How to Set Up & Run Your Restaurant with InventoryPlus POS
The complete, easy-to-follow guide for restaurant owners, managers, waiters, cashiers, and kitchen teams. Learn how to pair waiter tablets in 10 seconds, design your floor plan, route KOTs to KDS or section printers, enable Guest QR self-service, manage takeaway tokens, and close shifts with confidence.
Running a busy restaurant, cafe, or multi-section dining hall requires fast coordination between your floor captains, kitchen chefs, and billing counter. Hand-written KOT slips get lost, waitstaff waste time walking back to the POS terminal, and guests wait too long for water or the bill.
With the InventoryPlus Restaurant & Waiter POS Plugin, your entire hospitality workflow runs smoothly over your store Wi-Fi. Waiters take orders tableside on any tablet or smartphone, kitchen stations receive instant color-coded tickets on a Kitchen Display System (KDS) or section printers, guests can self-order via table QR codes, and cashiers settle bills in one click on InventoryPlus Desktop.
- 10-Second Wireless Pairing: Connect any Android tablet, iPad, phone, or kitchen monitor by scanning a QR code — no app store downloads required.
- Role-Based Staff Screens: Waiters see tables & ordering, chefs see KDS stations, and cashiers see billing & takeaway boards.
- Visual Floor Plan & My Tables: Waiters open directly to their assigned section (My Tables) and can switch between Grid and interactive Floor Plan views.
- Smart Kitchen Routing & “86” Alerts: Route dishes to KDS stations or section printers, and mark sold-out items as 86 in real time across every tablet.
- Guest QR Self-Service & Service Bells: Diners scan a table QR card to order extra items or ring digital bells for Water, Waiter, Bill, or Clean Table.
- 1-Click Billing & Shift X/Z Reports: Settle open orders directly in InventoryPlus Desktop, track table turn times, and reconcile daily cash drawers effortlessly.
1. Create Your Restaurant Company & Pair Devices in 10 Seconds
Once your Restaurant company is open, connecting your tablets, phones, and kitchen screens to your main InventoryPlus computer takes just three simple steps:
How to Connect Waiter Tablets & Kitchen Displays
- Open the Pairing QR Window: Right-click the Restaurant icon in your Windows Taskbar (near the clock) and choose Connect Waiter Tablet (Show QR Code) — or click Waiter Tablet / QR in the top-right corner of the Restaurant Dashboard inside InventoryPlus.
- Scan Waiter QR Code or Open pos.inventoryplus.in: Point your mobile or tablet camera at the Waiter QR Code on screen to connect instantly — or open pos.inventoryplus.in in your mobile, tablet, or kitchen display browser and enter the displayed Store Code.
- Log In with Staff Credentials: Each staff member signs in with their InventoryPlus username and password.
Pro Tip: On any POS screen, press Ctrl + K to open the Quick Command Palette and jump straight to any table, open order, or dish.
2. Plugin Configuration & Dashboard Screen (Desktop Setup & Billing)
The Restaurant Analytics & Configuration screen in InventoryPlus Desktop is your central control room. You can open it anytime from the InventoryPlus plugin menu or by right-clicking the Restaurant icon in the Windows Taskbar and selecting Restaurant & KOT Dashboard. It is organized into four easy-to-use tabs:
Tab 1: Dashboard & Analytics — Live Orders & How to Print / Generate Bills
- Filter Live Orders: Pick a Report Date and choose Pending Orders, Completed (Bill Generated), or All Orders, then click Refresh Live.
- Monitor Daily KPIs: View live summary cards for Live / Open Orders, Settled Sales (EOD), and Average / Fastest / Slowest Table Turn Time.
- Generate & Print Customer Bills: In the order table, locate any pending order (showing Order #, Time, Table / Channel, Waiter, Net Amt, Tips, and Duration) and click Generate Bill. InventoryPlus opens the standard Sales Invoice screen with every KOT item pre-loaded — simply select payment mode, save, and print the thermal receipt or send it via WhatsApp.
- Export Daily Summary: Click Extract EOD Report (CSV) to download a full daily sales & turn-time report spreadsheet.
