How do customers order and pay at the table?

What a customer sees with Order & Pay — scan the table QR, build an order from the live menu, pay by card and get an itemised receipt.

Where a venue has Order & Pay switched on (it comes with the Complete plan, or on its own as the standalone Order & Pay product), the per-table menu QR codes become ordering codes. Here's the customer's journey, start to finish.

Scanning the code

The customer scans their table's QR code and sees the venue's live menu with "Table X" in the menu's own bar at the top. The bar holds the search box — a live filter over dish names, descriptions and category names — and a row of section buttons, led by Specials and Set menus & deals where the venue has them. Every dish whose allergens the venue has ticked says what it contains in words ("Contains: gluten, milk"); when some dishes list none, one line at the top of the menu says "Some dishes don’t list their allergens — please ask the team." (never a line on each dish). Dietary marks are words too ("Vegetarian", "Gluten-free"). Where the venue has marked dishes vegetarian or vegan, Vegetarian and Vegan buttons beside the search show only those dishes (vegetarian includes the vegan ones; press it again to see every dish) — dietary marks only, never an allergen filter. Tapping a dish opens it in its own box — the full description, what it contains and its price; tapping one of Today's specials opens that dish the same way. A dish the venue can make another way reads "Gluten-free option" (or "Vegan option", and so on) — never plain "Gluten-free" — and asks "Standard or gluten-free?" when it's added. The same words show inside a set menu or deal's picker and the dish's own choosing box. Searching an allergen shows the dishes marked as not containing it ("Not marked as containing … — always check with the team") and lists dishes that don't list their allergens separately, never as allergen-free. A dish counts as containing it when a step the customer must pick offers only options marked with it (each choice's own allergens are added to the dish's when it's picked). Dishes in categories that are orderable right now can be added to an order: Add on a dish's card puts one in straight away, and a dish's own box asks "How many?" before Add to order. A dish with choices opens a step-by-step picker from the bottom of the screen — one question per screen ("Choose your size", then "Pick your sauces"), with progress dots, each option's extra cost shown inline (plus any short description, its own allergens in words — "Contains: tree nuts" — and its dietary marks, which the venue sets per option), a live running price, and the count stated plainly ("Pick 2 — 1 of 2 chosen"; a skippable step's button reads Skip until something is picked, and an optional "exactly 2" step honestly says "Pick 2 or none"). The last screen carries an optional note box ("no onions") and the priced Add to order button, which stays off until every step's count is met. Where the venue lets a step take the same item more than once — ten wings across six sauces — its options carry − and ＋ buttons instead of one-tap picks: the running count and any per-item limit are stated plainly, each extra one adds its cost again, and the basket, order view and receipt show repeats once with a count ("Hash brown ×3") rather than three identical lines. Every line in the basket can carry a short note — tap Add a note under a dish to add one. The ordering screens carry the standard allergen disclosure — dish information is provided by the venue, and customers with allergies are asked to tell the team directly — with the venue's extra allergy line, if it has chosen one, directly under it. Categories outside their serving times, and venues without Order & Pay on, simply show the normal browse-only menu — never an error. If a customer scans a table code while the venue's ordering is switched off or nothing is currently orderable, a friendly notice explains "Ordering at the table isn't available right now — please order with our team", with the browse menu still below it. When the team has used the Orders screen's temporary Pause new orders instead, the notice says "Ordering is paused — back shortly. You can order with our team in the meantime."

Without scanning a table code

Browsing the menu from the Menu tab is just that — browsing; the way into an order is the Order tab, which appears whenever the venue takes orders any way at all. Where the venue offers more than one way to order, tapping it slides a chooser up over the menu — Order to your table, Order for collection, Order for delivery — showing only what's on, with one line each (the collection wait, the delivery area and fee); with a single way on, the customer goes straight in. The same chooser opens from the Order card on the venue page and from the one-line Ready to order? pointer on the menu page. The choice is remembered for the visit (each way of ordering keeps its own basket). At a table, a small Change how you order link in the ordering bar (beside Change table) re-opens the chooser; on collection or delivery, the order starts on its own first screen — How would you like your order?, where the way, the delivery address and the time are chosen before any food — and the card at the top of the menu has a Change link back to it (see Collection and delivery).

