Table ordering systems for UK restaurants: handheld, QR code or both (2026 guide)
There are three ways to take an order at the table: a server with a handheld, the customer scanning a QR code, or a mix of the two. Each suits a different room. Here is what the customer sees, what the kitchen gets, and what it does to table turns.
- The three models and where each one fits
- Allergens, tips and pay at table done properly
- Table QR codes with no monthly fee; handheld £259
Written by the Posso team in Leicester · Reviewed by Paul Robinson, Managing Director · Last reviewed
Short answer
A table ordering system sends an order from the table straight to the kitchen, either from a server's handheld or from the customer's own phone after scanning a QR code on the table. A handheld suits a 40–60 cover restaurant where the server still sells the specials and times the courses; QR ordering suits a pub garden or a café with table numbers where staff cannot reach every table quickly; most busy sites end up running both. Typical UK pricing for the handheld is a tablet plus a software licence, and QR ordering is often charged as a monthly add-on or a per-order fee. Posso's table QR codes carry no separate monthly fee and the waiter pad is £259.
Key takeaways
- A handheld keeps the server in the sale; QR ordering removes the wait for a server to arrive.
- Pub gardens and large terraces gain most from QR ordering because staff cannot reach every table.
- Allergen filters, tips and pay at table must work in the customer's browser without an app download.
- Posso table QR codes carry no separate monthly fee and the waiter handheld is £259.
Takeaway: Match the model to the room: handhelds where service sells, QR codes where tables wait, and both where you have a garden and a dining room.
Why the ordering model matters more than the software
Most restaurants pick a table ordering system by comparing software. The decision that actually shapes the service is which model you run, and that depends on the room, not the vendor.
A 60-cover dining room with a £38 average spend lives on the server's recommendation. Someone who can describe the sea bass special and suggest the second bottle is the reason the average spend is £38 and not £29. Put a QR code on every table in that room and you have made ordering faster and the bill smaller. A pub garden with 30 picnic benches has the opposite problem: on a sunny Saturday the queue at the bar is twelve deep, half the tables have no idea who to wave at, and a group that waits fifteen minutes for a second round orders one fewer. There, the QR code is the extra member of staff you could not hire.
The mistake in both directions is choosing one model for the whole site because the software was sold that way. Decide room by room, then pick a system that runs both from one menu and one kitchen queue.
What a good table ordering system does
Six principles that hold whether the order comes from a handheld or the customer's phone.
Pick the model by the distance to the table
Walk your room at 7.45pm on a Saturday and count the tables a server cannot reach within two minutes. Inside a 50-cover restaurant with two on the floor, that number is close to zero and the handheld wins. In a garden of 30 benches or a terrace up a flight of stairs, it is most of them and QR ordering wins. A café with table numbers and counter service sits between: QR for a second coffee without queueing, counter for the first order. Many sites run a handheld inside and QR codes outside from the same system.
Put the whole menu in the browser, not in an app
Nobody downloads an app to order a pint. The customer scans the QR code with their phone camera, a web page opens with your menu, they add a burger with no onions and a Guinness, and pay. The whole flow should take under two minutes on a phone signal in a garden, with no account creation.
Filter allergens, do not just list them
A card on the table saying 'ask staff about allergens' does not work when the customer is ordering from their phone and staff are not there. The menu should let a customer filter out the 14 EU allergens they cannot eat, show the allergen flags on every item and modifier, and carry the note through to the kitchen ticket. A server with a handheld should see the same flags when the table says 'he's coeliac' so the answer is on the screen rather than in a run to the kitchen.
Let the table pay without finding anyone
The slowest part of most services is the fifteen minutes between 'can we have the bill' and the card machine arriving. Pay at table removes it. From a handheld, the server takes the card at the table in the same visit as the last check. From a QR code, the customer taps pay, splits the bill with the friends at the table and uses Apple Pay or Google Pay without waiting. Either way the table is free the moment they stand up, which is where the extra cover on a Saturday comes from.