Tab 2: Dining Layout & Tables — Floors, Tables, Waiters & QR Cards
- Add / Manage Tables & Floors: Click Manage Locations / Tables to add, rename, or remove tables. Enter a section name (such as Terrace, AC Hall, or Banquet) and click Add Floor (or Delete Floor to remove one).
- Assign Waiters & Captains: Assign a Captain / Waiter directly on each table row, or use the Server Section Assignment bar at the top to pick a Floor / Section + Captain / Waiter and click Assign to Section in bulk.
- Arrange Visual Floor Plan: Set each table's Shape (square or circle), Capacity, and position, or click Auto-Arrange Grid and Save Layout so waiters see a clean visual map on their tablets.
- Print Guest QR Cards: Click Print QR on an individual table row or Print All QRs in the toolbar to print QR tent cards for every table.
Tab 3: Service Charge, Printer & Roles — Billing Rules, KOT Printers & Staff Access
- Service Charge (Dine-In): Select Disabled (Hide in POS), 5%, 10%, or Custom (%) and click Save Service Charge. When disabled, the Service Charge option is hidden on waiter tablets automatically.
- Default KOT Printer & KDS-First Fallback: Check Enable Thermal KOT Print (KDS-First Fallback if offline), pick your kitchen printer, click Test Default to verify paper printing, and click Save Default Printer.
- Category / Kitchen Section Printers (Smart Routing): Map each product category (e.g., Cafe, Starters, Beverages, Desserts) to its own Kitchen Section Label and Assigned KOT Printer, test with Test, and click Save Category Printers:
- Live KDS Display (Always On): Every ordered item appears immediately on the KDS screen under its configured Kitchen Section Label (e.g., CAFE, KITCHEN, BAR, TANDOOR) plus EXPO.
- Specific Section Printer (e.g., Cafe → Cafe Printer): Only items belonging to the Cafe category print on the Cafe Printer — Main Kitchen items go only to their own assigned printer.
- KDS Only: Categories set to KDS_ONLY skip thermal printing completely and appear on the KDS screen only.
- Unmapped Categories: Fall back to the Default KOT Printer (only when Enable Thermal KOT Print is checked).
- Quick Cooking Notes: Enter comma-separated instructions (such as Less Spicy, No Onion, Extra Cheese, Jain) and click Save Quick Notes so waiters can tap them as instant chips.
- POS User Role Access: Assign each InventoryPlus user a POS Menu Role (Admin, Waiter, Kitchen, or Cashier) and click Save Role Configuration.
Tab 4: Live KOT Orders — Real-Time Kitchen Monitoring
View all active dine-in and takeaway KOT items awaiting settlement, neatly grouped by Order # with Table / Channel, Order Time, Item Name, Qty, Note / Seat / Course, and live KOT Status. Click Refresh KOT anytime for an instant update.
3. High-Speed Tableside Ordering & Floor Plan
Waiters spend less time tapping screens and more time serving guests:
- My Tables by Default: Opening Dining Tables automatically selects My Tables so captains focus on their own tables, with 1-tap toggles for All Tables, Available, Occupied, and Floor Plan View.
- Speed Shelf & Category Arrows: Pin best-selling dishes to ⭐ Speed Shelf and scroll through menu groups smoothly with the < and > buttons.
- 1-Tap Steppers, Modifiers & Notes: Use large touch-friendly + / − buttons, select dish modifiers, and tap Quick Cooking Note chips.
- Seat, Course & Repeat Last Round: Tag items by Seat (Shared, Seat 1, Seat 2) and Course (Starter, Main, Dessert), or tap Repeat Last Round to re-order drinks instantly.
- Edit Order / Incremental KOT & Offline Safety: Tap any occupied table to add more items later — only newly added items print to the kitchen. Brief Wi-Fi drops queue orders safely until reconnected, and Light/Dark themes adapt to any dining room or bar.
- Move / Transfer Table: Move an entire open order or selected dishes to another table anytime guests relocate.
4. Guest QR Self-Service: Printing Table Stickers, Customer Login & Takeaway
- Print & Stick Table QR Codes: In InventoryPlus Desktop, open Restaurant Analytics & Configuration → Dining Layout & Tables. Click Print QR on any table row (or Print All QRs in the top toolbar) to print table QR cards/stickers, then stick or place each QR card on its matching table (e.g., Table 1, Table 5).
