Table Service (Waiter / Captain)
Covers are seated at a table, a waiter takes the order against it, courses are added as the meal goes on, and the whole thing is billed when the table settles. For a restaurant, a bar or a family dining room - anywhere the order and the payment are separated by an hour.
Switch: Settings > Restaurant > Table Service. Switching it on also creates the table-order tables in the database.
The table is the order
Without table service, an order is taken and billed in one go. With it, the table holds a running order: a waiter adds a round of drinks, then starters, then mains, each one going to the kitchen as it is taken, and none of it billed until the table asks for the bill. That is the whole difference, and it is why the tables need rows of their own.
Because the order is open, a table can also be moved, merged with another, or split between two bills when a group pays separately.
What goes with it
| Also switch on | If |
|---|---|
| Dining Layout | You want the floor laid out and named, rather than tables numbered in a list. |
| Kitchen Display | The kitchen works off a screen rather than a printed slip. It reads table orders, so it only appears once table service is on. |
| Counter & Parcel Service | The same outlet also does takeaway and delivery. |
Flow
flowchart TD
A[Table seated] --> B[Waiter opens the order against it]
B --> C[First round taken]
C --> K[KOT to the kitchen or the display]
K --> S[Served]
S --> D{More courses?}
D -->|yes| C
D -->|no| E[Table asks for the bill]
E --> F{One bill or several?}
F -->|one| G[Settle the table]
F -->|split| H[Split the order between bills] --> G
G --> T[(Sale booked · table freed)]
B -.->|move or merge| B
Who takes the order
A waiter signs in on the SKS Waiter app on their own phone and works only the tables and the KOT - not the till, not the day’s takings. The Waiter role exists for exactly this. See Companion Apps.
On the permissions side, Manage Tables lets somebody open, move, merge and split; Void Orders is separate, because taking a dish off a running bill is how food leaves the kitchen without being paid for.
Setting it up
flowchart LR
A[Settings > Restaurant
Table Service on] --> B[Lay the floor out
rooms and tables]
B --> C[Put the menu in
grouped for the KOT]
C --> D[Add waiters as Waiter logins]
D --> E[Seat the first table]