Restaurant POS Service Workspace

• Top bar: the till name and location with how long the shift has been open; search (Search menu or order, press / to jump to it); N ready to serve when the kitchen has food waiting (Kitchen Display service); the Live · updated … chip; New order with its arrow menu; the cashier button; and the ⋯ menu with Print history, End shift and Leave the till.
• Under 1280 px wide (most tablets), the orders column becomes a narrow rail of today's orders, and an Orders button in the top bar opens the Open orders drawer with the full list and filters.
• On a phone, the ticket is a bottom sheet. Tap the floating button (it shows the order, its item count and total, or New order) to open it, and Back to menu to close it. Closing the sheet does not remove the order or take payment. Switch cashier moves into the ⋯ menu.

The till refreshes itself about every 10 seconds. On wide screens the chip shows when it last updated, or Offline · retrying when it cannot reach SikaBooks. A refresh never sends, prints or pays anything.

6.1 Opening Service

For a Restaurant-only business, an authorized manager can switch off Enable Retail POS in POS Settings > General > Selling Modes. Hybrid registers then open Restaurant POS directly without asking staff to choose Retail or Restaurant. A Table Service register already opens Restaurant directly. Existing staff permissions still apply; the switch does not grant Restaurant access.

Before disabling Retail, resolve parked retail sales and open retail-only shifts and keep an active Restaurant-capable register. Pharmacy-enabled businesses must retain Retail checkout. Restaurant payments, paper preparation tickets, kitchen display service, historical receipts and reports continue working. The Selling Modes link in Restaurant Settings opens the same POS setting for authorized users; there is no second conflicting switch.

Before: Complete the opening checklist in section 3. Check the orders column first so that an existing guest does not receive a duplicate order.

Steps:

1. Open Restaurant > Restaurant POS or Open Sell Page from the dashboard. Confirm the till and location in the top bar.
2. Choose New order for a dine-in order, or use its arrow menu: Dine-in, Takeaway, Delivery, or Open bar tab. The ticket empties into a New order panel, where you can also switch between Dine-in, Takeaway, Delivery and Bar tab. Nothing is saved yet.
3. For dine-in with tables, tap the waiter under Waiter · needed for dine-in, choose the Table (Choose a free table lists free and reserved tables with their section and seats), and enter Guests. On the Floor view, Take order on a free table opens the same panel with that table chosen.
4. For dine-in without tables, tap the waiter, then enter Table or name · as on the slip (for example "Table 6" or "Ama") and Guests. The name you type becomes the order's title on the till.
5. Waiters are active POS users with the Waiter / Server role assigned to this location; an HR record alone does not add someone to the waiter chips. If there are none, the panel says so. New dine-in orders always need a waiter. An older order without one shows Assign waiter in the ticket and above the menu, and dishes cannot be added until a waiter is chosen. Use the waiter chip in the ticket header or ⋯ > Change waiter to correct attribution before payment. The cashier entering the order and recording payment is separately attributed.
6. For Takeaway or Delivery, enter Guest name. Phone is optional for takeaway and required for delivery. Use the order number for collection or handover. Selecting Delivery does not book a driver, send a customer notification, or complete a delivery outside SikaBooks.
7. Tap the first dish. That creates the order, gives it its order number, and adds the dish. If the waiter or table is missing, the till says which to pick and adds the dish as soon as you pick it. If the guest name or delivery phone is missing, the till asks for it; add it and tap the dish again.

Result: The ticket shows the order's title (the table, or the name typed for it), order number, type, opening time, guests and waiter. The order appears in the orders column for later rounds.

Recovery: If you chose the wrong guest or type before the first dish, change it in the panel; nothing was saved. After the first dish, stop before sending or printing. Open the correct order instead, and cancel an unwanted order with ⋯ > Cancel order and a reason. A supervisor should handle a wrong order that already has preparation or payment activity.

Cashier-led paper service: On Restaurant > Settings > Service setup, the Cashier enters paper orders preset sets paper tickets, no table picker for dine-in, no sending on add, Clear the till for the next order after printing, an 80 mm roll, and hidden kitchen prices. Every change is previewed before Switch (section 10.1), other settings stay unchanged, and existing orders keep their preparation mode. The waiter writes the guest's order on paper and brings it to the cashier. The cashier chooses New order, picks that waiter, types the table or name as written on the slip, taps the dishes, adds notes, then uses Confirm & Print. The kitchen copy and the unpaid customer bill print together and the till clears for the next slip (section 7.1). The waiter hands the kitchen copy to the kitchen and the unpaid customer bill to the guest. The order waits under Printed, unpaid during the meal. After eating, open it, record actual payment with Pay, then use Print paid receipt. Do not record a credit sale or payment merely to obtain a kitchen ticket.

Unpaid order handover: Before you switch cashiers or end a shift, set the order type chip to All, clear any waiter chip so every open order shows, and open From earlier days if it appears. Search finds an order by number, waiter, table or guest name. Each card shows the amount due; its status chips describe preparation, not payment. Switching cashiers does not settle, delete or transfer the waiter's attribution on an open order. End shift lists every unpaid order that stays open for the next cashier (section 13).

