RE Restaurant Extra

Get your restaurant running

From applying to your first full service, one step at a time. Each step says what it is for and what to press. Tick them off as you go: this page remembers where you got to, on this device.

Your front desk will be

Apply

Tells us about your restaurant, so we can set it up for you.

  1. Open Apply and fill in the form. It takes a minute.
  2. You get a private page for your application straight away. Keep it.

Not sure yet? Try the demo first.

Confirm your email

Proves the address is yours. Reset codes for your PIN go there later.

  1. Open the email we send and press its link.
  2. Nothing in the inbox? Look in your spam or junk folder.

We can only approve an application once its email is confirmed.

Wait for approval, then bookmark your page

Somebody reads every application. Once approved, your page holds everything you need to set up.

  1. Usually within a working day. Your application’s page changes to Approved.
  2. Bookmark that page. It has your downloads, your pairing code, your links and your settings.

Install the front desk

The front desk is the app by your till. It runs your floor, orders, bills and printers, and it keeps working when the internet drops.

  1. On the PC by the till, open your bookmarked page and choose Windows.
  2. Follow its two-minute step first: it tells Windows Security to leave the download alone.
  3. Download, unzip, and run the installer. If Windows says Windows protected your PC, choose More info, then Run anyway.

Waiters’ phones and the kitchen screen need no app: the front desk serves them.

Connect it to your restaurant

Joins this computer or tablet to your restaurant, and brings down your floor plan and menu.

  1. The first time the front desk opens, it asks for a pairing code.
  2. Type the code from your page. It works once.

Changing computer later? Get a new code in your settings. Your floor plan and menu stay as they are.

Choose the owner’s PIN

One six-digit PIN for you: it opens your settings online, and it guards tax, staff hours and records at the till.

  1. The desk asks for it after connecting. Choose six digits nobody would guess.
  2. Forgotten it? Forgot the PIN? emails a code to reset it, or ring us.

Draw your floor plan

Your tables, as they stand in the room, so the desk can seat people and show who is where.

  1. At the front desk, open Restaurant › Edit floor plan… It opens in your browser.
  2. Draw your tables, then press Publish Layout.

Build your menu

Your sections and dishes, with their prices and choices, for the desk, the waiters and your online menu.

  1. Open Restaurant › Edit menu… and add your sections and dishes, with any choices (“which milk”).
  2. Press Publish Menu, then Restaurant › Sync Cloud at the desk to pick it up straight away.

Set up bills, tax and printers

What goes on every bill, your taxes, and where kitchen tickets and bills print.

  1. Front desk › Bill & tax…: your address, phone and tax number, and your taxes. The sample bill shows the result as you type.
  2. Front desk › Printers…: Add printer, tick Bills, Kitchen tickets or both, and press Test.

Connect staff phones

Waiters take orders at the table on their own phones, and their hours are kept.

  1. Put the phone on the same wifi as the front desk (not a guest network).
  2. At the desk, open Front desk › Staff Login… and scan its QR code with the phone’s camera.
  3. Type a name, choose the job tonight (Waiter, say) and press Clock in.

The code changes every few minutes, so a photo of it stops working.

Set up the kitchen screen

Every ticket on a tablet in the kitchen the moment it is sent, and the cooks mark dishes ready.

  1. Put the tablet on the restaurant’s wifi.
  2. On the desk, Front desk › Staff Login… › Setting up a kitchen screen. Scan that code on the tablet and choose its counters (the grill, the bar…).
  3. Bookmark the page on the tablet. It stays connected for good.

Let guests order from their phones Optional

A code on each table opens your menu on the guest’s own phone. Nothing reaches the kitchen until you approve it.

  1. Front desk › Table QR codes…, then Print, and stand a card on each table.
  2. When you are ready, press Turn on. Orders appear at the desk under the bell.

Save your owner’s page

Tonight’s figures on your phone, from anywhere: orders, bills, tables in use, who is on shift.

  1. Open your owner’s page from your bookmarked page. It opens with the same PIN.
  2. Add it to your phone’s home screen. It can look, but never change anything.

Run a service

The everyday part: seat, order, serve, bill, and close the night.

  1. When a table leaves, press Finish & print bill, at the desk or on a waiter’s phone. The table goes to cleaning.
  2. Two parties at one table? Tap it and press Split table. Each gets a letter (3A, 3B), a note like Window side so the waiters can tell them apart, and its own order and bill. Change the quick picks in Front desk › Front desk settings.
  3. At closing, press End Service. It frees every table, ends every shift and files the night in History.
  4. Updates to the front desk install at End Service, when nobody is in the middle of an order.

See it all working in the demo, or read the help page.