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App demo

Kingfisher TableThe Kingfisher Inn, Bungay

Table 12

What to check before the mains go out: seat 3 without cream, seat 2 without pepper, a candle with the dessert. Four guests since 7:05 PM, and separate bills have been announced.

Kingfisher Table is a sample app by Awelior. Invented business, invented data, nothing is stored.

Tables

Sample data

Pikeperch is off

The kitchen took it off at 7:12 PM. It is locked on the menu; table 4 and terrace 3 still have it in front of them as tonight's recommendation.

7Tables seatedof 14 in your section
3Courses openone of them 25 minutes
1Docket unansweredtable 7, since 7:41 PM
$486.20Taken in your sectionsince 5:00 PM

Your section

Tapping a row opens the table with its courses, items and the notes about the guests.

About this app

The Kingfisher Inn does not exist. The tables, guests, dishes, prices and docket numbers on these screens are invented and describe no real evening.

The allergen labeling is applied to the invented dishes the way a real restaurant would apply it. It belongs to the demo and says nothing about any real product.

The demo stores nothing, sends nothing and rings nothing up. Buttons, selects and input fields are fully labeled but have no effect.

Tables

Table 12

Sample data

Table 12 — 4 guests

Window row, left · seated 7:05 PM

Course 2 with the kitchen

Table

Number
12, window row on the left
Guests
4, one of them a child
Seated
7:05 PM, one hour twelve so far

Notes about the guests

Seat 3
Lactose (g) — risotto without cream, plated separately
Seat 2
Roulade without pepper
Occasion
Birthday, candle with the dessert

Bill

Running total
$99.50
Split
By seat, announced when they sat down
Server
Amy Sinclair

Courses

Kitchen and floor see the same order of things — nobody has to lean through the door and ask how far the table has got.

  1. Aperitifs serveddone7:09 PMTwo house aperitifs, one apple spritzer, one children's punch.
  2. Starters serveddone7:26 PMPumpkin soup (a, g) twice, beetroot with goat's cheese (g, h) once.
  3. Main course with the kitchenin progresssent 7:44 PMDocket 213. The kitchen quotes 20 minutes. Seat 3 without cream, printed as its own line on the docket.
  4. Dessertstill openstill openTaken after the mains. The candle for seat 1 is already noted at the pass.
  5. Billstill openstill openSplit by seat. It is only prepared when they ask — otherwise it lands on the table too early.

Items ordered

Allergens are named on the item itself, in plain words, not in a footnote — the nine major ones, plus celery, mustard and sulfites where they occur.

  • 2 × pumpkin soup with seed oilServedStarter · contains wheat, milk$11.00
  • 1 × beetroot with goat's cheeseServedStarter · contains milk, tree nuts$9.50
  • 2 × beef roulade, red cabbage, dumplingsWith the kitchenMain · contains wheat, eggs, milk, celery, mustard · one without pepper$39.00
  • 1 × pumpkin risotto, no creamWith the kitchenMain · contains celery · dairy left out, seat 3$17.50
  • 1 × children's pasta with tomato sauceWith the kitchenMain · contains wheat, eggs · half portion$7.50
  • 2 × house aperitif, 1 × apple spritzer, 1 × children's punchServedDrinks · aperitif contains sulfites$15.00

Take the order

Sample data

Two dishes are off

Pikeperch since 7:12 PM, venison ragout since 6:50 PM. Locked dishes cannot be ordered at all — which saves the second walk back to the table.

Tonight's menu

The nine major allergens — milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame — are spelled out on every item, and so are celery, mustard and sulfites. The same list hangs in the kitchen.

  • Beef roulade, red cabbage, potato dumplingsAvailableMain · contains wheat, eggs, milk, celery, mustard$19.50
  • Pumpkin risotto with pumpkin seed oilAvailableMain · contains milk, celery · can be made without cream$17.50
  • Pikeperch fillet on leaf spinachOffMain · contains wheat, fish, milk$24.00
  • Venison ragout with spätzleOffMain · contains wheat, eggs, milk, celery, sulfites · last portion went to table 9 at 6:50 PM$22.00
  • Children's pasta with tomato sauceAvailableHalf portion · contains wheat, eggs$7.50
  • House aperitif, elderflower with sparkling wineAvailableDrink, 0.1 l · contains sulfites$4.50
  • Cola, 0.3 lAvailableDrink · contains caffeine and added color$3.40

Take an item

Filled in at the table, not at the terminal in the corridor. The form is fully labeled and disabled.

Table
Table 12

Pre-filled with the table you have just come from.

The seat decides which part of a split bill this item ends up on.

Dish
Pumpkin risotto with pumpkin seed oil

Dishes that are off never appear in the list in the first place.

More than six of the same item and the kitchen asks back.

Course
Main

The kitchen calls by course, not by table.

An intolerance goes on the docket as a line of its own, never as an afterthought behind the dish.

This form submits nothing.

Follow the dockets

Sample data

Kitchen quoting 20 minutes

For every main course from 7:40 PM on. Table 4 is at 25 by now — go there first, before anyone has to ask.