- Waiter Enters Customer Phone Number to Enable Self-Service: For table security, Guest QR ordering stays locked until a guest is seated. When taking the first order (or seating the guest), the waiter enters the guest's phone number (supports global 7–15 digit numbers) on the POS Order screen. This looks up their loyalty/VIP profile and automatically activates Guest QR Self-Service for that table (the table card shows QR Active).
- Guest Scans Sticker & Logs In: The guest scans the QR sticker on their table with their phone camera, enters their phone number to verify and log in to the table's Self-Service Portal, browses the live menu, adds items directly to the kitchen, and taps digital Service Bells (Water, Waiter, Bill, Clean Table).
- Automatic Session Clear After Billing: Once the bill is settled, the table's QR session clears automatically so the previous guest can no longer order. Staff can also tap Release QR Session anytime.
For parcel orders, the Takeaway Counter Board separates Preparing tokens (e.g., T-101) from Packed – Ready for Pickup! with 1-tap Pack and Collect actions.
5. Kitchen Display System (KDS) & “86” Stock Control
Your kitchen team stays completely organized on any monitor or tablet:
- Station Filters & All-Day Prep Summary: Filter tickets by EXPO, KITCHEN, BAR, or TANDOOR, and see combined prep quantities across all open orders.
- Start, Bump / Ready & 15-Minute Recall: Tap START when cooking begins and BUMP / READY when plated — waiters are notified instantly with a Ready badge. Accidentally bumped tickets can be restored within 15 minutes from the Recall drawer.
- Instant “86” (Out of Stock) Control: Tap the red 86 button next to any dish on the KDS to mark it Sold Out across every waiter tablet and guest QR menu in real time. Tap Un-86 once restocked. (Already-served rows remain locked so they cannot be marked 86 accidentally.)
6. Settlement, Turn-Time Analytics & Shift X/Z Reports
- Split Bill & 1-Click Desktop Checkout: Split bills evenly by guest count on the Order screen, apply or waive Service Charge, and click Generate Bill in the Desktop Dashboard to open the Sales Invoice for payment, GST, and thermal or WhatsApp receipt delivery.
- Live Manager Dashboard & Grouped KOTs: Monitor Live / Open Orders, Settled Sales (EOD), Average / Fastest / Slowest Table Turn Time, and Live KOT Orders grouped cleanly by Order #, with 1-click Extract EOD Report (CSV).
- Shift X-Report & Z-Report: Review shift sales by payment method on the POS Reports tab, enter Opening Float and Counted Cash to verify drawer variance, and close your shift cleanly.
7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
In hospitality, 86 means an item is Out of Stock / Sold Out. Tapping it blocks the item across waiter tablets and guest QR menus until you tap Un-86. (Already-served items are locked so they cannot be marked 86 accidentally.)
Yes! Category routing sends Cafe items exclusively to your Cafe Printer and Main Course items to the Kitchen Printer. Categories set to KDS_ONLY appear on the KDS screen without printing paper.
In Desktop Dashboard → Dining Layout & Tables, click Print QR or Print All QRs and stick each code on its matching table. When guests sit down, the waiter enters their phone number (7–15 digits, local or global) on the Order screen to enable QR Active; the guest then scans the sticker and enters their phone number to log in and order.
Settling the bill in InventoryPlus clears the table's QR session automatically so old links cannot be reused. Staff can also tap Release QR Session manually anytime.
Open Dashboard & Analytics in InventoryPlus Desktop and click Generate Bill next to the pending order. The Sales Invoice opens with all KOT items ready for payment, thermal printing, or WhatsApp receipt.
My Tables is selected by default so captains see their assigned section first. Tap All Tables anytime to view the entire floor.
Go to Restaurant Analytics & Configuration → Service Charge, Printer & Roles, select Disabled (Hide in POS), and click Save Service Charge.
No. Only the newly added items are sent and printed as a fresh incremental KOT.
Open the Recall drawer on the KDS screen within 15 minutes to restore the ticket immediately.
No app download is required — it runs in any browser on Android, iPad, or smartphones over your local store Wi-Fi with your main InventoryPlus computer.
Right-click the Restaurant icon in your InventoryPlus taskbar to scan your pairing QR code, or download InventoryPlus Restaurant POS to configure your floors, printers, and staff roles today.