Processing payments in Restaurant POS

Payments are an important part of everyday operations, whether that means applying a discount, accepting a payment amount, or voiding a receipt. With Lightspeed Restaurant (K Series), you can seamlessly process transactions according to the payment methods determined in your Back Office. You can quickly close a transaction as a Cash payment from the Register screen, or you can navigate to the Payments screen to apply another payment method, split the check, or add a tip.

Processing payments and tips

 

There are multiple ways to process payments and tips with the Lightspeed Restaurant (K Series) POS app. You can select a quick payment amount from the Register screen, or navigate to the Payments screen to split the check or apply partial payments. How you process transactions also depends on if you are in Direct Sale or Table Service mode.

Understanding the Payments screen

The Payments screen is where you can process payments, split checks, and finalize a transaction. Enter the Payments screen by tapping Pay from the Register screen. Note that it's only possible to enter the Payments screen once the transaction contains order items. The Payments screen includes the following components:

• Order summary: This is the left-hand side of the screen that displays an overview of the check. If you're in Direct Sale mode, the Order Summary will display the entire order for payment. If you're in Table Service mode, you have the option to view and split the order by items, covers, or seats. 
• Total: This is the total amount due for the order. It displays below the Order summary. If you're in Table Service mode and select a few items for payment, view the item selection besideTotal selected.
• Payment methods: The center of your Payments screen includes possible payments types (as configured from the Back Office). By default, payment methods display in a scrollable column. You can choose to enable Show condensed view for all the payment method buttons to display at once. Payment methods allow you to specify how the order is being paid for.
• Payment amount: the right-hand side of the screen displays your payments info. By default, the payment amount represents the amount due for the selected order or order items. If your guests pay in partial amounts (for instance, partly in cash and partly with a credit card), add the payment by selecting Payment amount and inputting the partial payment amount in the pop-up window.
• Received amount: Add the received payment amount by tapping the numerical value beside Received amount. Select a custom or automatic payment amount. If the amount is greater than the amount due, the POS will automatically add the difference as a gratuity amount. 
• Add tip: If the received payment amount is greater than the amount due, the POS automatically adds the difference as a tip. To edit, simply tap the numerical value beside Add tip and adjust the received tip amount accordingly. You can also adjust tip amounts after payment.
• Print receipt: Toggle on this setting if you wish to print a receipt for the transaction.
• Pay: Once you have applied the correct payment details, tap Pay to tender the transaction.

Now that you are familiar with the Payments screen, let's learn how to process sales in both Direct sale modeor Table service mode:

Processing payments in Direct Sale mode

While ordering in Direct Sale mode, the goal is to be efficient and serve as many clients as possible in a short amount of time. As such, Direct Sale mode is best suited to pay-at-order workflows which are most commonly used in cafes, food trucks, and other quick-serve environments. In this mode, you process the order and payment at the same time. To speed up the ordering process even further, we recommend adding a quick payment button beside your keypad to instantly finalize a sale without needing to navigate to the Payments screen. You can choose up to two quick payment methods from your Back Office:

• If you specify the quick payment button as Cash, this means the order is finalized as paid fully in cash.
• If the quick payment button has been configured as a Card payment, the amount due will be automatically sent to your payment terminal for processing (for integrated payment processors). 
  • • Please note that only integrated payment terminals can use the quick Card button - with non-integrated solutions, you will have to manually enter the payable amount on your terminal.

From Direct Sale mode, you can always navigate to the Payments screen by tapping Pay at the bottom of the Register screen. From the Payments screen, you can select another payment type, enter the received payment amount, or add a tip before finalizing the payment. Please note that it is not possible to split a check while in Direct Sale mode. 

