A typical day
A typical day in this kind of restaurant runs roughly like this: you open a table first and the guests pay after the meal, unlike a counter where they pay as they order. Hungary's official list of venue types includes Étterem among others (see the NTAK hospitality info page); for how the software and the legal e-cash register divide the work, see the FAQ. If your store mostly takes orders and payment at the counter, see A day at a counter or snack shop; for the cafe counter rush, see A day in a cafe or dessert shop.
- Open a table: open a table for arriving guests and assign it, then start taking the order.
- Order and serve in courses: continue the order course by course or as guests add dishes; the kitchen receives core kitchen tasks and can report progress back.
- Help from waiting staff: several terminals or handhelds can help take orders (handhelds have a terminal cap and depend on what the store has enabled); each order can be marked dine-in, takeaway, pickup or delivery.
- Changes during the meal (as needed): move tables, merge tables, split the bill, hold the order.
- Pay after the meal: standard checkout, split bill or mixed payment, with a receipt.
- Takeaway and pickup: on the same day some guests will want food packed or will come to collect it, and you mark that when taking the order as usual.
- Close: follow up the business day / daily close, and once online and synced, check NTAK report status (pending / submitted); look up and audit wrong orders afterwards in the order centre.
How it works with the till
These tasks use general restaurant till features, not a POS built specially for table service. The features involved:
- Table handling (open / move / merge / split / continue / hold) and dine-in, takeaway, pickup and delivery marking: Ordering and tables (venue and table setup is not a drag-and-drop floor plan; PDAs / handhelds have a terminal cap).
- Paying after the meal, split bills / mixed payment and receipts: Checkout, payments and receipts.
- Core kitchen task creation and status updates, terminal registration: Core kitchen tasks and terminal coordination (the kitchen display is a plugin).
- Daily close and NTAK report status: Fiscal and NTAK (not a substitute for a legal e-cash register; formal reporting while offline is not promised).
- Order lookup and after-sales (refunds / returned items / voids / reprints, mainly lookup and audit): Members, order centre and after-sales.
- Dish / menu records and basic inbound: Inventory and item master data.
Less of a fit
- Stores that must arrange tables on a drag-and-drop floor plan (the “table map” means venue and table setup; see the Ordering and tables page).
- Expecting the software to replace a legal e-cash register, or needing compliance / NTAK “certification” backing.
- Expecting a kitchen display in the core (the kitchen display is a plugin).
- Stores that mostly take orders and payment at the counter and rarely open tables to pay later: see A day at a counter or snack shop.
Related features
- Ordering and tables · Checkout, payments and receipts · Core kitchen tasks and terminal coordination · Fiscal and NTAK
- Optional: Members, order centre and after-sales · Inventory and item master data
- Overview: Features · List of store types: Store types · Same channel: Cafe / dessert · Counter / snack
No installation, training or on-site service
Installation, training and on-site service are not promised. To find out more, see the feature pages above, the FAQ, or use the email address on the About us page (info@merx.hu).