Table Ordering System for Restaurants, Cafés and Pubs

A table ordering system lets guests order from their seat. They scan a QR code on the table, choose from your menu on their phone, and send the order straight to the bar or kitchen. Staff stop walking back and forth to take orders and spend that time serving and selling. Menuthere's table ordering needs no app for guests, takes 0% commission and is free to start.

This page is about running service with table ordering: your floor team, kitchen, rota and venue type. For the technology and setup, see our QR code ordering system guide.

Try it on a few tables first.

Create your free ordering page

What changes in your service

Here's a normal table visit, before and after table ordering.

Your team doesn't disappear. Staff still greet guests, run food, check in, sell the specials and handle the tricky questions. They just don't spend their shift as walking order pads.

How an order moves from table to pass

1. A guest at Table 12 orders two burgers and a pint.
2. The order lands on the Menuthere dashboard and the partner app. It rings until someone accepts it, so nothing sits unseen during a rush.
3. On acceptance, the kitchen ticket prints. Switch on auto-print to skip a tap. Bills print separately.
4. The kitchen cooks. The runner sees "Table 12" on the ticket and takes it out.
5. Later, Table 12 orders desserts. The new items join the open order, the order jumps to the top of live orders, and the kitchen ticket shows those lines as ADDED.

See more detail on how a QR table order reaches your kitchen.

Choose your service model

Table ordering isn't all-or-nothing. Pick the model that fits your venue.

Many venues mix models: hybrid inside, full self-order in the garden.

Staffing: where the time goes

Order-taking is lots of short trips. Here is a simple way to estimate them for your own venue. The figures below are illustrative, so use your own.

• A Saturday with 120 covers in 40 tables.
• Each table orders 3 times: first order, drinks, desserts.
• Each trip to take an order takes about 2 minutes, counting walking, waiting and keying it in.

40 tables × 3 orders × 2 minutes = 240 minutes. That's four hours of floor time a night on taking orders. Table ordering won't remove all of it, because some guests still want a person. But it can free up a big part of it for running food, turning tables and looking after guests.

What to do with the time:

• Plan a leaner middle shift, or move a person to the pass during the rush. Our free staff rota maker helps.
• Train staff to check in after the food lands: "Everything OK? Another round?" That sells more than standing at the till.
• Keep one named person on "order acceptance" during peaks, so the app never rings for long.

Second rounds and one bill

Repeat orders are where table ordering pays off, because people order more when it's easy.

• Same table, open order: new items join the existing order and its bill. Staff see one order per table, not ten.
• Kitchen clarity: added items print as "ADDED", so the kitchen doesn't remake the mains.
• Rounds paid online stay as separate orders. That keeps payments simple when each person pays their own way.

Paying and splitting bills is covered in detail on our order and pay at the table page.

Table ordering for restaurants

• Big menus: split them into clear categories with photos, so guests find mains quickly.
• Set menus and specials: add today's specials in the morning and remove them when they run out.
• Large groups: each guest can order at their own pace, and the kitchen still sees one table.
• Your margins: price each dish on purpose. The GP calculator helps you check gross profit before you publish a price.

Table ordering for cafés

• Second coffee without the queue: seated guests reorder from the table, and the counter queue stays short.
• Fast-changing boards: edit the cake of the day from your phone.
• Counter service still works: keep a view-only menu code on the counter and take payment at the till. See Menuthere for cafés.

Pub ordering system for independent pubs

UK guests already know "order to table" from the big pub chains' apps. With Menuthere, an independent pub gets the same convenience, under its own name, without asking guests to download anything.

Beer gardens

On a sunny Saturday, the garden is where the bar queue starts. Put a waterproof code on every bench, such as "Garden 1–20", and the queue drops. Print the codes large, at 5 cm or more, because sun glare makes small codes hard to read.

Rounds and tabs

Each new round from the same table joins the open order. Guests can pay at the end at the bar, and staff mark the order paid (cash or card) in the dashboard. Or they pay online on Lite and above.

Food and drink from one menu

Put pints, wines, soft drinks and the full food menu on one QR menu. Food tickets print in the kitchen and drinks tickets print at the bar, on separate printers. Orders also ring on the bar phone.

Happy hour and quiz nights

Schedule items so they only show on certain days and times, such as a Thursday quiz-night sharing board. That works on every plan. On Lite and above, offers can run in a set time window and switch on and off by themselves.

Age checks for alcohol

Table ordering doesn't change your licence duties. Your age verification policy still applies, so staff check ID when they take drinks to the table, just as they would at the bar.

Sunday roasts

Mark a roast sold out the moment the beef runs out. Guests see it before they order, not after.

Taking Sunday lunch bookings? Menuthere offers table booking from US$17 a month on Lite, with a 7-day free trial (a card is needed to start it, but nothing is charged until it ends). See our restaurant booking system guide.

For pub-specific features, also see Menuthere for bars.

Rolling out table ordering: a two-week plan

Week 1: pilot

• Set up the menu and check every price and option.
• Put codes on one area only, such as the garden or the back room.
• Brief staff for 10 minutes: how to accept orders, where tickets print, what "ADDED" means.
• Keep paper menus available. Some guests will always want them.
• Ask five tables a day what they thought.

Week 2: the whole venue

• Fix anything the pilot showed up: menu wording, code placement, who accepts orders.
• Put codes on all tables.
• Choose your service model per area (see the table above).
• Change your rota for peak times.
• Add "Scan to order" to your table tents and a sign on the door.

Guests who don't want to scan

Some guests don't have a phone, some have a flat battery, and some just prefer a chat. Keep a few printed menus, and let staff take their order. Staff add it on the Menuthere dashboard, so it still reaches the same order list and kitchen ticket.

Do I need tablets or an iPad table ordering system?

No. Guests use their own phones, so there are no tablets to buy, charge, clean or replace. Staff need one phone or tablet to accept orders. Many venues already have one. If you're weighing up screens on tables or kiosks, compare them in our QR code ordering system guide.

What it costs

• Free plan: US$0, with table ordering up to 50 orders a month and 0% commission.
• Lite: US$17 a month. Unlimited orders, card payments through your own Stripe, your own domain.
• Pro: US$39 a month. Adds the WhatsApp Business API, loyalty and more.

Plans are billed in US dollars; your bank converts it. Lite and Pro have a 7-day free trial: a card is needed to start it, and nothing is charged until it ends. There's 0% commission on every plan. Card fees go to Stripe, not to us. See the pricing page for every feature.

or to plan your rollout with us.

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