Ask for the tip at the right moment
Tips fall when the customer pays without a person in front of them, unless the system asks well. The payment screen should offer three preset percentages and a custom amount, after the total is shown and before the card is tapped. On a £64 bill the difference between a screen that asks and one that does not is often the entire tip. Make sure tips are recorded separately from sales so they are reported and distributed correctly, and that a handheld prompts the same way a QR screen does.
Send every order into one kitchen queue
A QR order for table 14, a handheld order for table 6 and a collection from the website should appear on the same kitchen printer or kitchen display, in sequence, with the table number and course on the ticket. If QR orders go to a separate tablet, the kitchen has two queues and the 'where's our food' questions start. Second rounds from the same table should add to the open table bill, not open a new one, so the end of night report shows one bill per table.
Handheld, QR code or both: a comparison
The three models side by side, with typical UK pricing for the add-ons and Posso's figures in the last column.
| Server with handheld | Customer QR ordering | Both | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | 40–60 cover restaurants where the server sells | Pub gardens, terraces, cafés with table numbers | Sites with a dining room and a garden |
| Who takes the order | Server at the table | Customer in their phone browser | Server inside, customer outside |
| Upsell | Server recommends | Menu prompts and suggested add-ons | Both |
| Second round | Server returns to the table | Customer rescans or taps reorder | Either |
| Pay at table | Card on the handheld | Apple Pay, Google Pay or card in browser | Either |
| Typical UK cost elsewhere | Tablet plus per-device licence | Monthly add-on or per-order fee | Both charges |
| Posso | Waiter pad £259, no per-device licence | Table QR codes with no separate monthly fee | £259 per handheld, QR codes included |
Ranges are typical UK figures at October 2026; Posso prices are published on EPOS pricing.
What to ask a provider before you sign
Is there a monthly fee or a per-order fee for QR ordering?
Many systems sell QR ordering as a separate module with its own monthly charge, a per-order fee, or both. On a pub garden doing 400 QR orders on a sunny weekend, a per-order fee adds up fast. Ask for the figure in writing, ask whether it changes with volume, and ask whether the QR menu and the till menu are the same menu or two you maintain in parallel. The guide to EPOS hidden costs lists the other lines to check.
Does a QR order go into the same table bill as a handheld order?
A table that orders starters from the server and then a second bottle from the QR code should have one bill, not two. Ask the provider to demo exactly that: open a table from the handheld, add a QR order to it from a phone, then split and pay the whole bill. If the two orders cannot be joined, you will spend Saturday nights reconciling them by hand.
What does the customer see on a slow signal in the garden?
Take the demo QR code to the furthest table and order from your own phone on mobile data. Time it. The page should load in a few seconds, the menu should be readable without zooming, allergen filters should work, and payment should complete without a dropped step. If the demo only ever happens on the provider's Wi-Fi at the counter, you have not seen the product your customers will use.
The Posso approach to table ordering
Posso runs all three models from one till and one menu. The waiter pad is £259, with no per-device licence: order at the table, course firing, allergen flags on every item, split bills by item or share and card payment at the table through Posso Pay. Table QR codes are generated from the same system and carry no separate monthly fee. The customer scans, the menu opens in the browser in any of five languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian and Simplified Chinese), they filter the 14 EU allergens, order, add a tip and pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay or card.
Every order, whether from a handheld, a QR code, the counter or your online ordering site, lands in the same kitchen queue, on a printer or on the £399 kitchen display with station routing and item-level completion. Second rounds from a QR code add to the open table bill. The order at table app page shows the customer flow screen by screen.
Card payments run through Posso Pay, Posso's own merchant service, with rates from 1% + 10p quoted on your card turnover, and the same rate applies at the table, at the counter and online. Teya and Dojo terminals are also supported. If you also take bookings, TableMaestro puts the reservation on the same table plan the handheld uses. The whole system starts at £499 + VAT for the till, with software from £25 + VAT a month, and finance from £24.92 a week, subject to status. The compare EPOS systems hub sets out the alternatives.
