Splitting a bill on the till

When a table wants to pay separately — three people splitting the bill, or one person covering their own items — you split the bill on the till at the pay step. On venues that have it switched on, a waiter can also do it at the table, on the card machine (see Splitting on the card machine). This is a device action; the portal only shows a split bill after the fact.

Two split screens — which one you have

The split screen is being redesigned, and the new one is rolling out one venue at a time. Both are described here. Tell them apart in a second:

• The new screen opens on the whole bill with SPLIT IT over three tiles — By item, Evenly, An amount. Once you've split, a list of bills sits down the left with LEFT TO PAY at the top, and the bill you're taking is on the right with Pay with Card and Pay with Cash. There's no separate pay page: you take the money where the bill stands.
• The older screen has Split by item and Split evenly along the top, a Done button, and a pay page behind it that steps you through the parts one at a time.

If you have the older screen and want the new one, ask us. Splitting by item and evenly work on both.

The new split screen

Start a split

Open the table's tab and, at the pay step, tap Split order. The whole bill opens, with its lines and Amount due at the bottom. If one person is simply paying the lot, Pay with Card and Pay with Cash are right there. Otherwise pick how to split from SPLIT IT:

• By item — each person pays for what they had. Every unpaid bill becomes a column of its lines with a tick box each. Tick a line and every other column offers Move 1 item here (or Move 3 items here); a dashed New bill tile at the end starts a fresh one. Ticks can span columns and move together. When a bill is how you want it, Take payment opens it.
• Evenly — How many people? Tap a number and the bill is divided into that many equal bills. Any odd pence land on Bill 1.
• An amount — How much are they paying? Key the figure and Confirm. You get two bills: the amount, and the rest.

Reading the screen

Down the left: LEFT TO PAY, the figure, a thin bar that fills as money comes in, then one row per bill in number order. The open bill is black. Unpaid bills are white. Paid bills are green with a tick, the name and amount struck through, and Paid underneath.

On the right is the open bill: its lines, Amount due, then Pay with Card and Pay with Cash side by side, with Discount underneath. An item bill also has Move items, which takes you back to the columns.

On a tab with a discount, a bill's lines come to more than the card machine asks for, so the bill adds a Share of discount line and everything adds up.

Taking the money

Tap Pay with Card to send that bill to the card machine, or Pay with Cash to open the cash window for it. While a payment is being taken the screen stays put: the bill's row shows a small spinner and both pay buttons are greyed, so a second tap can't charge the bill twice.

When it goes through, the row turns green and the next unpaid bill opens by itself. Tap a paid row any time to see its receipt: Bill, Tip (only when one was taken), and Total paid, with one button underneath — Next: Bill 2 £7.75 — to carry on.

If a card is declined or a bill can't be settled, the reason appears in a red strip above the bill with Dismiss. Nothing is charged twice; take that bill another way.

One person paying for more than one

When the table has split Evenly and one guest is covering someone else too, open their bill and use the Paying for row at the top of it:

• Tap + and the bill takes one more person. Its title becomes Paying for 2, both bills are listed inside it, and Amount due is the two shares together. Tap + again for a third, up to the whole table.
• Tap − to hand a person back. Their bill returns under the same number.
• Take the money as usual. It is one payment: one tap of the card, one tip prompt, one receipt.

In the list the two bills become one group, Paying for 2, and once paid a green Paid for 2 with each bill inside it. The bills that are left keep their numbers and their figures.

The Paying for row only appears on an even split. It holds still while a payment is being taken or confirmed. It works the same on a narrow till and on the card machine.

Split what's left

Once you've split, the three choices move to a Split what's left button under the list. It opens a panel on the right — Split the £15.50 left — with the same three tiles. They work on what's still unpaid; paid bills are never touched. Close it with the ✕, the Back button, or by tapping any bill in the list.

So "he's putting £20 in, the other three are halving the rest" is two steps: An amount, pay it, then Split what's left → Evenly → 3.

