Order Creation

Create and customize orders with the intuitive menu-driven interface, designed for both touchscreen and traditional input.

Overview

Order Creation allows you to:

• Start new dine-in or to-go orders
• Browse menu categories and items
• Add items with customizations and modifiers
• Adjust quantities and apply item-level discounts
• Submit orders to the kitchen

Navigation:

• Sidebar → Create Order
• Or from Tables view → New Order on any table card
• Or + Create Order button in any view header

Starting an Order

From Tables View

1. Find an available table
2. Click New Order on the table card
3. The table is automatically selected
4. Set party size and create

From Create Order Page

1. Navigate to Create Order in sidebar
2. Choose table or To-Go option
3. Set party size
4. Click Create Order

Order Setup Form

Table Selection

Choose where the order is assigned:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📦 To-Go / Pickup                 [✓]  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ───────────── Tables ─────────────      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🍽️ Table 1                              │
│ 🍽️ Table 2                              │
│ 🍽️ Table 3                        [✓]  │
│ ...                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Options:

• To-Go / Pickup: No table assignment (phone orders, walk-up pickup)
• Table [Name]: Assign to specific table

The badge below shows current selection:

• 📦 To-Go Order (orange badge)
• 🍽️ Dine-In (gray badge)

Party Size

Touch-friendly party size selection:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Party Size                    │
│                                         │
│   [ - ]     👥 3 Guests      [ + ]     │
│                                         │
│   [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [8] [10]     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Controls:

• Minus button: Decrease by 1 (min: 1)
• Plus button: Increase by 1 (max: 50)
• Quick select buttons: Common party sizes
• Active size is highlighted in orange

Touch Optimization

The +/- buttons are sized at 56×56 pixels for easy touch targeting on POS terminals.

Create Order Button

Click Create Order to:

1. Create the order record
2. Navigate to menu item selection
3. Begin adding items

The order screen

The menu and the order sit side by side on one screen: the menu on the left, the order on the right. You never leave the order to add to it.

Pane	What it holds
Left	The category rail, a search box scoped to the category you are in, and the item tiles
Right	Order Details — the lines, each line's plates, the balance due, and the action for the order as a whole
Top	How the order is doing (Ready 2 · Served 3 of 5), elapsed time, the server it belongs to, Rush, and Add Instructions

Each category chip carries the number of items in it, so an empty category is visible before you open it.

The previous screen is still there

The three-column screen this replaced is served at /v1 — add /v1 to the order's URL. Nothing links to it, and both screens read the same order and send the same mutations, so you can move between them mid-order without losing anything.

Menu Navigation

Item tiles

Each item shows its name, price and a + button. Under the tile, a line such as 1 of 1 orderable tells you how many can still be ordered — an item the kitchen has run out of says so here rather than failing after you tap it.

Tile information:

• Item name and price
• Description (if configured)
• Dietary indicators (vegan, vegetarian, etc.)
• Availability status

Searching Items

Use the search function to find items quickly:

1. Click the search icon or press /
2. Type item name or keywords
3. Results filter across all categories

Adding Items

Quick Add

For items without required customizations:

1. Click the item card
2. Select quantity in dialog
3. Item is added to order

Quantity

Tapping the quantity control on a tile opens a numeric keypad, not a spinner. Type the number and confirm. Six of something is six taps of + on a spinner and two on a keypad, which matters when a table of twelve orders the same thing.

The keypad takes the category's colour, so it is obvious which item you are counting.

Items with Customizations

For items with modifiers or add-ons:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Classic Burger - $12.99                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Temperature                             │
│ ○ Rare  ○ Medium  ● Well Done          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Add-ons (+$1.50 each)                   │
│ ☐ Extra Cheese  ☑ Bacon  ☐ Avocado    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Special Instructions                    │
│ [No onions, extra pickles_________]    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Quantity:  [ - ]  2  [ + ]              │
│                                         │
│ Total: $30.98                           │
│            [Add to Order]               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Customization Types:

• Radio buttons: Single selection (e.g., temperature)
• Checkboxes: Multiple selections (e.g., toppings)
• Text field: Special instructions

Order Summary Panel

The order panel shows current items:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Order #ZNP338                           │
│ Table 5 • 3 Guests • 15 min             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2x Classic Burger          $25.98       │
│    - Well Done                          │
│    - + Bacon                            │
│                                         │
│ 1x Caesar Salad            $8.99        │
│                                         │
│ 3x Iced Tea                $8.97        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Subtotal                   $43.94       │
│ Tax (8%)                    $3.52       │
│ ─────────────────────────────────       │
│ Total                      $47.46       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [Submit to Kitchen]                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Line actions

Every action on a line lives behind the line itself. Swipe it (or tap it, if swiping is awkward) and the actions appear beside it:

Action	Does	Offered when
Edit options	Reopens the item's choices	the line is still unsent
Add one / Remove one	Changes the quantity by one	the line is still unsent
Set course	Moves the line to another course	nothing on the line has been sent
Discount	Applies a line discount	anything not cancelled or already settled
Mark served	Marks the line delivered	the kitchen has plates of it
Remove from the order	Takes the line off entirely	the line is still unsent

Two things worth knowing:

Swiping reveals, it never fires. The swipe brings the buttons into view and stops; you still choose one. A swipe that went straight through to Remove would delete a dish every time a sleeve brushed a tablet.