6.2 Checks and Orders

Finding an order. The orders column lists every open order at this till's location:

• An Orders / Floor switch at the top, only when dine-in tables are on.
• Order type chips All, Dine-in, Takeaway, Delivery and Bar tab with counts, shown when more than one type is open, and waiter chips when more than one waiter has dine-in orders. Tap a waiter chip again to show everyone.
• Needs you lists orders with food ready, items not sent, or nothing ordered yet, oldest first. In progress holds the rest. In paper service the groups are Not printed yet and Printed, unpaid, with the unpaid total.
• Orders opened before today fold into From earlier days · N, with how many are empty or unpaid. Choose Review to show them and Hide to fold them again.
• Each card shows the title (the table, or the name typed for the order), order number, amount, waiter, guests, how long it has been open, and status chips in words (section 6.5).

Search in the top bar finds dishes and orders. When the text matches an order's number, waiter, table or guest name, matching orders appear above the menu under Orders matching "…" and the orders column narrows to them. Press Enter to open the order when only one matches.

The ticket. The header shows the title and area, the order number, type and opening time, then chips for guests, the waiter (tap to change) and how long the order has been open. A dine-in order with a table has the Change table button (section 5.3). The ⋯ menu holds Change waiter, Print bill and Cancel order. Items not yet sent are listed first under Not sent yet (paper: Not printed yet); sent items follow by course (Drinks, Starters, Mains, Desserts) with the time they were sent or printed. The footer shows the Total (with Includes tax when tax applies) and how many items have been sent or printed, then the main button, Print bill, and Pay GHS …. The main button reads Send 2 new items in Kitchen Display service or Confirm & Print · 2 items in paper and display + paper service; with nothing new it reads Nothing new to send or Nothing new to print and cannot be pressed.

Before: Read the ticket's title, order number and waiter. Confirm any dietary request directly with the kitchen; a saved note alone is not confirmation that the kitchen can fulfil it.

Steps:

1. Tap a card, or a table on the Floor view, to open the order. The bar above the menu reads Adding to [order] and reminds you that items wait until you send or Confirm & Print. Its New order button starts another order.
2. Find the dish with search or the category chips. A dish without options adds one at once. A dish with options, or any dish on an order with seats, opens the item sheet. Check the ticket after each tap to avoid accidental duplicates.
3. In the item sheet, make each choice. Option groups are marked Required · choose 1 (or a range) or Optional; a pick-one group allows a single option, and each option shows its extra price or no charge. When the order has seats, choose the seat under For (Shared or a seat). Check Course: bar dishes start on Drinks and kitchen dishes on Mains. Add a Note for the kitchen with a quick note such as Pepper on the side or Extra shito, or type your own. Set the quantity with − and +. The add button shows the live price, for example Add to T5 · GHS 95.00.
4. To add or change the note on a ticket line, tap its pencil (Note for [dish]). In Note for the kitchen, edit Special instructions and choose Save, or use Clear note. Notes travel to the kitchen or bar with the item. A general order note is not a replacement for item-specific instructions.
5. Review quantities, options, notes and amounts against the guest's request or the paper slip.
6. Follow section 7 to send or print. For a later round, open the same order and add only the new items; do not re-enter the first round.

Result: The ticket contains the requested food and instructions. Additions in paper or combined mode produce an additions-only kitchen batch when printed, plus an updated bill.

Recovery: Remove a dish that has not been sent with its × (Remove [dish]). For a sent dish the same × is Cancel [dish] and needs a reason (section 8.4). After changing a sent dish's note in paper or combined mode, hand over the labelled change notice and tell the kitchen which order it replaces; recover it from Print history if needed.

Moving an item to another seat after it is added is not exposed in the current terminal. Seats appear only on orders whose check type uses seats; the till has no control to add them. Older service and checkout screens redirect here; their saved options are not instructions to look for extra buttons.

6.3 Bar Tabs

Bar tabs keep a customer's drinks on an open order during service; opening a tab is not a payment.

Before: Confirm the guest's agreed identifier and any supervisor-approved spending limit.

Steps: Choose New order > Open bar tab, or Bar tab in the New order panel. In Open a bar tab, enter Customer name, optional Phone (optional) and Tab limit (optional), then Open tab. Add drinks, send or print them using the saved preparation mode, and find the tab later with the Bar tab chip in the orders column. Tab cards show Tab open or the item count. Use Pay when the guest settles.

Result: New rounds remain on the same named tab. Settlement closes the tab through the payment flow.

Recovery: If a limit blocks new items, ask a supervisor; do not open a duplicate tab to evade the limit. The older Bar Tabs pages lead to the same till, not a separate close or transfer screen.

6.4 Floor View

When dine-in tables are on, the Floor side of the Orders / Floor switch replaces the menu with the floor. When there is more than one floor (table section), tabs across the top switch between them and show how many tables each has. Back to the menu returns to the menu.

Each tile shows the table and its status in words. An occupied tile also shows the waiter, guests, how long the order has been open and the amount; a free tile shows its seats. Tap an occupied tile to open its order.

Mark clean needs permission to manage tables. Check the physical table before marking it clean.

6.5 Status Words

The ticket, order cards, floor tiles and kitchen screen use one set of words:

Order cards also show Nothing ordered yet (or No items yet for takeaway and delivery), counts such as 2 ready, 3 not sent or 3 not printed, and All served. Paper and display + paper service use the printed words on the till.