Start again sits at the bottom of the panel while nothing has been paid. It puts the whole bill back in one and opens it, so a mis-tap on Evenly is one tap to undo. Once any bill is paid it's gone.

For a moment after you take a payment on this till, Split what's left is greyed with the line A payment is still being confirmed. It's waiting for the payment to be recorded, which is under a second online. Every bill on the list can still be paid in the meantime.

Bill numbers stay put

A paid bill keeps its number for as long as the table is open, and new bills take the lowest free numbers. Pay Bill 1, then split the rest in two, and you get Bill 2 and Bill 3 — never a renamed Bill 1. The number you read out to a customer is the number on the order in the portal.

Every bill paid

When the last bill goes through the header turns green and reads ALL PAID over the whole bill, and the right-hand side is Table paid: the PAID stamp, one line per bill, Tips when any were taken, and Total paid. The table closes and leaves the floor on its own. Done is there for the rare time it doesn't — the connection dropped on the last bill, say — and closes it when you tap it.

On a narrow till

Under tablet width the new screen is the same journey, one screen at a time. The whole bill is a screen. After a split you land on the bill list; tap a row to open that bill. How many people?, the keypad and Split what's left are each a full screen. By item shows each bill as a card on the list: tap its name to fold it, tick lines, and a bar at the bottom — Move 2 items to — offers a button per bill and New bill.

One difference worth knowing: after you pay a bill on a narrow till you stay on it, now a receipt, with Next: Bill 1 £7.34 and All bills underneath. The tablet moves to the next bill for you; a narrow till waits for you to tap.

Back does one sensible thing everywhere: a picker goes back to where it came from, an open bill or a receipt goes back to the list, and the untouched whole bill or the list goes out to the table's bill.

Splitting on the card machine

A card machine can split a table's bill at the table, with no trip back to the till. It's the new screen's journey, one screen at a time, and the card is taken on the machine in the waiter's hand.

Start a split

Open the table's bill on the card machine and tap Split. The whole bill opens: its items, Amount due, and SPLIT IT over three tiles. If one person is paying the lot, Pay with Card and Pay with Cash are right there.

• By item: each unpaid bill is a card with a tick box per item. Tick items and a bar appears at the bottom, Move 2 items to, with a button per bill and New bill. Ticks can span bills. Tap a card's name to fold it away. Take payment opens that bill.
• Evenly: How many people? Tap 2 to 8 and the bill is divided at once. For a bigger party tap More and key the number.
• An amount: How much are they paying? Key the figure and Confirm. You get two bills: the amount, and the rest.

The list of bills

After a split you land on the list: LEFT TO PAY with the figure, a line such as £7.33 of £22.00 paid, then one row per bill. Tap any bill to open it. Pay them in whatever order people are ready. A paid bill turns green, struck through, with Paid underneath. Tap it to see its receipt.

Taking the money

Open a bill and choose:

• Pay with Card takes it on this machine's own reader.
• Pay with Cash opens the cash screen for that bill. Tap Exact or a note, or key what they gave you, and it shows the change.

When it goes through you stay on that bill, now a receipt: the PAID stamp, Total paid, then Next: Bill 1 £7.34 and All bills. A bill that took a tip on the reader shows Bill, Tip and Total paid.

Send to room

If your venue has a hotel connected, each bill also shows Send to room. It works the same as on the till: see Sending a share to a guest's room.

One person paying for more than one

When a table has split Evenly and one guest is covering someone else too, open their bill and use the Paying for row at the top of the card:

• Tap + and the bill takes one more person. Its title becomes Paying for 2, both bills are listed inside it, and Amount due is the two shares together. Tap + again for a third, up to the whole table.
• Tap − to hand a person back. Their bill returns under the same number.
• Take the money as usual. It is one payment: one tap of the card, one tip prompt, one receipt.

