How to set up your restaurant in Afritelligence: tables, menu and staff

This tutorial takes you from a new Afritelligence business to your first order. It assumes you chose Restaurant, hotel, bar and club as your business type and are on the Business package or above.

1. Add your menu

Go to Inventory and add your dishes and drinks as products with a selling price. Group them in categories such as Mains, Fast food, Soft drinks and Beers and spirits. For drinks and items you want to count, switch on stock and enter the opening count.

2. Send each category to the kitchen or the bar

Open Tables and menu setup. Under "Where each menu category is made", choose Kitchen or Bar for each category. Anything not set goes to the kitchen. Put your drinks on the bar.

3. Add your tables

In the same page, add tables one at a time with their seats, or use Add many to create Table 1 to Table N. Tables belong to a branch.

4. Add your staff

Under Staff, add a login for each person and choose the role: Cashier, Waiter, Kitchen or Bar. Give each their own password.

5. Take the first order

As a waiter, open Tables and tabs, tap a free table, tap the items, add a note if needed and press Send to kitchen / bar.

6. Prepare it

On the Orders screen, the kitchen taps Start, then Ready. The waiter who sent it sees the alert and taps Served.

7. Print the bill and take payment

The waiter taps Print bill. The cashier opens Sales, Bills, finds the bill, taps Paid, chooses how the guest paid and confirms. The receipt is ready.

8. Close the night

The cashier opens Till shift and closes it with the cash counted.

Before you start

Have these ready: your menu with prices, the list of tables, the names of your staff and the opening counts of the drinks you want to track. If you have a branch, decide which branch the tables belong to. Setup is easier when the list is written down first, and it avoids going back and forth between pages.

Tips for the first week

• Ask one waiter to try the full flow, from opening a table to Served.
• Watch the orders screen during the first lunch and fix any category sent to the wrong place.
• Check the till shift at closing and compare the cash counted with what the system expected.
• Adjust prices and names as you learn what guests ask for.

An example: opening day in Nakuru

The owner of a restaurant in Nakuru spends the afternoon before opening on setup. She adds 30 dishes and drinks, groups them in Mains, Soft drinks and Beers and spirits, and sets the drinks to Bar. She uses Add many to create Table 1 to Table 10. She adds two waiters, a cook, a barman and a cashier, each with their own password. On opening day the first guest orders, the kitchen sees the order, and at the end of the night the cashier closes the till shift.

Setup checklist

• Menu items have prices, and stock where you want to count.
• Every category is set to Kitchen or Bar.
• Tables are added for the right branch.
• Each person has the right role and a password.
• A test order has been sent and served.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Leaving drinks on the kitchen. Anything not set goes to the kitchen.
• Giving the cashier role to a waiter. Waiters should not take payment.
• Not testing first. Send a test order before the guests arrive.
• Forgetting the opening float. Open the till shift with it.

Questions

Which package do I need? The Business package or above. See the prices.

Can I add tables later? Yes, in Tables and menu setup.

Do I have to add many tables one by one? No, use Add many.

Can I change a category later? Yes, you can change where each category is made at any time.

See pricing or read about the restaurant management system in Kenya.