Split, merge and hold
What this is for
Most bills are one table, one payment. These are the three situations where they aren't.
Splitting a bill
Six people, six cards. Select Split Bill on the order and choose how.
Split equally
Equal Split divides the total by the number of guests. Enter how many ways, and Restodesk works out the amount per split.
Fast, fair to nobody in particular, and what most groups actually want.
Split by amount
Custom Split lets you enter what each person is paying. The screen shows Split Total, Amount Paid and Remaining as you go, so you always know how much of the bill is still outstanding.
Use it when one person is covering more than their share, or paying for the wine.
Split by items
Split by Items assigns actual dishes to actual people.
- Choose Split by Items.
- Tap items from Available Items to add them to the current split.
- Name the guest if you like — Guest Name is optional but makes the receipt make sense.
- Select New Split and build the next one.
Each split shows its Base, Tax and total, so tax follows the food rather than being divided arbitrarily.
This is the slowest method and the only correct one when people ate very differently.
Taking the money
Splits are paid one at a time. Each can use its own payment method — cash from one, card from another.
Paid Splits shows what's settled and what's still owed. The order isn't complete until every split is paid.
Printing splits
Print Splits offers:
| Option | Prints |
|---|---|
| Print All | One summary receipt plus every individual split. |
| Summary Only | One combined receipt with all details and payments. |
| Individual Only | Just the individual split receipts. |
| Single Guest Receipt | One specific guest's receipt. |
Individual receipts show Your Share, the Full order total and how many splits there were — so a guest can see their part and the whole at once, which heads off the "why is mine so much?" conversation.
Merging orders
Two tables pushed together, a group that arrived in waves, a couple who moved to a bigger table. Select Merge Tables on the order.
- You're shown tables with unpaid orders.
- Select the ones to merge in.
- Confirm.
All items from those tables move into the current order. The original orders are removed when you save.
Two things to know before you use it:
- Only unpaid orders can be merged. If a table has already paid, its money is settled and it can't be folded in.
- The first order selected is the one that survives. Everything else merges into it, so start from the order you want to keep.
If no tables are eligible, Restodesk tells you plainly rather than showing an empty list.
Holding an order
Restodesk calls it Save as Draft. It's the "park this" button.
Select Save as Draft and the order is stored without going to the kitchen and without taking an order number — the number is assigned when it stops being a draft.
Use it for:
- A phone order taken while you're serving someone else.
- A big table's order being assembled over several minutes.
- Handing an unfinished order to the next person on shift.
Reopen it from the POS or from Orders, and carry on. Nothing was sent, so nothing needs undoing.
A draft is not a running order. No food is being cooked. If the kitchen should have started, send the KOT instead.
Choosing between them
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| One bill, several payers | Split |
| Several bills, one party | Merge |
| One bill, not finished yet | Save as Draft |
| One bill, food should be cooking | KOT, then split later |
Splitting is a payment-time decision — you don't need to decide up front. Merging is easiest before anyone has paid. Both get harder the later you leave them.
Good to know
- Splitting doesn't change the kitchen's view. One order was cooked; only the money divides.
- Split payments can't be completed while the POS is offline — see When the internet drops.
- Merged orders keep the surviving order's number. Tell the table, or they'll be looking for a number that no longer exists.
- Drafts don't appear in sales figures. They're not orders yet.