Service
Working with collection numbers
The service process: assign a number, call the guest, complete the process.
Who gets a number
Every order without a table assignment that isn't a delivery receives a collection number: counter and express checkout orders, orders placed at the ordering terminal, and online orders for collection. Whether the guest takes the food away or eats it in is irrelevant—the crucial point is that there's no table through which you can track them.
Orders placed at a table are intentionally not assigned a number; the table itself serves as the identifier. Gift voucher sales are also not assigned a number.
This is the normal procedure at the express checkout: As long as you don't assign a table, the order will receive a number when it's settled.
How the numbers are assigned
Servire counts from 1 to 999 and then starts again at 1. All devices in your business draw from the same counter — so two iPads, the order terminal and online orders cannot interfere with each other.
The counter resets after a break in operation of more than eight hours, usually overnight. On the next business day, you start again at 1.
A shift change mid-service deliberately allows the counter to continue running. If it were reset at that point, two guests would be waiting for "number 1" simultaneously. The usual afternoon break is less than eight hours and therefore also does not reset.
The service process
The number is assigned during checkout and appears immediately on the kitchen slip and the guest's receipt. On the pickup display, it appears under "Being prepared".
As soon as the food is ready, you indicate that the number is ready for pickup — it changes to the green side, a signal sounds, and the guest approaches the counter. Once they arrive, you mark the transaction as picked up, and the number disappears.
Call up the guest
There are two ways to do this, depending on how your company operates.
Using the kitchen monitor: Tap on the order card. In the "Change status" dialog, the progress bar leads from "Ordered" through "Processing" to "Ready for pickup" and "Picked up".
Without a kitchen monitor: Open the order list in the POS app using the list icon in the top right corner. Each line with a pickup number has a "..." button on the right that opens the pickup options.
It's faster with a swipe gesture.
Swipe the line from left to right to access the guest's menu in one swipe—this is the most common action in practice. A long press on the line opens the same menu as the "…" button.
"Ready for pickup" calls the guest. "Picked up" means they have arrived. Jumping directly to "Picked up" never calls the guest—that's why this step only appears once the number has been reported as ready for pickup.
Reload
If the guest doesn't arrive, you can call up the number again. It will reappear at the top of the display, the beep will sound again, and the display time will restart. You'll find this option in the same menu as the first call—it will now say "Call again" and "Mark as picked up."
Finding a number again
If a guest says "I'm number 42," you open the order list. At the very bottom is the "Pick-up Numbers" section with all the numbers that haven't been picked up yet—sorted in ascending order, with items and totals. There you can see at a glance what belongs to that number.
At the counter, the customer usually pays immediately. Such orders are completed, but they still appear in the "Collection Numbers" section until someone marks them as collected. That's exactly what this section is for.
This section shows the numbers from the last eight hours, i.e., everything since the last operational break. Older transactions are excluded; they would have the same number as a new order from today anyway.
If the guest doesn't come
If a number ready for collection is not marked as collected, it disappears automatically after the set display period—the default is 15 minutes. The process remains in the order list, but the billing is not affected.
An order that is still being prepared remains listed for significantly longer: it only disappears from the left-hand column after four hours. This ensures that even a pizza or roast doesn't lose its order number mid-preparation.
cancellation
If you cancel an order, its number immediately disappears from the collection display and the order list. The number itself is not reassigned; the counter continues to run.