 

Processing payments in Table Service mode

There are several ways to finalize a check from Table Service mode. When your guests are ready for payment, you can select the Print check button (below Order view) to print a draft receipt for the order. This is a common workflow for when guests wish to view their check before paying or leaving a tip. While in Table Service mode, you can:

Pay in Full: if a table or order is paying for everything all together, your payment processing will be the same as in Direct Sale mode.If you're ordering by course, you can select the quick pay button (e.g.,Cash) to automatically settle the transaction as a cash payment. You can also select the Pay button on the right-hand side of the screen to enter the Payments screen for more granular payment processing. From the

Payments screen, you apply the payment type and tap Pay again to finalize.

Pay by Items: if your customers are only paying for certain items from the order, specify the items for payment by tapping each order line from the Payments screen. Once you have highlighted the order items for payment, select the payment method, received amount, and tap Pay to close. Repeat this process until the entire check is finalized.

Pay by Covers: covers can be thought of as another way to organize an order. In the context of payments, the amount of covers determines how many times the check is split. For instance, 3 covers means the entire check is split 3 ways. To pay by covers, enter the Payments screen and tap Covers above the receipt preview. This will display the order divided by covers. You can increase or decrease how many times the order is divided, and the amount will automatically update beside each cover line. To pay, tap a cover, select the payment method, and received amount before tapping Pay to finalize. Repeat this process until the entire check is paid.

Pay by Seats: if a table includes multiple guests ordering individual items, place the order by seats. Then, when you get to the payments process, it's simple to divide the check by each seat on the order (note: it's only possible to pay by seat if the order was taken by seat). To pay by seat:

• Make sure you are processing each order items by the seat (or guest) to which they belong. When you're ready for payment, tap Pay to navigate to the Payments screen. Tap Seats above the receipt preview and select the desired seat for payment.
• If your order is split by seats but also includes shared order items, you can split the shared order items from the Payments screen. If the shared items need to be split, simply tap each order line from the Payments screen and then tap Split. Highlight the split item line along with the seat for payment. For instance, to settle the check for Guest 1, tap the order line beside Guest 1 along with the portion of any shared items they're paying for. Once you have highlighted the seats and items for payment, select the payment method, received payment amount, and tap Pay. Repeat this process until the entire check is finalized.

It's not possible to push items to another seat after the order items have been sent. For instance: you may have only sent items for Seat 1 and Seat 2, but in reality, there were four seats, and you didn’t have time to split up the order before sending it. In this scenario, you can’t create two additional seats from the Payments screen. To divide the order, you would need to highlight and manually split order items rather than move them to another seat. 

Note that you don’t have to finalize a check once you start the payment process. If there are guests who remain, you can always exit the check by tapping Cancel on the top left of the screen. 

Processing partial payments

In both Direct sale mode and Table service mode, you can process partial payments:

• Select the Pay button to enter the Payments screen.
• Select the first payment method and then tap Payment amount option at the top right corner of the payment screen. From the pop-up window, enter the amount you are receiving.
• Enter the same amount for Received amount in case of Cash payments.
• Once you have added the partial payment amount, tap Pay.
• You can complete the payment by applying another payment method or exit the order by tapping Cancel at the top left corner of the screen.

Processing tips 

When tip management is enabled from your Back Office, you can add a received tip amount while processing a transaction or after the transaction has been paid. 

• Adding a tip while processing payments: If you have received a tip amount before the transaction has been closed, you can add the tip amount to your payment information. To do so, select Pay from the Register screen to enter the Payments screen. Select the payment method from the Payments screen and then tap Add tip to add or adjust the tip amount.
• Adding a tip after the payment has been processed: If you already processed a payment and then later realized that there was a tip left on the check, you can add a tip from the Payments list. Go to your user Settings from the bottom navigation tab, and select Payments from the pop-out menu. This will open your Payments list, which displays all closed orders in list format. Tap the corresponding line for the order you wish to adjust the tip for. From the pop-up window, select Change tip amount. You will be brought to a payment modal where you can adjust the tip amount using a keypad. When you have added the correct tip amount, tap Done.