Open tabs
Order all evening. Do the arithmetic once.
At a bar nobody orders once. They order every twenty minutes until closing, and at a long dinner it is the same: another water, another glass of wine, coffee at the end. An open tab remembers everything that passed through that table and puts it in one place when somebody asks for the bill.
Opening one
The first person at the table scans the code, types a name so staff know who they are talking to, and sends the first order. The tab is open from that second and shows on the phones of whoever is on shift. If you would rather a person saw every new tab before it reached the kitchen, that is a setting, and orders wait until somebody approves them.
The friends who turn up at half nine
They need nothing from you. They scan the same code on the table and they are on the tab, or they type the tab’s short four-character code if they have sat down at the next table along. The code has no letters that get confused with digits, precisely so it can be read out loud over the noise. From there everyone orders from their own phone, and items arrive carrying the name of whoever asked for them.
- A tab can be opened by a guest or by someone on shift, for tables that would rather order the old way.
- Two tabs can run on the same table, for two groups who have nothing to do with each other.
- Each tab has its own list of items and its own total.
- At the end they close independently, in whatever order the groups leave.
Another round, without catching anyone’s eye
The guest opens the menu, sends the next round and stays in the conversation. It reaches the waiter carrying the table and, once approved, the bar or the station that makes it. Nobody puts a hand in the air, and nobody stands beside a table while six people make up their minds. The call button stays there for what is not on the menu: a broken glass, or a question only a person can answer.
At the end, the arithmetic is already done
When the table asks for the bill, everything ordered that evening is there, in order, with prices. Nothing is reconstructed from a notepad and nobody argues about the round in the middle of the night. From there each guest sees their own share already worked out and pays it from their phone, or the table settles at the counter, in cash or on the card machine you already have. Your own till issues the receipt exactly as today, and the sale is registered once for that table rather than once per round.
An open tab keeps the record; it does not guarantee the payment. Klevra shows who ordered what and how much is outstanding, but the table stays in the care of whoever is on shift, exactly as before. Anyone who wants to settle their share mid-evening can, rather than waiting for the end.
Also worth reading
The notepad can stay in the apron.
Make an account, photograph your drinks list, put the codes on the tables.