Captain app · waiter app · order at the table · tips

A captain app for waiters, so nobody stands outside the kitchen asking “ready hai?”

Tadka Tech's captain app is the waiter app for restaurants in India, on each waiter's own phone. It shows the live floor by section, takes the order at the table and fires it to the kitchen, rings a bell when the food is ready, and settles the bill at the table with the tip recorded against whoever took it.

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Updated October 2026By Tadka Tech+91 88470 21579

01On the floor

What goes wrong on a full floor — and what the waiter’s phone does.

Before, waiters stood outside the kitchen asking whether their order was ready, nobody knew which table was whose, and the shift ended in an argument about tips.

Food ready

“Ready hai? Ready hai?” Ten times a night, at the kitchen door.

TadkaThe moment the kitchen finishes the last item, the waiter's phone rings a bell with a ready strip, on any tab, until the food is marked served.

Waiter App

Whose table

“Is T06 yours or mine?”

TadkaTables a waiter has an order on show a U. Green is free, blue is seated with no order yet, orange has an order, and each floor is one tap away.

Waiter App

Tips

“I took the order, he only brought two shakes. Why do we split it half-half?”

TadkaPick the rule once: all to the server, an even split, or by what each person added. On a ₹100 tip where one added ₹600 of food and the other ₹200, that is ₹75 and ₹25.

Staff

Change of mind

“Red sauce, not white. It's not made yet, is it?”

TadkaIf the item hasn't been made and you allow it, the waiter taps Replace: the old pasta leaves the kitchen, the new one arrives, and the price difference is shown.

Kitchen display

Transfer table: pick the staff member who will now serve the order

Shift change

“He clocked out. His family at T10 is still on dessert.”

TadkaLive Floor Load flags clocked out but still holding open orders, and the manager hands the table over with Transfer Table.

Staff

Bigger table

“Two more are coming. We need six chairs.”

TadkaMove on the table picks only free tables; the whole order and all its kitchen work move with the family.

Table Management

02The waiter's phone

The whole service loop, in one hand.

Floor, order, kitchen, bill. Large buttons for a hand that is also carrying plates.

The floor

Kitchen tab

Settle at the table

03Waiter order app

Taking the order at the table.

Tap the table and the menu opens with the table's name on top, so the order can't go to the wrong one
Three letters find the dish; sizes and toppings are asked before it goes on the order
The order sheet says New, not yet fired while the family is still deciding
Note chips such as Less Spicy, Pack on one line, and Comp for the birthday dessert, with a record of who made it free
Fire to Kitchen sends it; the kitchen card carries the notes and the packed part
A takeaway from the phone with no table: Start Takeaway Order at the top

04Kitchen and teammates

Helping on a teammate's table, without a mix-up.

The Kitchen tab shows only the waiter's own orders, with All, Ready and Cooking filters and how long each has been cooking
Two more shakes on a teammate's table join the same order and the same bill, not a new one
The Kitchen tab marks them Added by the teammate, which matters later for the tip
The kitchen sees a New tag on added items and “Replaced” under a swapped dish
Part-ready tickets can be served item by item: naan now, curry when it lands

05Watch it

The floor from the counter’s side, during a lunch rush.

The same tables the waiters' phones work on: who is serving each one, a shared tablet that shows only your own orders, adding to a running table, moving a party, marking served and handing a table to the next shift.

Hindi narration with English subtitles · recorded on a live demo restaurant. Read the waiter's phone guide (Deep Dive Part 7)

06Captain app setup

Sections, covers and tips: set once, before the shift.

Open mode

A small café where two people run the whole floor

Any waiter can take an order on any table; the floor simply shows who started each order.

Section mode

Each waiter has a fixed area

A daily roster puts waiters on sections by shift date; one waiter can cover two sections. Taking an order outside your section asks “Cover for Rooftop?”. Nobody is blocked; the cover is just recorded, and managers are never asked.

Tip sharing

Banquet tables, shared tables, busy nights

All to the server by default, or split evenly, or split by value. On a ₹300 banquet tip where one waiter took ₹2,400 of orders and the other ₹1,200, split by value gives ₹200 and ₹100.

Replace and void

How much can a waiter change on their own?

Replacing an unmade item is off by default, so only a manager can, until you switch it on. A waiter can void items only on orders they placed, and every void asks for a reason that shows in reports.

07Bill and tips

Paid at the table, credited to the waiter.

When the food has been served, the table's card in My Orders shows Settle. The full bill opens at the table: every item, the GST and the round-off, with a comped dessert at zero. Entering the customer's phone number sends the receipt on WhatsApp and adds them to loyalty.

A tip is added as a separate line from the bill, so food sales and tips never mix. Then UPI QR, cash, card or a split: the UPI QR already carries the amount, so the guest never types it. Once paid, the screen shows the bill, the tip and who settled it, and a served, paid order closes on its own.

At the end of the shift, View today's tips on the waiter's phone shows the tips that waiter took personally and how they came in. The manager's Server performance report shows the split by your rule, beside each waiter's covers, average ticket, comps and voids.

08Questions

Captain app and waiter app: questions owners ask.

What is a captain app in a restaurant?

A captain app is the order-taking app a captain or waiter carries to the table. In Tadka Tech it is the waiter app on the waiter's own phone: the live floor, the menu, a Fire to Kitchen button, a Kitchen tab that shows what is ready, and settling the bill at the table.

Does each waiter need to install an app?

No. The waiter app runs in the browser on the waiter's own phone. Several staff can be signed in on different devices at the same time, each with their own permissions.

How does the waiter know the food is ready?

The phone rings a bell and shows a ready strip as soon as the kitchen marks the last item ready. It rings on any tab, even while the waiter is taking another order, until it is muted or the food is marked served.

Two waiters served one table. Who gets the tip?

You choose, in Settings → Waiters & Floor: the whole tip to the table's server, an even split between everyone who worked the table, or a split by how much each person added to the order. The manager's Server performance report shows the split per waiter.

Can waiters see the bill amount of every table?

No. The floor on the waiter's phone shows no bill amounts. Floor sales are visible only to people you give the financial view permission, such as a manager or cashier.

Can a waiter take the payment at the table?

Yes. Settle opens the full bill with GST and round-off. Collect by UPI QR, cash, card or a split; the UPI QR carries the exact amount, and a tip goes on its own line, credited to the waiter who settled.

What if a waiter's shift ends while their table is still eating?

Live Floor Load warns that the waiter clocked out while still holding open orders, and a manager uses Transfer Table on the order page to hand the table, and the tip from then on, to another waiter.

09Keep reading

The rest of the service.

Deep Dive · Part 7 guide

The waiter's phone

One busy dinner shift: sections, ordering at the table, the ready bell, moving and transferring tables, and tips.