The orders board
Four columns. An order arrives on the left, with a sound, and whoever is on shift taps it one column to the right each time something happens. Nobody needs to be shown twice.
Orders · Thandi’s Kitchen
Sound is on.
New 2
#1043
18:44
Naledi K
082 555 0043
R208.00 · Pay at pickup
Accept#1042
18:40
Sipho M
082 555 0042
R147.00 · Pay at pickup
AcceptAccepted 1
#1041
18:32
Thabo R
082 555 0041
R95.00 · Pay at pickup
ReadyReady 1
#1039
18:20
Zanele D
082 555 0039
R264.00 · Pay at pickup
CollectedCollected 1
#1038
18:15
Lebo N
082 555 0038
R85.00 · Paid
On a phone the columns stack. On the tablet by the till they sit side by side, and the New card flashes until somebody accepts it.
Everything the kitchen needs to make it and the counter needs to hand it over, without opening anything.
The order number
Short, in order, yours alone. The customer has the same number on their phone.
The collection time
In South African time, large, so the board reads as a queue.
Name and number
The number is a tap-to-call link. When it is ready, you phone them.
Every item, with its choices
Sizes and extras under each line, and any special request in the customer’s own words.
The total and how they pay
“Pay at pickup” until it is handed over, then “Paid”.
One button
Accept, Ready, or Collected. Whichever comes next.
A kitchen does not watch a screen. The board checks for new orders every fifteen seconds, and when one arrives it makes a sound, once, so the person at the fryer looks up.
Switched on once, per device
Browsers refuse to play a sound on a page nobody has touched, so the board shows a “Turn on the new-order sound” button. Tap it once on the till’s tablet and it stays on.
Works with the sound off too
The New card flashes whether or not anyone pressed the button, so a muted tablet still shows the order.
Nothing to download
The tone is made by the browser itself, so there is no sound file to go missing on a slow connection.
Simple on the screen because the rules live underneath it, where nobody has to remember them at seven o’clock on a Friday.
An order goes New, Accepted, Ready, Collected and only in that order. Collected is final: an order that could be un-collected would make the day’s takings meaningless.
Who tapped what, and when, on every order. The record exists by construction, so nobody has to remember to keep it.
An order becomes paid at the moment it is marked Collected, not before. A placed order is a promise; only a collected one is a sale.
A staff login can work every column but cannot cancel. When a manager does cancel, they type a reason, and the customer sees it on their phone straight away.
Collected and cancelled orders stay on the board for the rest of the shift, so staff can see what just happened without going to look for it.
Their confirmation page updates itself as you tap: Sent to the kitchen, Being prepared, Ready for collection, Collected.
Everyone with a login. The board is the one screen every role shares, because it is the one that has to be worked by whoever is standing there.
Owner
Everything, including settings, branding and staff.
Manager
Menu, opening hours and orders. Not settings or staff.
Staff
The orders board, and pausing online orders.
A staff login sees the Today screen and this board, and nothing else. Who can do what is spelled out on How it works.
It is on the first screen, and anyone on shift may press it.