Support is UK-based, Monday to Friday, 9am–9:30pm, with an urgent out-of-hours line for till-down issues, and the hardware carries a two-year warranty. Setup (menu build + configuration) is free; on-site installation for larger sites is priced on application. Systems are preconfigured and shipped plug-and-play.
Where to look elsewhere
If you run a 16-cover neighbourhood restaurant where the owner takes every order and knows every regular's allergy, a table ordering system adds a screen between you and your customers for no gain. A simple till and a card reader are the right answer until you add floor staff.
If your site is primarily a hotel with room service, minibar posting and a property management system to integrate, or a venue where retail stock control matters as much as food, look at systems built for that first. Posso runs on Windows and Android, so an iPad-only operation should also look elsewhere.
Related guides
Related guides
Drink order app and waiter pad
The product page for the handheld: order, fire, split and pay at the table.
Read the guideOrder at table app
What the customer sees after scanning a table QR code, screen by screen.
Read the guideEPOS system for a small restaurant
The kit list for 20–50 covers and what to leave off the quote.
Read the guideBest EPOS system for pubs
Wet-led sites, gardens and tabs: what a pub till must do differently.
Read the guideKitchen display system
How a kitchen screen sequences table, QR and online orders into one queue.
Read the guideThis is one part of the Posso EPOS system — the same till, kitchen display, ordering and card payments, set up for your type of venue. Every one-off and monthly cost is on the EPOS pricing page.
Table ordering systems — frequently asked questions
What is a table ordering system in a restaurant?
A table ordering system sends an order from the table to the kitchen without a walk to the till. There are two forms: a server carries a handheld and keys the order at the table, or the customer scans a QR code on the table and orders from their own phone in the browser. Both put the order on the kitchen printer or screen with the table number, and both can take payment at the table so the bill never has to be fetched.
Is QR code ordering a good idea for a restaurant?
It depends on the room. In a pub garden, on a terrace or in a café with table numbers, QR ordering removes the wait for a server and the queue at the bar, and second rounds get ordered that otherwise would not. In a 60-cover dining room where the server's recommendation drives the average spend, QR ordering usually lowers the bill. Many sites run a handheld inside and QR codes outside from the same menu.
How much does a table ordering system cost in the UK?
Elsewhere, a handheld is usually a tablet plus a per-device software licence, and QR ordering is often sold as a monthly add-on or a per-order fee on top of the till software, which typically runs £25–£70 a month. Posso's waiter pad is £259 with no per-device licence, table QR codes carry no separate monthly fee, and the till itself is £499 + VAT including the kitchen printer, receipt printer, cash drawer, menu build and training.
Do customers need to download an app to order from a QR code?
No, and they should not have to. The QR code opens your menu as a web page in the phone's browser; the customer orders, adds a tip and pays with Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card. A system that needs an app download or an account loses most of the table before the first drink. Test the flow on a cheap Android phone on mobile data, not on the provider's Wi-Fi.
How does a table ordering system handle allergens?
The menu should let the customer filter out any of the 14 EU allergens they cannot eat, show allergen flags on every item and modifier, and carry the note to the kitchen ticket. A server's handheld should show the same flags so the answer to 'is the risotto gluten free' is on the screen. 'Ask staff about allergens' on a card does not work when the customer is ordering from their phone and staff are elsewhere.
Does table ordering make tables turn faster?
It removes the two longest waits in a service: the wait for a server to take the order and the wait for the bill and card machine. The order reaches the kitchen the moment it is placed rather than after a walk to the till, second rounds are ordered without catching anyone's eye, and payment happens at the table. How much time that saves depends on how many tables a server was reaching late before, which is why gardens and terraces see the biggest change.
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