The Bar Tabs feature allows customers at eat & drink locations to open a bar tab, adding items such as food and beverages, and settle the check at a later stage. Bar tabs are shared across all shifts, removing the need to close them at the end of each shift, providing a seamless experience.
This additional functionality offers greater flexibility and convenience, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable experience for both customers and staff.
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In its most recent version, only retail purchases can be added to tabs. Make sure to create your food and beverage products in the Items section of your dashboard and assign them to the correct destination.
Enable Tabs at Location
In your Ventrata dashboard, go to Ticket Terminals > Locations.
Locations
Select your location or create a new one.
📒 NOTEMake sure to create the location under the desired destination.
Scroll down the form or simply search for 'Allow Tabs'.
Check the 'Allow Tabs' box to enable the feature.
Allow Tabs
Scroll further down the form and check the 'Allow Purchases' box.
Next, whitelist or blacklist items as appropriate.
📗 TIPOnly whitelisted items will appear in the location's retail purchase offering.
Allow Purchases
Press the Update Location button to save your changes.
Update Location
Bar Tabs Flow
Use your POS device with the Ventrata terminal app to take customers' orders.
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If you need guidance on how to activate and log into your device, read through our article How to Activate a Terminal.
In the Ventrata terminal app, go to the Sales tab.
Sales
Press the Products / Retail Purchases button.
Products / Retail Purchases
In the Retail Purchases section,
scan the barcode of an item,
select an item below the scan area,
or press the All Items label at the bottom to see all available items for sale
Retail Purchases
When a new item is added, the shopping cart window opens. Here you can increase the quantity of an item.
Once the order is complete, press the Checkout button at the bottom of the shopping cart.
Shopping Cart - Items
You are redirected to the Payment Method page. Press the Add to tab label to create an open order without payment.
Payment Method
If there are more open tabs, select whether this order is new or belongs to an existing order.
If this order belongs to an existing tab, press the Select button and select the corresponding tab.
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Notice the names above each tab. These are the names of the sellers, or servers, who created the tabs.
Select Tab
If this is a new order, enter the customer's name or other identifier, such as the number of the table where the customer is sitting.
Payment Method
Then press the Continue button at the bottom of the screen.
A confirmation message appears onscreen whether a new tab should be created / new order added to an existing tab.
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Take this opportunity to make sure the order is assigned to the right tab.
Confirm Item Added to Tab
Once the order is assigned to a tab, a success page appears onscreen and you are ready to create a new order.
Success
Add to Tabs
Above we already mentioned adding a new purchase to an existing tab. However, you have the option to open an existing tab first and then add new items to the order.
In the Ventrata terminal app, go to the Sales tab.
Sales
Press the Opened Tabs button.
Opened Tabs
Select one of the existing tabs.
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Notice the names above each tab. These are the names of the sellers, or servers, who created the tabs.
Opened Tabs
You have the option to
Increase the quantity of an existing purchase - press the green + sign to increase
Add a new retail purchase
Modify Tab
To add a new retail purchase, press the red New Retail Purchase label below the order.
Add a new item by scanning the barcode of the item or adding one from the list of items (from the Product lookup at the top of the screen, or Basket below the scan area)
Add Items
Whenever you make a change to the shopping cart, increase quantity or add new retail purchase, press the Update Tab button at the bottom of the screen.
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Any time a tab is updated, other sellers in the same location will see the changes made to the tab on their own devices.
Update Tab
Close Tab
In the Ventrata terminal app, go to the Sales tab.
Sales
Press the Opened Tabs button.
Opened Tabs
Select one of the existing tabs.
Opened Tabs
Press the Checkout button at the bottom of the screen.
Checkout
Add customer information as appropriate.
Customer Info
Select a payment method:
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You have the option to split payments into several equal parts. Tap the 'Split payment' label to select the number of parts, then select the payment methods.
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Allow customers to add a tip before completing payment. Learn how to enable the gratuity feature on the terminal app.
Card
Cash - enter the amount received from the customer in the 'Amount tendered' field, in the next step the app will calculate the change for the customer
Gift Card - scan the card's QR code or enter its reference number using the app keyboard
Other - manually enter the method's reference number in the 'Reference' field
Press the Pay Now button at the bottom of the page and request the selected payment method from the customer.
Payment Method
Once the payment is successfully processed, a success page appears onscreen and you are ready to create a new order.
Success