How at-table ordering works

What this covers

What happens when a guest scans the code on their table and orders from their phone. Needs the Online Ordering feature.

The flow, from the guest's side

1. They scan the table's QR code — not the general menu code. See QR codes for your menu and tables.
2. The menu opens, and a session starts for that table.
3. They add items to a basket, choosing any options as they go.
4. They place the order. It reaches your kitchen screen immediately.
5. They can watch its progress, and order again later in the meal.

One basket for the whole table

This is the part worth understanding, because it is what makes phone ordering workable rather than chaotic. Everyone at the table shares one basket. Four people can add to it from four phones and each sees the others' items appear as they are added.

You therefore get one order for the table, not four separate ones arriving thirty seconds apart — which is what your kitchen wants and what makes the bill sensible.

Prices are fixed when the order is placed

What the guest was charged is recorded on the order itself. Change a price at nine o'clock and orders placed at eight keep the price they were placed at. Your menu stays editable without rewriting history.

They can add to an order — up to a point

A guest can amend an order they have just placed, until your kitchen picks it up. Once you move it along, it is locked and anything else becomes a new order. That is deliberate: a kitchen that has started cooking should not have the ticket change underneath it.

What you need before switching it on

• A published menu — see Building your menu.
• A printed QR code on every table.
• A screen in the kitchen or at the pass showing the Orders board.
• An agreement with your team about who watches it.

That last one matters most. Orders arriving on a screen nobody is looking at is worse than no ordering at all.

What it does not do

• It does not take payment. Guests order; they pay you as they always have.
• It does not replace your staff. Most restaurants find it takes the second round of drinks off the floor, not the first order.
• It is not a till. Tabledoo records what was ordered, not what was paid.

Next

1. Turning ordering on.
2. Table sessions — how a table's ordering session starts and ends.
3. The Orders board — where your kitchen works.