The table number rides the ticket
Guests move tables while their food is being made, which is why a name on a receipt is not a location. A number taken at the register, or a marker the guest carries, is.
Industries · Food and beverage
Payments for cafes, where the counter and the table are the same check
Guests order standing up and eat sitting down, and somewhere between those two things the food has to find them. That handoff is the entire operational problem of a cafe, and it is mostly a data problem.
The day, end to end
What an all-day room asks of the system
Six places a cafe's software either helps the runner or leaves them guessing.
One menu with a cutover schedule
Items that run all day stay, items that stop are hidden, and the kitchen reads one menu. Two menus is how one sandwich ends up existing twice with different modifiers.
Reopened checks that show what was paid
Double charges almost never come from the terminal. They come from a check that looked unpaid to someone in a hurry.
Takeaway as a modifier, not a second item
Duplicating the whole menu into a takeaway version doubles the maintenance and halves the accuracy of both halves.
Scheduled orders held out of the live queue
An eleven o'clock tray sitting on the screen since half past eight is noise, and noise on a kitchen screen is how live tickets get missed.
The case, counted before it is baked
Quiche, cake and pastry sell-through is the closest thing a cafe has to a forecast. It only becomes one if the case is counted at both ends of the day.
Buying guide
Before you sign anything for a cafe
Seven questions worth asking any provider, us included.
Can a table number be captured at the register in one tap?
If it takes three, it will not be captured on a busy morning.
Is menu scheduling per item or per menu?
Per item is the one that keeps a single source of truth.
What does a reopened paid check look like?
Ask to see it. This is where double charges are made.
Can packaging be a modifier with its own reporting?
You want dine-in and takeaway split without splitting the menu.
How do scheduled orders enter the kitchen queue?
Ask about lead times and whether a manager can pull one forward.
Does the system support counting a display case?
Even a simple open and close count is worth more than an estimate.
What is the export when you leave?
Menu, modifiers and customer records. Ask for the format up front.
Questions
Cafe questions we get asked most
How does a guest who paid at the counter get found at a table?
By a table number taken at the register and carried on the ticket, or a numbered marker the guest takes with them. Both work. What does not work is a runner reading a name off a receipt and calling it across a full room, and the reason it does not is that guests move tables while their food is being made.
Can one menu cut over from breakfast to lunch without two menus?
Yes, with a schedule on the item rather than a second menu. Items that run all day stay visible, items that stop are hidden at a set time, and the kitchen sees one menu the whole way through. Two separate menus is how a cafe ends up with two versions of the same sandwich, one of which is missing a modifier.
How do you keep a guest from being charged twice when a check is reopened?
With a permission on reopening and a visible payment history on the check. A reopened check that already carries a captured payment should show it plainly, and the second charge should require an explicit action. The double charge almost never comes from the terminal; it comes from a check that looked unpaid to someone in a hurry.
Do takeaway and dine-in need separate items for packaging?
Not separate items, a modifier on the same item. The kitchen needs to know which container it is going into, the reporting needs the two split, and the menu should stay one list. Duplicating every item into a takeaway version doubles the menu maintenance and halves the accuracy of both halves.
How are office tray orders handled next to the counter?
As scheduled orders with a ready time and a lead time, kept out of the live queue until they are due. A tray for eleven o'clock that appears on the kitchen screen at half past eight is noise, and noise on a kitchen screen is how the live tickets get missed.
Free tools
Two tools for a room that changes shape at noon
Both are open to anybody, no account and no card.
Check what fits your business
The questionnaire asks a cafe the boarding questions — counter service in the morning and table service after it, tips handled the same way in both, and one day-end total covering the switch. The point is to know what you need before somebody sells you a configuration.
Statement audit
The statement audit reads a statement you already have and shows how the morning's small tickets and the afternoon's larger ones are priced against each other. A cafe with two service modes usually finds one of them subsidising the other.
Talk to someone who has run a room
Tell us about your cafe
Four fields. A person reads it, looks at what you are running now, and comes back with what they would actually change.
The promise
We will implement whatever is right for you — including keeping what you have. If your runners already find every table and the menus behave, we will tell you the honest thing, which is that you do not need us for this.
Payco · Industries · Food and beverage · Cafe
Last updated: 2026-08-17