Guest tabs

Guest tabs consist of orders made by a customer in a single visit.

As a rule, the guest tab is opened when the client makes his or her first order. In the club service mode ( Club waiter mode), the guest tab is opened when the customer receives his or her ID (client card, bracelet, etc.).

Further orders made by the customer within the same visit are added to the guest tab.

One or more customers can be served on one guest tab. As a rule, when the guest tab is opened on the POS terminal, the table number (restaurant table, pool table, bowling lane, etc.) and the number of guests are specified. In the guest tab, you can specify the regular customer of your own or an external system and the ID presented by the client. For the guest tab (as well as for the order or order item), you can specify the applicable promotion category and add a text comment.

A guest tab can be split into two separate tabs for separate payment of orders. The orders of two different guest tabs can be joined into one guest tab or redistributed between the original guest tabs. These operations are available in Tillypad XL POS.

If the client has an ID, this information is entered into the guest tab. If a promotion category is assigned to a guest tab or altered, the ID will remain the same.

A guest tab specification can contain additional promotion categories. On the POS terminal (in Tillypad XL POS), discounts (markups) are calculated automatically for all promotion categories applied to the guest tab when submitting guest tab orders.

You can automatically add predefined items to the guest tabs, e.g. service charge or tips. In order to do so, you need to configure an auto-order. Then when you open a new guest tab, it will contain auto-order items as a separate order.

Guest tabs can have a guest tab limit specified for them. This will set a maximum possible monetary amount for orders that have not yet been paid for. The guest tab limit applies if it is set for the division or the main promotion category of the guest tab. The principal promotion category is specified in the guest tab header. It can be either the guest tab promotion category or the client promotion category applied to the guest tab. The limit set for the promotion category has priority over the division limit.

The limit applies both when creating a new guest tab and when adding another order to it. The total of the guest tab minus paid receipts is verified against the limit amount. Exceeding the limit is not allowed. If the guest tab total exceeds the limit, the customer will be offered to pay for previous orders.

When the guest tab is opened, the required menu items are added to one or more orders. Bills and receipts are generated on the basis of orders added to guest tabs. A printed bill is given to the customer, and when the bill is paid, the customer is given a receipt. After the customer pays for his/her orders, the guest tab is closed. Promotion categories, discounts, markups and auto-orders are counted when paying for orders. Points are credited and deducted when guest tab orders are submitted.

Guest tab operations are carried out on the POS terminal. Guest tabs can be managed in Restaurant waiter , Fast Food , Administrator , Club waiter , Club cashier , and Reservations mode. For example, say the waiter selects a table on the seating layout, opens a guest tab and enters orders. Then, the system automatically processes orders, generates order tickets and sends them to the kitchen to be made. Items are served to the customer (in a set order if courses are specified). The bill to be paid by the customer is printed.

Guest tabs are used both for current visits and for preordered banquets. Reservations are managed in Reservation mode. In this mode, the guest tab is handled in two steps, which take place on two different calendar and business days. The guest tab is created on one day, when the reservation is made, and is opened and closed on another day, when the event is actually held. When a reservation is made in advance by a customer, a guest tab is created with the In preparation status and the Reservations mode. The creation date for this guest tab is the current date, and the opening date is specified on the Reservation panel as the date when the event will be held. Before the event is held, the guest tab is not displayed on the POS terminal. When the day of the event comes, the guest tab received the Open status and appears in the list of opened guest tabs on the POS terminals.

The order is added to the tab, and prepaid credits the guest can use to pay for the reserved event in advance are added to the tab specification. On the day of the event, the customer's orders are added to the same guest tab. When the event is over, the guest tab is closed and bills are paid. The payment is carried out in the cumulative mode.

Each guest tab has a status at all times. The status of the guest tab depends on what stage the guest tab is.

  • Open – the guest tab is open for changes.

  • Closed – the guest tab is closed; no changes can be made.

  • Open for changes – the guest tab was closed and then opened again for editing.

  • In preparation – the guest tab is currently in the reservation preparation mode.

  • In payment – the guest tab is closed for changes, but not all of its associated orders have been paid for.

A newly created guest tab will have the status Open. Guest tabs with the status Open can be viewed, edited and deleted both on the POS terminal (in Tillypad XL POS) and at the manager's workstation (through Tillypad XL Manager).

When all orders of the guest tab have been closed but not yet been paid for, the guest tab receives the status In payment.

After fiscal payment of all receipts on the guest tab, the guest tab is assigned the Closed status.

Once the guest tab is assigned the Closed status, it becomes read-only, and only its status can be edited.

The Open for changes status is used to allow changes to be made to closed guest tabs.

For each guest tab you can open the Remote guest tab surveillance window, which contains a table with a list of principal operations for this tab. If the device where the operation was carried out was under video surveillance, the remote view window can be opened and the video recording of the operation can be viewed. If the operation was carried out on the POS terminal, the recording of the POS terminal screen can be viewed.

The list of all guest tabs created in the division is stored in the Guest tabs document list. The guest tab list can be generated by date range, client, order, or bill or through other parameters. Associated windows will open: