How to take orders on your phone with the waiter app

What the waiter app and a Draft are

Taking orders on your phone, here, means using the waiter app — the ordering page each waiter opens from the restaurant's own link, right in the browser. There's no app to download from any store: it's the same address every time, signed in with the staff password or the Google account the owner invited, and it opens straight onto the dining room view, with the tables and the active orders.

While you build the list, the order is a Draft: nothing is official yet, so you can add, remove and swap items as much as you like. The Send to kitchen button is what makes it a real order — from then on, each item joins the queue on the display of the kitchen responsible for it, and the lines already sent are locked. The table, though, stays open: new items go in separately and get the same review before they go out.

Why an order starts as a Draft

• The order starts out right. Since every line comes from the menu you set up, the name and price are already filled in. No doctor's handwriting for the kitchen to decipher and no guessed price when it's time to close the bill.
• Mistakes are fine until you send. While it's a Draft, you add, remove and swap items without worry, and the counter at the bottom shows the total with every tap. Only what you send really joins the queue.
• Each prep station gets its own items. Every item already carries the kitchen responsible for it, so the bar and the grill never fight over the same slip: each station's display shows only its share, with the notes highlighted.
• Nothing to install on your staff's phones. It's the usual browser, on a restaurant link. A new waiter starts taking orders the same day, without downloading anything.

How to take orders on your phone in 8 steps

Eight steps, from tapping the table to the order showing up on the kitchen display.

1. Pick the table and open the order

   The first screen of the waiter app is the dining room: a greeting with your shift, the New order block and the grid of tables under Choose a table. Tap a table and the bottom button, which said Choose a table, turns into Open Table 4. A table that already has an active order looks faded, and the button changes to New order · Table 4.

   Tip: Two groups at the same table? Fill in the Order name — it's optional, takes up to 60 characters and keeps the tabs apart: John, counter, birthday.

2. Find the item on the menu

   With the table open, the whole menu appears grouped by category, each line with its price. At the top there's the Search items… field and a row of chips: All plus one for each category. Search ignores accents and capitals and, as you type, it scans the entire menu, regardless of which chip is selected. If nothing matches, you'll see No items found.

3. Tap the item to add it to the list

   One tap on the item's line adds 1 and opens the order review, so you can adjust it right away. From then on that menu line gets a counter: + adds one more, − takes one off. The bar at the bottom keeps up in Review order, with the item count on the left and the total just below, like R$ 42,00.

4. Choose size, flavor and add-ons

   An item with flavors or more than one size doesn't go in with a single tap: it opens the Customize item screen, with Size, Flavor (or Flavors, up to the restaurant's limit) and the option groups, each extra showing how much it adds. The Price at the bottom updates with every tap; when it's right, tap Add to order. A variable-price item works differently: the app asks for the quantity in the restaurant's unit — kg, for example — and each weighing becomes its own line.

5. Enter a custom item when it's not on the menu

   At the end of the menu list there's Add custom item. It opens the review with two fields: the name, the way the guest asked for it, and the price in R$. It's for anything not on the menu — the special of the day, something agreed on the spot. The line goes in marked as a custom item and is sent to the restaurant's first active kitchen.

6. Check the list and write the notes

   Tap Review order and Check order opens: the table and the item count at the top, each line with its price, the quantity counter and the Remove button. Under each item there's a notes field, with the hint "no onions, how the meat is cooked" — whatever you write there shows up highlighted on the kitchen display. At the bottom of the screen is the Order total.

7. Send it to the kitchen

   Send to kitchen wraps up the order: the status goes from Draft to Ordered, and each line lands on the display of the kitchen responsible for it, the one set as the item's default kitchen on the menu. The Order sent! screen appears with the order number and the item count; Back takes you back to the dining room.

8. Add more items to the same table later

   A table whose order was sent still takes items: tap the menu again and the new ones go in separately, without touching what was already sent. The bottom bar now shows Review new items, the review is called New items and adds up only the New items total. The same Send to kitchen sends the extra items; if the guest changes their mind, Discard new items. To see everything together, what was sent and what's still to send, use View order.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Waiter app

The ordering page each waiter opens through the restaurant's own link, right in the phone's browser.

Draft

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

Custom item

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

Default kitchen

The field on a menu item that says which prep station makes that item.

Tab

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

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