Enabling and setting up the restaurant module

What is the restaurant module?

The restaurant module is not a separate subscription plan; it is a way of running the point of sale: tables and areas, orders sent to the kitchen, waiters with ordering devices, a kitchen display, and a bill opened and closed on the table. Its only requirement is that your plan includes the point of sale. A retail shop sees none of its screens, and the regular point of sale does not change when it is enabled.

It is enabled from your account portal or from the Sahl platform, and the business type is chosen with it: restaurant, cafe, or fast food. See Creating the account and subscribing.

Where does it appear in the web panel?

After enabling, the restaurant items appear inside the "Point of sale" menu, separated by a line from the regular selling items:

• Live view: the bills open right now and the bills that failed to post.
• Reservations.
• Restaurant setup: the tabs explained below.
• Item options: option groups such as size and extras.
• Restaurant reports.

Each item has its own permission (restaurant.*); someone without the setup permission sees only the live view, for example. See Roles.

The "General" tab

• Business type: decides which screen opens on the POS app. "Retail" means the current sale screen, unchanged.
• Enabled order types: dine in, takeaway, delivery, counter. Switch off what you do not offer so the waiter does not see it.
• Service charge: a percentage or a fixed amount, and which order types it applies to. It is added as a line on the invoice with the "service charge" item, is taxed like that item, and its revenue is recorded in a separate account.
• Payment for counter and takeaway: before or after preparation.
• Table after closing the bill: available immediately or waiting for cleaning.
• Start of business day: the hour at which order numbers reset.
• Auto lock device after (seconds): asks for the staff PIN again after idle time.
• Default station for items that belong to no routed group.
• Record cash tips in the books: off by default; see Checkout, bill splitting and tips.
• Print mode for the kitchen: "Image" prints Arabic correctly on any printer, "Text" is faster but needs a printer with an Arabic code page and its number.

The "Areas and tables" tab

You create areas (hall, garden, floor), add their tables with number, seats and shape, arrange them by dragging on the board, then "Save layout". Details in Tables and areas.

The "Kitchen stations" tab

A station is the destination of preparation tickets: kitchen, bar, grill. Each station has a name and code, an Output: display, printer, or both, and Ready tracking: none, manual from the POS, or from the kitchen display. A printer has its address, port, paper size and copies, and a fallback station that prints its tickets if the printer fails. Under "Prepares groups" you pick the item groups whose tickets go to this station.

The "QR" tab

Enabling QR ordering on tables, how orders are accepted, and the maximum value of a phone order. See QR ordering and reservations.

The "Devices" tab

Shows the devices that joined the restaurant module with their roles: main POS, ordering device, kitchen display, queue display; with each device's status, last seen and pairing method (cloud or by code). "Revoke" removes the device link immediately, and on its next sign in it works as a main POS. A revoked device cannot be paired again until "Delete record". Details in Waiter device and kitchen display.

Item options

From "Item options" you define option groups per item such as "Size" or "Extras": single or multiple choice, a maximum, required or not, and for each option a price delta of zero or more. An option can be linked to a component item and its quantity, so "extra cheese" deducts its quantity from stock when sold. See Creating an item for defining the items themselves.

Staff and PIN codes

Waiters and kitchen staff are regular users under "Users" with roles carrying restaurant.* permissions. Each has a PIN of 4 to 6 digits set from the user profile, used to share one ordering device. A manager's PIN approves actions that need approval, such as a discount above the limit or cancelling an item already sent to the kitchen. See Creating a user.