Use Table Service mode to assign orders to a table or to assign order items to a seat or a course in the Restaurant POS app. This workflow is best suited for a server-led dining experience and offers additional features, such as splitting the check at patrons' requests.

When opening a table, you can specify the number of covers (patrons dining) if you previously enabled this option in the Back Office. Entering covers is helpful if, for example, guests wish to pay separately and split the check into equal parts. Entering covers is essential for reporting metrics where sums are related to guest count.

Opening an order in Table Service mode

By default, all orders start in Direct Sale mode. To open an order in Table Service mode, you must either assign a table to the order or open a tab.

Assigning a table

There are two ways to assign a table to an order, either by assigning it from the Tables screen of the POS, or through the keypad on the Register screen.

To assign a table via the Tables screen:

1. Navigate to the Tables screen.
2. Select a table on the floor plan to begin an order from that table.

To assign a table directly from the Register screen:

1. From the Register screen, enter a table number using the keypad
2. Tap the Tables button to assign an order to that table.

Opening a tab

If bar tabs are enabled on your account, you can open a new tab by tapping Open a tab on the keypad.

1. From the Register screen, tap Open a tab.
2. Tap Continue to pre-authorize the customer's card, or tap Skip pre-auth to open a bar tab without pre-authorization.
3. If pre-authorizing the customer's card, manually enter a name for the bar tab and tap Continue to open it.
4. Change or confirm the default pre-authorization amount, then tap Open tab.

Adding order items

Once a Table Service order has been opened, you can begin adding items to the order. Table Service supports seats and coursing, so you can add items to a specific seat, share them among the table, and/or add items by course.

• Adding order items by course

  A multi-course order represents any time there is more than one item ordered consumed at different times. For instance, your restaurant may consider starters, mains, and desserts to be a first, second, and third course meal.

  By default, orders are organized by course, with order items automatically assigned to the first course.

  

  To add items to another course, tap Add a course. You can navigate between courses by tapping the desired course name and adding items to the selected course.

  To change the course of multiple items, tap Actions > Edit order, highlight the order items, then tap Assign to. A pop-up window will appear asking you to specify which course you want the selected order items to be moved to. To change the course for an individual order item, tap the order line to open individual item actions. From the window, select the course for where you are moving the order item.

  When ordering by course, by default the entire order is grouped together or Shared. This means that the order items are only specified by their course. If you wish to also add order items by seat, you can select the + icon beside Select a seat and then add order items for the selected seat. This is useful if the order is for a large group and your order tickets need to specify the course and seat number for the items.

   

• Adding items by seat

  If you are processing orders for a group, you may want to add items by seat. Splitting your order into seats allows you to add seat notes and easily split the final check for large groups.

  To organize your order by seat, tap the Display mode button at the top of the order summary. Tap By seat to change the order setting accordingly.

  

  Once By seat has been selected, the order will be sorted by seat and the keypad will collapse. By default, order items will be shared until you specify a seat for them.

  To create a seat, tap Add a seat, then select the order items for the selected seat. Once a seat has been added, you can also add notes and allergen warnings.

  To change the assigned seat for multiple order items, tap Edit order, highlight the order items, then tap Assign to. A pop-up window will appear asking you to specify which seat you want the selected order items to be moved to. To change the seat for an individual order item, tap the order line to open individual item actions. From the window, select the seat to which you would like to move the order item.

  If you wish to also add order items by course, you can select the + icon beside Select a course and then add order items for the selected course. This is useful if the order is for a large group and your order tickets need to specify the course and seat number for the items.

Adding order items by course

Sending orders and courses

Send an order to save its items and notify the kitchen or prep stations of the order. Sent items will print on order tickets through your production centers, or they will appear on the Lightspeed Kitchen Display System (KDS). Printing and KDS behavior depends on how you set up these features in your Back Office.

Items cannot be moved to a different course or seat after the course is sent. To add additional items to the order, simply open the order, add the additional items, and then press the Send - x items button once again. This will print only the latest orders and corresponding table number or tab name.

To send an order to a production center, tap Send - x items on the Register screen. If your order contains one course, the order can be prepared all at once. If your order contains multiple courses, the prep station can view the entire order divided by course. You can alert prep stations to begin preparing the next course by firing the next course in the POS.

Firing a course

If you have ordered multiple courses, you can use the Send items and Fire course buttons to print a ticket and inform your prep station that the next course should be prepared. For example, if you are serving a three-course meal and see that the customers are almost done with the current course, tapping Fire course will print the next order ticket in the kitchen, indicating that the table is ready for the next course items.

1. From the POS app, create a multi-course order and tap Send - # items.
2. Select Orders from the navigation bar.
3. Tap the order you created in Step 1 to reopen it.
4. Tap Fire course 2, and the second course will be printed at its production center.
   

The first unfired course is indicated by a white flame icon. Once the course is fired, the icon turns orange. When the next course is fired, the previous course is marked with a green checkmark, indicating completion, and the orange flame shifts to the newly fired course.

Reprinting order tickets

If you lose an order ticket (also called a production docket), reprint it to send a copy to your printer. You can reprint order tickets for individual items or for an entire course of items.

1. To reprint an order ticket, tap the edit icon next to an item or course and select Reprint production docket.
   
2. An order ticket containing the selected item or course will print to the relevant printer depending on how you have set up your production centers.
3. The text ** RE-PRINT ** will appear at the top of each reprinted order ticket to indicate the ticket is a copy.

Processing payment

When your guests are ready for payment, you can select the Print check button to print a draft receipt for the order. This is a common workflow for Table Service environments where guests wish to view their check before paying or leaving a tip.

To process the payment, select the Pay button on the right-hand side of the screen to enter the Payments screen.

For more information on processing payments (such as splitting a check or voiding a payment) see About payments.

What's next?