From version 5 onwards, orderbird offers course control! Serve your guests easily delicious menus with multiple courses using orderbird.

In a nutshell

• Go to Settings>Orderpad>Course control and make sure that course control is activated.
• Go to Settings > Printers > Kitchen or Counter > Course receipt and activate printing of course receipts.
• Deactivate printing of other receipt types if you wish.
• When a guest orders a menu with multiple courses: Tap on “Add Course +” while taking up their order to add courses. Then add all ordered items to the course.
• To send off a course receipt to the counter or the kitchen printer right away, tap on the little cloche symbol next to the course and confirm.

Step by step

Activate printing of course receipts

Using course receipts, your kitchen staff and/or bar personnel will get a complete overview of all food and/or beverages ordered by a guest. This will allow them to prepare everything quicker. Whether or not you choose to activate course receipts, you can always fire the next course and a course bon will be printed to the kitchen or bar staff. How to fire a course is explained in the paragraph further on “Let the kitchen know: Fire the dishes!”.

To activate the course receipts:

• Go to Settings > Orderpad > Course control and make sure that course control is activated.
• Now go to Settings > Printers.
• Choose the printer for which you want to activate course receipts. Usually, this would be your kitchen printer and a printer for beverages at your bar.
• To activate course bons, pull the slider to the right. the slider will now appear blue.
• Repeat these steps for all printer that need to print off course bons.
• Tap on Save in the upper left corner and confirm your changes.

Taking an order: A multi-course menu

1. Go to your orderpad and, if you are not already working in a shift, start a new shift.
2. As usual, tap on the little “+” above the table list or tap on a table on your table plan to take a new order.
3. Book all items that you want to serve right away, like beverages, directly under “order”.
4. Now tap on “Add Course +” in your order list to add a new course “Course 1”. The course you are currently taking orders for appears in light blue.
5. Now choose all articles that your guests wish to order for the first course.
6. To add a second course, tap on “Add Course +” again and choose all beverages and food to be served during the second course.
7. Repeat those steps until you have added all courses. 

Sending a complete order to the kitchen and bar

Once you have completed taking your guests’ order, tap on the light blue button on top of your order list that says “Table … leave”. Now your kitchen and bar staff will receive a course bon and can start preparing any direct orders and all courses.

Let the kitchen know: Fire the dishes!

You can fire one or more courses to the kitchen or bar, respectively, at any time, even before you have sent out the complete order.

• Tap on the little symbol of a cloche next to a course and confirm that you want to fire this course. A “fire course” bon will be printed at your kitchen printer now, and also at the printer at your bar.
• The docket will look like this:
• A little tick mark will appear next to the cloche. This means that this course has already been fired.

Any questions?

Oops, my guest has another wish for course 1. Can I still change it?

Yep! Tap on course 1 (it will appear light blue) and add the items. If you fire the course once again or send out the complete order, the kitchen will receive an updated print out of the course bon to make them aware of the changes.

If you leave a table without sending the "Fire Course" docket, the system will remind you as soon as you are back on the table by adding a little green dot to the cloche next to the unsent item.

Can I still take regular orders without courses?

Sure, that is still possible. Just tap on the ordered items as usual, they will appear under “order” and will not be associated with any courses.

Can I move an article that has been ordered to a course later on in my order list?

Nope, unfortunately, that is not possible.

• If you haven’t already sent the order to the kitchen, you can delete the article by swiping it left and then simply add it once again to a course.
• If you have already sent the order to the kitchen, just void the article (Reason for void: “Mistake”) and add it to a course.

We offer a selection of different three-course menus. Can I preset the number of courses for all orders?

You can preset the number of courses for each order.

• Go to Settings > Orderpad > Course Control
• Tap on “Number of pre-defined courses” to set a certain number of courses that will automatically appear for every order. In the default setting, this number is set to “0” and you have to add each course manually.
• Enter the minimal number of courses to be served on each order.
• Tap on “Save” in the upper left corner and confirm your changes. 

We don’t serve menus with multiple courses. Can I deactivate course control?

Sure thing!

• Go to Settings > Orderpad > Course Control
• Deactivate “Course Control” by pulling the slider to the left.
• Tap on “Save” in the upper left corner, when you are done, and confirm your changes.