How to cancel an item or the whole order

The difference between removing and cancelling

Cancelling an item and cancelling the order are two different actions in the waiter app. Removing takes one line off the tab: the remove button appears on each item on the review screen and deletes that line right away, along with its note. Cancel order scraps the whole tab — it moves to the Cancelled status, leaves your list of active orders and disappears from the kitchen displays.

The line between the two is the Send to kitchen button. Before it, the order is a Draft and every line is still yours: you can change quantities, write notes and remove lines. After it, the prep station has already seen the item, so the app locks the line and says “This item was already sent to the kitchen.” if you try to change it. What's left then is cancelling the whole order.

Why cancel in the app, not just by word of mouth

• The total adjusts by itself. Removed lines and cancelled orders don't count toward the tab's total. The amount at the bottom drops instantly, and nobody has to redo the math on paper in front of the guest.
• The kitchen stops cooking right away. The display is live: the moment you cancel, the card leaves the queue at every prep station that had items from that order. It doesn't depend on anyone reloading the screen.
• The guest sees it through the table QR code. Anyone following the order on their phone now sees “Order cancelled”, with a link to place a new order — instead of waiting for something that isn't coming.
• Cancelled orders don't count as revenue. Reports count only orders that were sent and not cancelled. The table's history has a Cancelled filter, so you can check what was dropped without skewing the day's numbers.
• Nothing cancels with a single tap. Every cancel action asks for confirmation first — “Cancel this order?”, “Discard this draft?” — because there's no undo afterwards.

How to cancel an item or the order, step by step

Six steps that cover both cases: the item you can still remove and the order that already went to the prep station.

1. Open the right tab

   In the waiter app, tap the table's tab on the home screen. You land on the order screen: the menu on top and, at the bottom, the bar showing how many items there are and what the total is. That bar opens both review screens — that's where an item is removed, not directly on the menu.

2. Remove an item that hasn't been sent

   Tap Review order if the order is a Draft, or Review new items if it was already sent and you just added things. The sheet opens with one line per item, custom items included. On the right of each line there's the Remove button and a counter with plus and minus: tapping remove, or lowering the quantity from 1 to 0, deletes the line. The total updates instantly.

3. Discard the whole Draft

   While the order is a Draft, the bottom bar shows Discard draft. It asks “Discard this draft?” and, once you confirm, the order becomes Cancelled and leaves your list. Keep in mind the Draft already appears in the kitchen as a preview, with the notice “Waiting for the waiter to send…” and no READY button — when you discard it, that card leaves the display right away.

4. Remove only the new items from an order already sent

   Added items to a tab that was already sent and changed your mind before sending them? The review sheet has Discard new items, which asks “Discard the new items that haven't been sent yet?”. It deletes only the lines that haven't gone to the prep station. What's already Preparing stays as it is, and the bill stays open.

5. Cancel the whole order

   With the order already sent, open the actions block at the bottom and scroll to Cancel order, the last button, in red, after Close bill and Free table. Confirm “Cancel this order?”. The order moves to Cancelled, the card leaves the display of every prep station that had its items, and you go back to the list of tables.

   Tip: If your kitchen prints tickets, the ticket for that order printed before the cancellation and can't be taken back. Give the prep station a heads-up so nobody cooks what was cancelled.

6. Check what changed

   A cancelled item leaves the kitchen display and stops counting toward the total. The tab leaves your list of active orders, and anyone following through the table QR code now sees “Order cancelled”, with a link to place a new order. The order is still kept in the table's history, marked Cancelled, and left out of the day's revenue.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Tab

The open bill of a table, where items add up until it's closed.

Draft

An order's first status, while the waiter is still putting the list together and nothing has gone to the kitchen yet.

Kitchen

The display where orders show up and move from Preparing to READY.

Preparing

The stage the guest sees on the table page while the kitchen works on the order.

Custom item

An item the waiter types in on the spot, picking its prep station by hand.

Table QR code

The code printed on the table that guests scan with their phone, no sign-in needed.

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