Unless the venue has switched Flexible table entry off (it's on by default), Order to your table asks "Which table are you at?" and the customer simply types it ("12" and "Table 12" both work; typed tables are checked against the venue's real tables, and a wrong one gets a friendly "we can't find that table" message) — scanning the venue's one general Order & Pay QR code lands on the same question. Mid-order, a small Change table link next to the table badge moves the whole basket if the party switches tables. If the venue has switched Flexible table entry off, Order to your table (and a scanned general code) shows a polite "To order here, please scan the QR code on your table — or ask a member of the team" note instead, with the menu still browsable below it — never a typed table.

Set menus & deals

Where the venue runs set menus or meal deals, a highlighted Set menus & deals section sits above the menu's first category — or, where the venue has placed a deal inside one of its categories, the deal's card sits in that section instead (a deal can also sit in both places at once), announced as a small chip with the deal's name and price just under the category heading, with a small "Part of …" marker on each dish in the deal. Each card shows the deal's name, its price and its times ("Mon–Fri 12:00–17:00") — and a deal priced by how many you pick prints every price on its card ("3 for £14.99 · 5 for £19.99 · 7 for £25"), with the picker only finishing on a number that matches a price: the running total always shows the matched price, and in between it says how many more picks reach the next one. On a courses deal every course is optional — tap Skip this course for one you don't want, and the number of courses you keep sets the price. Tapping Choose your dishes opens a step-by-step picker, one slot per screen: the slot's dishes as a simple pick-list with their dietary and allergen badges, any supplement shown inline ("+£4.00"), a dish's normal choice steps opening right there, and a live running price at the bottom. A slot that asks for more than one dish ("any 3 for £15") shows "Pick 3 — 2 of 3 chosen" and lets the customer tap the same dish more than once. The finished deal lands in the order as one line with the chosen dishes listed beneath it — the quantity buttons step the whole deal. A deal outside its times can't be started — tapping it shows what's in it, with "Available Mon–Fri 12:00–17:00." (and when the customer is only browsing, tapping any deal shows what's in it). A set menu the venue offers only in pre-orders (a Sunday lunch for bookings, say) shows on the menu the same way but can't be ordered at the table: tapping it shows what's in it and "This set menu can’t be ordered here — choose it when you pre-order for a booking." Most deals also apply by themselves (it's the venue's choice, on by default — though a deal priced by how many you pick never does; you choose your number yourself): if the customer's basket contains dishes that fill a deal, the basket names the deal and shows the saving without the customer tapping anything — always in the customer's favour, folding the dearest qualifying dishes into the bundle price. A promo code the customer types can also come off a deal's bundle price where the venue allows it (most do — it's the venue's choice); offers that apply automatically, and codes limited to certain items, only ever discount individually priced dishes.

Checkout

A floating Your order bar shows how many items and the running total. Adding a dish raises no pop-up message: the bar's count and total change with a short bump (none where the phone is set to reduce motion), the dish's own button reads "Added ✓" for a moment, and a screen reader hears one short line such as "Added Steak & ale pie — 3 items in your basket". Tapping the bar opens the order on the page, as numbered steps — Your order then Pay (a collection or delivery order has a Your details step in between). First the basket, shown once: each dish with − and ＋ (down to nothing takes it out), its note, the Subtotal and a line saying what's still to come (the tip at a table; on a collection or delivery order, any delivery charge and order fee too), with Back to the menu and Add more dishes to go back to the menu where the customer left it. Continue moves on to Pay, still on the page — a Previous step link goes back with everything typed kept. Every step, forward or back, opens at its top, so on a phone nobody misses what starts a step — the code box, a reward, the allergy question, the tip. Back goes one step at a time — Pay, Your details, the basket, then the menu — and only from the menu to the venue's page; the phone's or browser's own back button does the same, and nothing asks "leave your order?" because the basket is kept on the device for three hours. On the Pay and Your details steps a summary card lists every dish, any offer or reward, the tip and the total (beside the steps on a computer, under them on a phone); on the basket a computer shows just the total beside it. The one button stays at the bottom of the screen on a phone.

While a basket is kept, the venue's Order button — the bar at the bottom of a phone, the bar at the top of a computer, and the Order button on the venue's own website — shows how many items are in it, and tapping it goes straight back into that basket the same way it was started: at the table (and the same table), for collection or for delivery. The number goes when the order is placed or the basket expires.

