How to add a service charge and tips to the table bill

What the service charge and the tip are

They're two amounts that can be added on top of the items on a dine-in bill. The service charge belongs to the restaurant: a percentage of the items, like the usual 10%, or a fixed amount per bill. The tip belongs to the waiter who served the table: a percentage, a fixed amount, or an amount the guest picks when paying.

Both apply only to orders placed at a table. Delivery and pickup orders get neither a service charge nor a tip. With both switched off, which is how every restaurant starts, the bill stays the plain sum of the items.

Why use them

• The bill comes out ready. The waiter doesn't work out 10% in their head: the bill shows Items, Service charge, Tip and Bill total, and the Close bill button already carries the final amount.
• Every place does it its own way. Percentage or fixed amount, tips for all waiters or only for those who want them, one rule or one per waiter, required or not.
• Waiters know what they earned. Reports show each waiter's tips separately from revenue.
• Revenue stays honest. The service charge counts toward the restaurant's revenue; the tip, which belongs to the waiter, is shown on its own.
• Nothing moves after payment. Closing the bill locks the service charge; marking it paid locks the tip too. Changing the rule in Settings later doesn't touch old bills.

How to turn on the service charge and tips, step by step

Eight steps: four in Settings and four in the day-to-day of the table.

1. Open the Service charge and tip box

   In the dashboard, open your account menu and tap Settings. Scroll down to the Service charge and tip box. The fields for each option only appear once you switch it on.

2. Turn on the service charge

   Turn on Add a service charge. Under How to charge, pick Percentage, which is worked out on the bill's items, or Fixed amount, which adds the same value to every bill. Fill in the Amount: 10 for 10%, or 5 for R$ 5,00. The percentage goes from 0 to 100.

3. Turn on tips and choose who receives them

   Turn on Accept tips for the waiter. Under Who receives tips, pick All waiters receive tips or Each waiter chooses whether to receive tips. Under Who sets the tip, pick I set the rule for everyone or Each waiter sets their own; in the second case, the rule you fill in here applies until the waiter picks a different one.

4. Pick the tip type and save

   Under Tip type, pick Percentage, Fixed amount or The customer chooses, and for the first two fill in the Tip amount. With Required tip off, the guest can ask to have the tip taken off the bill; with it on, the tip is always added, and when the guest picks the amount the bill can only be marked paid once that amount is entered. Tap Save at the bottom of the page.

5. The waiter sets up their tip in the app

   If each waiter chooses whether to receive tips, or each sets their own rule, a My tip card shows up on the home screen of the waiter app. There the waiter ticks I want to receive tips and, when the rule is theirs, picks the type, the amount and whether it's required, then taps Save. When each waiter chooses, anyone who hasn't ticked I want to receive tips serves tables with no tip on the bill.

6. Check the table bill

   On a table order, both in the waiter app and on the order opened from the dashboard, the bill shows the lines Items, Service charge, Tip and Bill total. A percentage tip shows the percentage next to its name, and a required tip is marked required.

7. Record what the guest chose

   If the tip is a percentage or fixed amount and isn't required, the Remove tip button takes it off the bill and Add tip puts it back. If the guest picks the amount, type what they said, for example 5,00, and tap Save. A required percentage or fixed tip has no button: it's always added.

   Tip: The guest doesn't choose the tip on the table page they open from the QR code (with PIX on the table bill turned on, it only shows the bill), so the tip is always recorded by the waiter, or by you in the dashboard.

8. Close the bill and mark it paid

   The Close bill button already shows the total with the service charge and tip. Once the bill is closed, the service charge is locked. When you tap Mark as paid, the tip is locked too and starts counting in your reports. If the tip is required and the guest picks the amount, qmen.us warns that the tip is missing and won't mark the bill paid until it's filled in.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Tab

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

Close bill

Closes the tab for payment. After that, the order becomes a read-only summary and takes no more items.

Waiter app

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

Table

Each spot in the dining room registered in the system, with its own QR code for opening orders.

Dashboard

The owner's screen, at qmen.us/restaurante/painel/, with active orders, occupied tables, today's revenue and a shortcut to Settings.

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