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When a guest scans the QR code at their table, the menu opens already bound to that table. At their first order they choose how they’d like to settle — pay there and then, or open a tab and pay at the end.

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Pay now, or start a tab

Pay now

Pay for that order by card straight away. Order again later and you simply pay again — ideal for a quick coffee or a single round.

Start a tab

Save a card once (no charge, no hold), order as many rounds as you like through the visit, and pay the whole tab at the end.

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Running a tab

  1. Open the tab — the guest taps Start a tab and saves their card. Nothing is charged and there’s no hold on the card; it’s simply kept on file for the end of the meal.
  2. Order rounds — each round is sent to the kitchen right away and added to the tab. No payment happens per round.
  3. Settle — the guest taps View tab to see every round and item, then Pay tab to charge the saved card. Staff can also settle it from the Floor board (see below).
Each round is its own kitchen ticket (and its own order number) so the kitchen can cook it as it comes in — but they all roll up to one tab and settle in a single payment.

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Keeping a tab tied to the right guest

A table’s QR code is permanent, so StoreTalk makes sure a new guest can’t accidentally land on the previous guest’s tab and order onto their card. The phone that opens a tab holds a private key for it. Only that phone can keep adding to the tab. If someone else scans the same table while a tab is still open, they see a notice — “This table has an open tab, please ask a staff member” — and cannot order onto it.
The safe way to turn a table over is for staff to Close tab (or Clear table) when a party leaves. That settles the previous guest and frees the table for the next one.

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Closing and clearing tables (staff)

On the Floor board each occupied table has an action:
  • Close tab — for a table running a card-on-file tab. Charges the saved card for the whole tab, marks the rounds paid, and frees the table.
  • Clear table — for a table with only pay-now orders. Marks paid orders done, cancels any abandoned ones, clears their kitchen tickets, and frees the table.
A table also frees automatically once the kitchen serves its last order.

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Automatic cleanup

StoreTalk tidies up on its own so nothing is left holding a table. A background sweep runs about every 10 minutes:
The auto-close is a safety net, not the everyday flow — staff closing tabs and clearing tables is still the normal way to turn a table over. The 3-hour window is long enough not to cut a leisurely meal short.

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Card payments

Payment is handled by your installed payment app — Stripe (GBP / EUR / USD) or Razorpay (INR). StoreTalk never holds the money. For card-on-file tabs the card is saved securely at the provider and charged at the end; if a card needs extra authentication (3-D Secure) the guest is simply asked to confirm on the payment page. See Collecting payments.