Tonight's dockets

In the order they were sent. A docket without an answer stays at the top until somebody has sorted it out.

When the screen has nothing to show

On the floor this is not a nicety: a guest is standing right there, and “still loading” is not an answer.

  • Loading

    Fetching dockets

    The frame of the list is there at once and fills in. A blank screen with a spinner would look as though nothing had been ordered all evening.

  • Nothing there

    No open docket

    Everything passed, the kitchen is clear. The screen says so rather than simply staying blank.

  • Failed

    Docket 214 never arrived

    The kitchen never confirmed it. It stays here and is not quietly dropped — otherwise table 7 waits for food nobody knows about.

  • No connection

    No signal in the vaulted cellar

    The wireless stops at the wine cellar. Orders and notes keep being written on the device and go out the moment you are back upstairs.

Split the bill

Sample data

Table 9 — 3 guests

Fireside room · seated 6:15 PM

Bill requested

Table

Number
9, fireside room
Guests
3
Time at the table
1 hour 52

Total

Food
$74.90
Drinks
$21.50
Altogether
$96.40

Split

Method
By seat, three bills
Tip
Recorded per bill, not for the table
Receipt
Printed at the till or sent to the phone

Items by seat

The seat is set when the order is taken, not when it is paid — otherwise three people end up leaning over one printout.

  • Seat 1 — 2 itemsReadyVenison ragout with spätzle, red wine 0.2 l$31.80
  • Seat 2 — 3 itemsReadyPumpkin risotto, apple spritzer, sorbet$27.40
  • Seat 3 — 3 itemsReadyBeef roulade, beer 0.4 l, crème brûlée$31.20
  • Table — 1 itemAssignBread basket with spreads, not on anyone's seat$6.00

Split the bill

The table is sitting right there reading along: every item sits with the seat that ordered it. Only the $6.00 bread basket is still unassigned — and while it is, none of the three bills goes out.

Altogether
$96.40
Seat 1
$31.80
Seat 2
$27.40
Seat 3
$31.20
Bread basket, unassigned
$6.00 — please assign

No effect in this demo — nothing is stored.

In the hands of
Front-of-house server
Shown on
Android — title on the left, three system buttons below
Replaces
Replaces the docket pad, the walk to the till after every order, and the mental arithmetic when four guests want to pay separately. With seven tables occupied that is a good twenty trips down the corridor saved in an evening — and three separate bills for table 9 exist the moment somebody asks.

Everything in this demo is laid out and none of it acts: buttons only report that they have no effect in the demo, checkboxes are fixed, input fields lead nowhere. Nothing is stored, sent or fetched.

The project frame

How Awelior would approach this project

The Kingfisher Inn, Bungay is invented — the way it is built is not. None of this is work delivered for a client. It is the shape we would give such a project — with the same depth, but without a client who would have to answer for it.

Where it starts

At The Kingfisher Inn, service runs on a pad and a till terminal: take the order at the table, walk to the terminal, key it in, walk back. When the kitchen takes a dish off, the waiter finds out on the second trip to the table; and when four guests want separate bills, somebody ends up sorting line items at the counter. On a full evening those walks are what makes the difference.

Decisions

  • Allergen labeling sits on the item, not in a footnote

    The nine major allergens appear on every dish, at the point where the order is taken. A server who has to leaf through something to answer will eventually answer from memory — and that is exactly where allergen labeling loses its point.

  • What the kitchen has pulled is not in the list at all

    Once the kitchen takes a dish off, it is locked and cannot be ordered. A notice that can be dismissed saves the kitchen nothing; the second walk to the table remains.

  • The seat is assigned when the order is taken

    Every item belongs to a seat from the outset. Separate bills fall out of that in one step; assign only at payment time and three people end up standing over a slip of paper.

Deliberately left outNo till. The app takes orders, sends them to the kitchen and splits the bill — posting, taking money and printing happen on the till system. A payment transaction brings a certified security module, receipt obligations and retention periods with it; an ordering app that handles that on the side does not exist.

What is in it

Screens
5
Tabs
4
Content blocks
16
Languages
4

Navigation responds, including the route from the section into a single table and back. The menu, the order form, the kitchen ticket list and the bill split are fully rendered and inert; the four states have a view of their own.

How it would go on

  • Till system and kitchen printer

    Tickets have to reach the kitchen and turnover has to reach the till. Which system leads, and what happens when a ticket is lost in transit, is the core question of this undertaking.

  • Menu, prices and labeling

    Who maintains the menu, who takes dishes off, who answers for the allergen information. The labeling is the restaurant's responsibility; the app is the route by which it reaches the table.

  • Devices in service

    Holders, battery life across a whole evening, wireless coverage down into the vaulted cellar — and a device somebody drops while seven tables are occupied.

Talk through your project

Sample data

An app like this for your business?

Kingfisher Table is invented — the fit is not. Apps come about exactly this way: from the routes that already exist in a business, only without the paper in between.

Talk about an appThe service page: Apps

Sample app by Awelior. Invented business, invented data, nothing stored.