On the list the paid bills show as one green group, Paid for 2, with each bill inside it. The bills that are left keep their numbers and their figures.

The Paying for row only appears on an even split, and it holds still while a payment is being taken.

Split what's left, and Start again

Split what's left sits under the list. It opens the same three tiles for whatever is still unpaid. Paid bills are never touched, and they keep their numbers.

It's the same one-way door as the till: after an even or amount split, By item is greyed with Not after an even or amount split.

Start again is there while nothing has been paid. It puts the whole bill back in one. Once any bill is paid it's gone.

Every bill paid

When the last bill goes through you get Table paid: one line per bill, Tips when any were taken, and Total paid. The table closes. Tap Done to go back to your tables.

Good to know

• Options sit under their item by name, for example 250ml or Oat milk. The price of an option isn't shown on its own; it's part of the item's price.
• A meal deal is one row with one tick, marked Moves as one.
• With a discount on the table, an item bill shows a Discount row so the items and the figure to pay add up. If the discount covers a bill completely it reads £0.00 with Nothing to pay. The discount covers this bill. and has no pay button. The other bills add up to what the table owes.
• Set the discount before you split. There's no discount button inside the split on the card machine.
• A table with money already paid on account can be split evenly or by an amount. By item isn't offered on it.
• Go back to the table's bill mid-split and tap Pay, and it opens the list of bills. It doesn't charge the whole bill again.
• Two machines on one table. If someone else pays or re-splits while you have a bill open, you'll see The bills on this table have changed. Nothing has been charged. Tap Reload the bill and choose again.
• If the machine restarts during a payment, open the table's split again. The bill shows as paid once, and the rest are as you left them.
• It needs a connection. If the card machine is offline, finish the table on the till.

The older split screen

Where the new screen hasn't reached you yet, splitting works like this.

Start a split

Open the table's tab and, at the pay step, tap Split order. Pick one of the two buttons along the top:

• Split evenly — pick how many ways (2, 3, 4…) and the till works out each share.
• Split by item — tick items and move them between parts, so each person pays for what they had.

Tap Done when the parts are how you want them. Paid parts sit above the unpaid ones. Reset puts the whole bill back in one part, as long as nothing has been paid yet.

Moving individual units of an item

When you split by item, each item shows as one row with its quantity — for example Coke 3× £6.00. To put some of that item on one part and the rest on another, tick the row's box and pick how many units to move from the number picker that opens, then move them into the other part. The till works out each part's share to the penny, and the parts always add back up to the item's price. If you don't need to split a line, just tick it and move the whole item across.

Once something is ticked, tap the part you want it on, or Move N selected here at the bottom of that part. To start a brand-new part, tap Add To New Bill. A new part can't take everything — if you tick every item the button reads Leave at least one item behind.

Take each portion

After Done the till steps you through the parts one at a time. For each part choose Pay with Card or Pay with Cash. You can mix tenders: part one on card, part two in cash. Back to bill split takes you back to the parts if you need to change them. When the last part is paid, the tab closes and the table leaves the floor.

What both screens have in common

Meal deals move as one

A meal deal shows as a single line with one tick box, marked Moves as one. Ticking it takes the whole deal. A deal is priced as a deal, so the burger and the chips in a £10 lunch deal don't have their own prices any more — move the deal to whoever is paying for it. Two of the same deal show as two lines, and moving one moves only that one.

Cash

Pay with Cash opens the cash window for that bill: enter what's tendered and the till shows the change. Exact and the next few round notes are a tap each. If a cash drawer is attached, it pops for each cash bill, and with the drawer ledger on each cash bill is recorded in the open drawer session like any other cash sale. Add a cash tip and the amounts at the top scroll; the keypad and the confirm button stay put at the bottom.

Sending a share to a guest's room

If your venue has a hotel connected, each bill on a split also shows Send to room, under Pay with Card and Pay with Cash. Use it when a hotel guest wants their share put on their room. It's on the till's split screens (new and older) and on the card machine.