The actions on offer are not all-or-nothing. Discount is deliberately wider than the rest — a dish already cooking can still be discounted, even though it can no longer be edited or removed. So a line may offer discounting and nothing else.

A line that can no longer be edited shows its kitchen status instead — Preparing, Ready — so the reason the buttons are gone is on screen.

What the line says

Each line shows the item, the quantity, and its customizations underneath. That matters at the table: a line reading 1x Cheeseburger looks the same with or without no pickles on it, and you cannot check a plate against a line that does not say what was asked for.

If the order has courses, the line also carries its course chip — C1, or No course for a unit added after its course was fired. An order with no courses shows no chip at all.

Courses

Before you submit, each item row has a Course picker (Course 1, Course 2…, or No course). On a coursed order the items are grouped under a heading per course, each with Send and Serve (n) shortcuts. See Courses.

Item Status Indicators

Once submitted, items show their status. The word comes from the kitchen, so it matches what the KDS shows:

Status	Badge	Meaning
Ordered	⬜ Gray	Unsent
Held	⬜ Gray, dashed	Submitted, in a course nobody has fired
Sent / Preparing	🟠 Orange	In the kitchen
Ready	🔵 Blue	Plated, waiting for a runner
Ready to collect	🟢 Green	Released by the pass
Served	✅ Green	Delivered to table
Cancelled	🔴 Red	Removed from order

A line with several plates lists them under n units — set each individually, each with its own status.

Submitting to Kitchen

Submit Button

When the order has items, click Submit to Kitchen:

1. The plates you send start Preparing, so the order reads Preparing
2. Items in course 1 (and items in no course) appear on the Kitchen Display System; later courses are held until fired
3. Kitchen begins preparation
4. Timer starts for tracking

Adding More Items

After submission, you can still add items:

1. Continue adding items to the order
2. Click Submit to Kitchen again
3. Only new items are sent
4. Previously submitted items are unaffected

Order status flow

An order's badge is a summary of its plates rather than a fixed sequence — adding more items simply puts more plates at the start of the line. The full picture, with the plate statuses behind it, is in Order lifecycle.

Order Types

Dine-In Orders

• Assigned to a specific table
• Table shows as "Occupied"
• Visible in Tables view
• Completing the order frees the table

To-Go Orders

• No table assignment
• Table number shows as "To-Go/Pickup"
• Only visible in Orders view
• No table status affected

Converting Order Types

Use Move to Table to convert:

• Dine-in → To-go: Select "To-Go / No Table"
• To-go → Dine-in: Select a table

Rush Orders

Mark an order as high priority:

1. Open order details
2. Toggle the RUSH switch
3. Order displays red highlighting
4. Kitchen sees priority indicator

Use Cases:

• VIP guests
• Time-sensitive requests
• Making up for delays

Real-Time Updates

The order view updates automatically when:

• Kitchen marks items as prepared
• Items are served
• Payments are processed
• Other servers add items

Common Workflows

Taking a Standard Order

1. Greet guests and note party size
2. Click New Order on their table
3. Set party size → Create Order
4. Navigate menu categories
5. Add items with any customizations
6. Review order total
7. Click Submit to Kitchen
8. Confirm with guests

Handling Special Requests

1. Add the item normally
2. In customization sheet, use "Special Instructions"
3. Type the specific request
4. Submit to kitchen
5. Instructions appear on KDS

Splitting Large Orders

If guests want separate checks from the start:

1. Create first order for first group
2. Add their items and submit
3. Create second order for same table
4. Add their items and submit
5. Each order can be paid separately

Adding to Existing Order

1. Open the existing order
2. Browse menu and add new items
3. New items show with different status
4. Click Submit to Kitchen
5. Only new items go to kitchen

Troubleshooting

Item Not Available

If an item is grayed out:

• Check with kitchen on availability
• Item may be 86'd (sold out)
• Update in SSP Manager if needed

Can't Submit to Kitchen

Check:

• At least one item is in the order
• There are unsent items — everything already in the kitchen stays put
• You have submission permissions

Wrong Customization Applied

1. Find the item in order panel
2. Click to edit
3. Correct the customization
4. If already submitted, may need to void item

Order on Wrong Table

1. Go to Orders view
2. Select the order
3. Use Move to Table
4. Select correct table

Related Features

• Tables Management - Finding and selecting tables
• Orders Management - Managing order list
• Payments - Processing payment after service
• Discounts & Refunds - Adjusting pricing