Service Charges

A charge is an amount added to an order on top of its items, such as a 10% service charge or a packaging fee. You set up each charge once, and orders carry it automatically or when your staff add it.

Open Charges under Configuration in the sidebar.

Add a Charge

1. Select Add Charge.
2. Enter a Name. Guests see it on their order and bill, for example Service charge.
3. Add a Description if you want. Only your team sees it.
4. Pick a Type:
   • Percentage: a share of the items, up to 100%. Enter a number such as 10 or 12.5.
   • Flat amount: the same amount on every order, such as 20.
5. For a percentage, pick what it is Calculated on. See the next section.
6. Pick a Tax class if the charge is taxed, or leave No tax.
7. Turn on Apply to guest orders, Apply to staff orders, or both. See Which Orders Get a Charge.
8. Keep Active on, set a Sort order if you have more than one charge, and select Save.

A restaurant can have up to 20 charges. Each name can be used once.

Before Tax or After Tax

A percentage charge is taken from the items after any discounts. Calculate on decides whether tax on the items is part of that amount:

• Items before tax: the percentage of the item prices without their tax. Use this when tax is added on top of your menu prices.
• Items after tax: the percentage of what the guest owes for the items, tax included. Use this when your menu prices already include tax.

A new charge starts on Items after tax when your default tax class is Included in price, and on Items before tax otherwise. Change it if your charge works the other way.

Example with menu prices that include 20% VAT: a guest orders one dish at 24.00, and the charge is 12.5% of items after tax. The charge is 3.00, and the guest pays 27.00.

Tax on a Charge

When a charge has a tax class, it is taxed with that class's rates. If the class is Included in price, the tax sits inside the charge amount. Otherwise the tax is added on top of it. See Tax Classes.

The bill shows one tax row per rate. Tax on items and tax on charges at the same rate are added together in that row.

Which Orders Get a Charge

• Apply to guest orders: added to every order placed from the QR menu. Guests see the charge before they order and cannot remove it.
• Apply to staff orders: ticked when staff place an order from a live session. Staff can untick it for that order.
• Both off: the charge is only added when staff tick it on an order.

Staff can also add or remove charges on an order from the order page, until the order is completed, cancelled, or on an invoice. See Orders.

Change or Stop a Charge

Select the three-dot menu at the end of a row, then Edit. Changes apply to new orders only. Orders already placed keep the charge they were priced with, so past bills never change.

To stop offering a charge, edit it and turn off Active. Orders that already carry it keep it. Select Delete to remove a charge from the list for good. Orders and invoices keep their copy of it either way.

On Bills and Reports

• Orders and invoices list each charge between Subtotal and Tax. An invoice for several orders adds up the charge from each order.
• The Sales report shows charges in their own Charges column. Gross sales stays the item sales alone, and Net sales includes the charges. See Reports.
• The Taxes report includes tax collected on charges in each rate's row.