Order and Pay at Table: Your Own App, Like the Big Chains

Order and pay at table means guests scan a QR code, order from your menu on their phone and pay for it there, without waiting for the bill or the card machine. Menuthere gives independent restaurants, pubs and cafés their own order and pay app, like the big chains have. Guests don't download anything, the money goes into your own Stripe account, and Menuthere takes 0% commission.

This page is about paying: how the money moves, what it costs per bill, and how rounds and bills work. For the setup, see QR code ordering system. For how service changes, see table ordering system.

Card payments start on Lite: (a card is needed to start; nothing is charged until it ends).

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How order and pay at the table works

1. Scan. The guest scans the QR code on their table. Your menu opens in the phone's browser.
2. Order. They pick dishes, sizes and extras. The order carries the table number.
3. Pay. They pay by card on the phone through your Stripe checkout. Apple Pay and Google Pay are available if you switch them on in your own Stripe account.
4. Confirm. The order rings on your dashboard and partner app. Staff accept it and the kitchen ticket prints.
5. Track. The guest sees a live order-status page.
6. Leave. Nobody waits for the bill at the end. They've already paid.

Your own order and pay app, like the chains

UK guests already order and pay at the table in big chains through branded apps, and many search for those "order to table" and "order and pay" apps by name. Your guests know how this works.

The difference is that chain apps usually need a download and an account. An independent pub can't ask a guest to install an app for one visit. Menuthere's order and pay runs as a web app: it looks and works like an app, but opens straight from the QR code.

Want a fully branded app in the App Store and Google Play as well? That's Menuthere's Branded App plan, at US$99 a month: your own Android and iOS app under your name and icon, with everything in Pro, unlimited push notifications, and Apple's and Google's store fees included. Nothing is paid at signup. Press Get your app, add 10 dishes with photos and book a call. You pay the first month before the build starts. Menuthere builds and publishes your app and tells you when it's live, and your subscription only starts counting from that day. There's no free trial on this plan. Questions? Talk to us.

Where the money goes

Menuthere never holds your takings. Card payments run through your own Stripe account.

1. You connect Stripe in the Menuthere dashboard: copy your secret key from Stripe, paste it in, choose GBP and switch online payment on.
2. A guest pays at the table. The payment goes to your Stripe balance.
3. Stripe pays out to your UK bank account on its normal schedule.
4. Stripe takes its processing fee. Menuthere takes nothing per order.

Refunds: you refund a payment from your Stripe dashboard. Cancelling an order in Menuthere doesn't send the money back by itself.

On the Free plan, online card payments aren't included. Guests pay at the table or at the counter with your card machine, by cash, or by your own payment link.

What it costs per bill

Stripe's standard UK rates (checked 11 Oct 2026):

• Standard UK cards: 1.5% + 20p
• Premium UK cards: 2.8% + 20p

Here's what that means per table.

Worked month: 600 paid table orders at an average of £30 comes to £18,000 through the app. At standard card rates, Stripe's fees are 600 × 65p = £390. Menuthere's commission is £0. Add your plan fee: Lite is US$17 a month (billed in US dollars; your bank converts it).

Rounds, bills and splitting: how it really works

This is where order and pay apps differ most. Here's exactly what Menuthere does.

Bill joining (pay once at the end). If a table orders again while its order is still open, the new items join that order and its bill. The kitchen ticket marks the new lines "ADDED". At the end, the table settles one bill, at the till or at the table with your card machine. On Lite and above, you can also let guests pay the whole bill online: once staff mark the order Completed, a Pay now button shows on the guest's phone for one hour. After that, take payment at the till and mark it paid.

Pay as you go (each round paid online). When guests pay online for each round, each paid round stays as its own order. That's handy when friends each want to pay for their own drinks: each person scans, orders and pays for their own round.

Splitting one shared bill. Menuthere doesn't split a joined bill in the app. If a group has one joined bill and wants to split it evenly, do it at the till as you do now.

Pay now or pay later: your choice

Not every venue wants payment up front.

• Pay up front suits beer gardens, cafés and busy casual sites. There are no walkouts and no queue for the bill.
• Pay at the end suits sit-down restaurants and pubs that want one bill per table and a chat at the till.

You choose which options to offer: card online, pay at the table, or pay at the counter. On Lite and above you can offer online and pay-later at the same time. The choice is set for all dine-in orders, not table by table.

Tips and service charges

Since 1 October 2024, UK law says employers must pass on all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without deductions (Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023). If you take tips or service charges through an app, your tipping policy covers them too.

• A discretionary service charge must be optional, and guests should see it before they pay.
• Menuthere doesn't add tips or service charges at checkout. If you take them, handle them at the till under your tipping policy.

Mobile order and pay beyond the table

The same menu and checkout also work for:

• Counter collection: guests order and pay on their phone, then collect from the counter. That's ideal for cafés and food halls.
• Takeaway and delivery from your own ordering website, at 0% commission.

Why independents choose Menuthere for order and pay

• 0% commission on every order, on every plan.
• Your own Stripe: payouts go straight to you.
• No app download for guests, and no tablets for you.
• Rounds join one order, so the kitchen and the bill stay tidy.
• Free to start. Card payments come with Lite, which has a 7-day free trial. You add a card to start, and nothing is charged until the trial ends.

Comparing providers? See our fair comparisons with sunday and me&u. And read why a nine-minute wait for the bill costs more than you think.

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