The Pay step

The Pay step has:

The allergy question

Every order asks "Does anyone in your party have a food allergy or intolerance?" with two buttons, No and Yes — neither is chosen for the customer, and one must be chosen before they can pay. No lets them pay as normal. What Yes does is the venue's choice: at most venues the customer sees "Please order with a member of our team, so the kitchen can check each dish for you." and the order can't be sent from their phone (collection and delivery customers are asked to call the venue); where the venue lets customers tell it with the order, they write a short note under Tell us about the allergy (up to 300 characters) that goes to the kitchen with the order and shows on their receipt. Any extra allergy line the venue has chosen from ResoFlow's list shows plainly under the question, and a Details link reveals the full allergen wording.

Paying

The customer pays by card — Apple Pay and Google Pay work too. The payment goes straight to the venue's own Stripe account (the price is exactly what the menu showed — customers are never charged a platform fee at the table (the small platform fee is the venue's, never added to your bill); on a collection or delivery order a venue may choose to add its small order fee to the total, and if so it is shown plainly before you pay, and prices are re-checked server-side so a stale page can never mis-charge). On success they see "Thanks — your order is on its way to the team!" and the order rings on the venue's Orders screen. The confirmation names their order number — the same short reference ("#K4T2") your team sees on the Orders screen and the pass screens, so a customer asking after their food and the member of staff answering are talking about the same order — and offers a Track your order link.

That link opens a live status page. It leads with a Paid chip and the order number, says "Thanks — your order is with the team" with the table and the time it was placed (on your venue's clock), and follows the order along: Order placed, Being prepared, Ready ("it's on its way to your table" — the moment your team marks the last part done) and Delivered. Order more takes them straight back to the same table's menu — nothing to retype or rescan — and there's a Check for updates button while the order is still open (the page also refreshes itself, and catches up as soon as the phone's connection comes back). If a check can't get through — a dropped signal, say — the last status stays on screen with a quiet "Reconnecting… this page will catch up by itself." line, which clears as soon as a check succeeds. If your venue stops taking orders online, the page says so instead — your venue's name, then "no longer takes orders online — this receipt stays here." — and offers no Order more; if it simply couldn't check your venue this time, it hides Order more quietly with the same Reconnecting line — never telling the customer you've stopped taking orders — and keeps checking until it can say for sure. Beside it on a computer (below it on a phone), a Your receipt card lists the dishes with their choices, any promotion or loyalty reward that came off, any gift-card cover and what the card was charged, and any refund. If the order is rejected it says so with your team's reason and the money that's coming back.

The receipt

An itemised receipt email follows — every dish with its chosen options and its allergens (the dish's plus those of the options picked), the tip, any promotion or gift-card cover, and the total, plus a VAT breakdown and the venue's VAT number where the venue is VAT-registered. At venues that also run a loyalty scheme, members who sign in at the checkout (a quick emailed code the first time — ticking Keep me signed in on this device for 30 days saves them the code after that) earn on the order automatically, and the receipt quietly says what they earned and how close the next reward is; ordering as a customer always works, it just doesn't earn. Customers who aren't members and didn't tick the join box see a one-line invitation to join the venue's loyalty scheme.

Order history

Customers who sign in to the venue's customer account page (on every plan, and with any paid Order & Pay, Gift cards, Loyalty or Tickets product) see a My orders section (alongside their bookings, where the venue takes bookings) — every past table order itemised, with what they paid and anything refunded. It matches by the email they ordered with, so it works even if they've never made a booking.

If something goes wrong

Customers can't cancel a placed order from their phone — it's already being prepared, so they should speak to the team at the venue. If the venue rejects an order, the customer is refunded in full automatically (card money back to their card, gift-card cover back onto their card, and a loyalty reward used on the order straight back onto their loyalty balance) and emailed the reason. If the venue refunds just some item(s) — a dish that ran out, say — the rest of the order carries on as normal, the refunded item shows struck through in the customer's order history, and the confirmation email names exactly what was refunded. And if a payment ever completes while the venue's ordering is switched off, it's refunded automatically — a paid customer is never left stranded.

Related: How do I set up and run Order & Pay? · How do I build my menu? · What does the customer see when paying a deposit or saving a card?