ClearRing for Restaurants & Cafes
ClearRing's Restaurant Mode transforms the standard retail POS into a full-featured food & beverage management system — complete with floor plan management, kitchen display integration, dine-in order tracking, and FBR-compliant invoicing for restaurants.
Whether you run a fast-food outlet in Saddar, a fine-dining restaurant in Gulberg, or a café in Islamabad's F-7, ClearRing's Restaurant Mode covers your workflow.
Enabling Restaurant Mode
Restaurant Mode is a feature toggle in ClearRing. To enable it:
- Go to Settings → Features
- Toggle on Restaurant Mode
- Configure your dining sections (e.g., Main Hall, Outdoor, Private Room)
- Add tables to each section
Once enabled, the sidebar gains three new items: Floor Plan, Kitchen Display, and Dining Orders.
Floor Plan — Table Management
The Floor Plan screen shows your restaurant as a visual grid of tables. Each table card displays:
- Table number (e.g., T1, T2)
- Seating capacity
- Current status:
- 🟢 Available — ready to seat guests
- 🔴 Occupied — has an active order, with elapsed time shown (e.g., "35 min")
- 🟡 Reserved — booked for a future time, showing the reservation time
Opening a Table
Tap any available table to open the Dine-In Order screen for that table. This is identical to the POS Terminal but scoped to the table. Add menu items, apply modifiers (e.g., "extra spicy", "no onion"), and save.
Table Timer
The elapsed time shown on occupied tables helps floor managers identify tables that have been sitting a long time. Tables occupied beyond your configured turn-time target (set in Restaurant Settings) are highlighted in a darker red.
Merging and Splitting Tables
- Merge: Combine two adjacent tables into one order (e.g., when a large group arrives)
- Split: Divide one table's order into separate bills for individual payment
Both operations are accessible from the table context menu (long press or right-click).
Taking a Dine-In Order
From the Floor Plan, tap an occupied table to open its order:
- Add courses — select items from the menu grid, exactly as in the POS Terminal
- Add modifiers — tap a menu item and select modifiers from the popup (e.g., size, spice level, extras)
- Send to Kitchen — click "Send to KDS" to push the ticket to the Kitchen Display System
- Add more items — you can return to the table and add more items at any time (new items are sent to the KDS immediately)
All items added after the initial send are clearly marked as "Added" on the KDS ticket so kitchen staff know what to prepare next.
Kitchen Display System (KDS)
Navigate to Kitchen Display to open the KDS view. This is typically displayed on a dedicated screen in the kitchen. The KDS shows:
Ticket States
| State | Colour | Meaning | |-------|--------|---------| | Pending | Red | Ticket received, not started | | In Progress | Amber | Kitchen staff are preparing | | Ready | Green | Food is ready to serve |
Working with Tickets
- Tap a ticket to mark it as "In Progress"
- Tap again to mark it as "Ready"
- Ready tickets flash to alert the floor staff
The KDS also shows the table number, ticket number, and all line items with quantities and modifiers. Kitchen staff never need to interpret handwriting or shout orders.
KDS Configuration
In Kitchen Settings you can:
- Set the alert time — tickets older than N minutes turn red with a pulsing border
- Assign stations — e.g., only show grill items on the grill station screen
- Configure sound alerts for new tickets
Dining Orders Overview
The Dining Orders screen (sidebar) shows all currently active table orders in a list view. This is useful for the floor manager or head waiter to see:
- All open orders across all tables
- Order value per table
- Time since last item was sent to kitchen
- Whether any table's order has unserved items (KDS status: Ready)
From this screen you can jump to any table's order, add items, apply discounts, or proceed to checkout.
Checkout and FBR Invoicing
When guests are ready to pay:
- Open the table's order from Floor Plan or Dining Orders
- Click Checkout
- Apply any discounts or promo codes
- Select payment method (Cash, Card, or split)
- Confirm
ClearRing immediately:
- Generates and submits the FBR invoice (required for all restaurant sales)
- Marks the table as Available
- Prints the receipt with FBR invoice number and QR code
The FBR receipt includes the restaurant's name, address, STRN, and each line item — fully compliant with FBR's restaurant invoicing requirements.
Reservations
Under Floor Plan → Reservations, you can log upcoming bookings:
- Guest name and phone number
- Number of covers
- Date and time
- Preferred table (optional)
On the day of the reservation, the table is automatically marked Reserved one hour before the booking time, preventing it from being seated by other guests.
Reporting for Restaurants
The Reports module includes restaurant-specific metrics:
- Covers served per day/week/month
- Average order value per cover
- Table turnover rate — how many seatings per table per day
- KDS efficiency — average time from ticket submission to "Ready"
- Best-selling dishes — product sales report filtered to the food menu
Tips for Pakistani Restaurants
- Set up separate dining sections for indoor and outdoor seating — Karachi weather means outdoor capacity changes seasonally
- Use the KDS even in small kitchens — a PKR 8,000 Android tablet running ClearRing KDS eliminates miscommunication
- Enable FBR invoicing from day one — FBR audits of restaurants have intensified; compliance builds customer trust
- Use modifiers for Pakistani menu complexity — a single "Biryani" item can have modifiers: Chicken/Mutton, Full/Half, Raita Yes/No
- Train waitstaff to send to KDS before walking back — the table timer starts from the order, not from when you reach the kitchen