1. Open their bill and tap Send to room.
2. Pick the guest, not the room. One room can hold two bookings.
3. Check the name with the guest, then confirm.

The whole share goes on the room. You can't change the amount here, because a share is either paid or it isn't. When it goes through, the bill turns green like any other paid bill, and the next one is up.

If their allowance won't cover it, you're told how much they have left before anything is charged. Split by amount instead, give them a share their allowance does cover, and take the rest by card or cash.

If the hotel can't be reached, the share can't go on the room right now. Take it by card or cash instead. Nothing is charged to the room.

If someone has just paid that bill on another till, you're told so before the hotel is asked, and the bills refresh. Nothing goes on the room.

If the connection drops just after the hotel says yes, the share is still on the room and the bill still shows paid. The till keeps the payment safe and adds it to the bill as soon as it's back online, and tells you so. Don't send the share to the room again.

With no connection, the button stays on screen but is greyed out and says it's unavailable offline.

A few more things:

• No tip is taken on a share sent to a room. Tips on the other bills work as normal.
• Several shares can go on rooms on one table, the same room or different ones.
• Not on Pay part of the bill. Send to room is only on Split order.

Tips on a card

When you send a bill that was made by keying an amount to the card machine, the machine doesn't ask for a tip — the person chose that figure, so it's treated as already including one. Every other bill asks for a tip as normal. If your venue would rather the card machine asks on a keyed amount too, turn on Offer a tip on amount splits in Payment settings.

A bill that took a tip shows both figures on its receipt: the bill, the tip, and Total paid. The big figure on the list stays the bill, not the total, because the bills have to add up to the table and a tip isn't part of the table.

A round you just sent may take a second to appear

If you ring a round and go straight into Split order, that round can still be on its way to the cloud. For a moment those items are held out of the bills so nobody can be charged for something that hasn't landed. It lands on its own, usually inside a second. Give it a beat before you split and you won't see it at all.

If you leave a split half-way

Sometimes a table is only part-way through a split when things change: a guest has paid their bill, and then the rest is paid another way, the table is closed by hand, or it's voided. Nothing is lost:

• The table's bill screen tells you what's already paid, in a yellow line such as "£54.50 already paid (Bill 2). Pay the rest from Split bill." Finish the table from Split bill, where the paid bills are already taken off and nothing is charged twice.
• Every bill that was paid is always recorded as its own sale, with its items, at the time it was paid. Your takings match the money you took.
• The split screen keeps itself up to date. It checks every few seconds for bills paid on the card machine, so a bill that went through a moment late shows as paid.
• Cash is never taken twice. Paying a bill again after taking cash for it doesn't record the cash a second time.

A discount on the tab

If the tab already has a discount, splitting honours it. The discount is shared across the bills in proportion to what each is worth, so they always add back up to the discounted total — nobody is double-charged and nothing is stranded. The closed bill records the discount just as an un-split sale does.

With a discount on the tab, each item moves between bills as a whole — the per-unit picker is only available on an un-discounted tab, so every bill's discounted share reconciles exactly.

What gets recorded

The table is still recorded as one bill, with each part shown in its breakdown. In the portal, the sale detail page shows the split breakdown for that sale — each bill, whether it was card or cash, and the amounts — and checks that the parts add up to the total.

If you use staff sign-in, a split bill shows against the person who closed it in your sales list, as long as the same person took every bill. If two people took different bills, the sale stays Unattributed: one record can only carry one name, so we leave it blank rather than credit a guess.

Split vs part payment

These are easy to confuse:

• Split order closes the whole bill across several payments in one sitting — everyone pays their share now and the tab closes.
• Pay part of the bill (Part payment) takes some of the bill now and leaves the rest open on the tab to settle later. See Part payment.

What's next

• Taking payment on the till — the full pay step.
• The sales log — how a split reads afterwards.
• Till troubleshooting — Split order isn't showing.