continuous

Read the card: Dine-in, and a QR code mark showing the order came from the table's code. Then the order number, token, and the guest's name and number.

It says clearly Awaiting counter payment, table T05. It also shows how many times Aarav has visited before, so you know he is a regular.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → order card

Below is the full order: the pizza in Medium with Extra Cheese, the pasta with Aarav's note, and the shake. Then the bill: the order total after the offer discount, the ₹20 tip on top, and finally To collect, the total to take at the counter.

The tip is already added in, so the cashier does not have to add it.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → order card

At the bottom are three buttons. Print Receipt, if the guest wants a paper bill. Reject, if the order looks wrong, such as someone ordering as a joke. And Collect & send to kitchen.

Aarav has come to the counter with cash in hand.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → order card → Print Receipt / Reject / Collect

Press Collect. The top shows the full sum: bill plus tip equals the total. Choose Cash. Aarav hands over a ₹1,000 note, and the system shows how much change to give back.

Press Collect & send. One click records the payment and sends the order to the kitchen.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → Collect → Cash → Collect & send

From the left menu open Kitchen KDS. T05's ticket has arrived: pizza, pasta and shake, with the same note under the pasta.

What the guest wrote on their phone reaches the chef without anyone writing it again.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu)

Back on Aarav's phone, open the My Order tab at the bottom. It shows the full line of steps: Received, Accepted, Preparing, Ready, Served. Right now the order is being made in the kitchen.

Below is the payment summary: order total, the ₹20 tip on its own line, and both added in Total payable, marked Paid in full. The page updates on its own, so the guest does not have to ask anyone.

WhereGuest phone → My Order tab

Halfway through the meal, the kids want chocolate shakes. No need to call a waiter: on the same page, tap Add more items to this order.

The menu opens again. Type chocolate shake in search, press Add, and use plus to make it two.

WhereGuest phone → My Order → Add more items to this order

The top of the cart says Adding items to order: no new order is created, these join the same order. One table, one bill.

Press Add to Order and a question appears: Choose how to pay, with the amount due for the new items, just these two shakes.

WhereGuest phone → cart → Add to Order → Choose how to pay

The same two ways again: UPI now, or at the counter. Aarav picks Pay at Counter again. The shakes are added to the order with the same message: they will be made once paid at the counter.

That is this restaurant's rule: money first, then food.

WhereGuest phone → Choose how to pay → Pay at Counter

At the counter another card appears in Needs Approval, but this time it says Chocolate Shake awaiting approval. Only the new item is held, not the whole order, and the shake carries an Awaiting approval tag.

The tip shows Already paid, so it is not added again. The payment summary is clear: order total, already paid, and Balance due, just the price of the shakes.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → order card

On the kitchen screen, T05's ticket is still there and the pizza and pasta are cooking, but the chocolate shake is not on it.

Food that is paid for is not held up, and food not yet paid for has not reached the kitchen. The family's meal never stops.

WhereKitchen KDS

Back on Orders. This time Aarav pays by card. Press Collect; the amount at the top is only the balance, the two shakes. Choose Card and press Collect & send.

The shakes go to the kitchen, and everything stays in one order and one bill.

WhereOrders → Needs Approval → Collect → Card → Collect & send

A question every owner asks: what if someone else scans this table's code? On another person's phone that scanned T05, the menu does not open.

It says an order is already running on this table, showing the last four digits of that number, and that items can be added to this bill only after signing in with that number.

WhereGuest phone (someone else) → scan T05

Below that: Not your order? Ask staff for help. So no one, even by mistake, can add an item to Aarav's bill.

A second example: T02's order was started at the counter with no guest number on it. Scanning that table's code shows Please ask a staff member.

WhereGuest phone → scan a table whose order started at the counter

The counter finds out on its own. The bell at the top shows a notification: Possible wrong-table order, T02. Someone was trying to order with T02's code.

Rahul can send someone to check whether the guest is at the right table.

WhereOrders → bell (top)

Where these rules are changed: Settings in the left menu, then the QR Ordering tab.

The top line matters: these settings apply only to the table QR. They have no effect on takeaway, delivery or the kiosk.

WhereSettings (left menu) → QR Ordering

The first two switches are Pay at Counter and Razorpay, which is online payment. Both are on, so the guest saw both choices. Turn one off and the guest sees only the other.

There is also a safeguard: if both are turned off by mistake, Pay at Counter stays on automatically, so the guest is never stuck without a way to pay.

WhereSettings → QR Ordering → Pay at Counter / Razorpay

The biggest setting is Payment timing, with two options. After the meal: the kitchen starts cooking at once and the guest pays at the counter after eating. Pay upfront: nothing is made until payment is confirmed at the counter.

The whole story so far ran on Pay upfront.

WhereSettings → QR Ordering → Payment timing

Picture two restaurants. First, a mall food court or a crowded café: people keep coming and going, and if someone leaves without paying, nobody notices. Pay upfront fits there.

Second, a family restaurant where people sit and eat at ease and pay when they leave. After the meal fits there: food comes faster and the guest does not have to go to the counter first.

This restaurant now wants After the meal, so select it. Below are two message boxes for what the guest sees on the confirmation screen; left blank, the system shows its own message.

Here Rahul writes his own words: enjoy your meal, and please pay at the counter on your way out. Then Save.

WhereSettings → QR Ordering → Payment timing → After the meal → message boxes → Save

At the bottom is the Order approval card. It is for orders the guest has already paid with Pay Now. With the switch on, such an order still waits in Needs Approval first and goes to the kitchen when staff approve it. With it off, a paid order goes straight to the kitchen.

This restaurant keeps it on.

WhereSettings → QR Ordering → Order approval

The next day Aarav comes back, this time at table T07. He scans the code, and the top line has changed: your order will be sent to the kitchen automatically, because the rule is now After the meal.

Just two things this time from Most Loved: a shake and a Pizza Puff. In the cart, Pay at Counter is pre-selected. Place Order.

WhereGuest phone → scan table QR

This time the screen says Order Placed! Your order is confirmed and being prepared. There is no hold.

Below is the same message Rahul just wrote in Settings: enjoy your meal, pay at the counter on your way out.

WhereGuest phone → Place Order

At the counter, Needs Approval is empty this time. A strip appears at the top, New order, table T07, with one ring of the bell so staff know. The order has already reached the kitchen.

When Aarav gets up after eating, he pays at the counter just like any dine-in table.

WhereOrders (left menu)

The whole journey: every table has its own code. The guest browsed the menu and ordered with sizes, toppings and a note, signed in with their number, used an offer or points, and added a tip. Under the money-first rule the counter collected payment and sent the order to the kitchen. Items added later were held separately, but the food did not stop. No stranger got into the bill. And one setting changed the whole rule.

Ordering from the table without waiting: freedom for the guest, while when and how the money comes stays your decision.