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Taking an order

The order screen is where a table's food is chosen, sent to the kitchen, and eventually turned into a bill.

Not yet sent, and in the kitchen

This is the distinction that matters most on this screen. Items you add are not yet sent until you send them; once sent they are in kitchen.

Only sent items reach the kitchen. Something typed but not sent is on your screen and nowhere else — no ticket has printed, and no one is cooking it.

Sending is also what makes an item hard to remove. Before it goes, changing your mind costs nothing. After, the kitchen may already have started, so cancelling a sent item is a different and more deliberate action.

A KOT is the kitchen's copy

When you send items, KJB produces a kitchen order ticket — a KOT. That is what prints in the kitchen and what appears on the kitchen display.

You can send more than once to the same table. A second round of drinks is a second KOT against the same order, which is why a table's bill can be right while the kitchen received it in three parts.

Adding to a table that is already running

A running table has an open order. Opening it again adds to what is there rather than starting something new — which is what you want when a table orders in stages.

Discounts and complimentary items

Both exist on this screen, and both are deliberate acts rather than adjustments you make in passing.

Apply a discount before billing. The screen says so: once a bill is generated, the discount is no longer something you add on the way past.

Complimentary and no-charge items are recorded as such rather than as a price of zero, so that what you gave away stays visible in the figures instead of disappearing.

Generating the bill

When the table has finished, the order becomes a bill. From there it is a payment — see Take payment for a bill.

A bill is not a payment. Generating one says the table is done ordering; it does not say anyone has paid, and the table stays yours until settlement.

Releasing a table

A table is released when it is finished with, which is what returns it to free on the floor.