User manual

Getting started

When you create your restaurant account, a setup wizard walks you through loading the business details, the tables in the room and the initial catalog: categories, priced dishes and, if you use them, modifier groups (for example “steak doneness” or “extras”). When you finish you land in the admin panel, where everything is configured and monitored. Floor and kitchen staff use the same web address to sign in with the credentials the admin creates for them.

Roles & access

Ember has four roles. The Admin configures the catalog and the operation, manages staff and sees the analytics. The Server works the room: opens and closes tables, adds items, takes payment and runs the cash close. Kitchen sees only the ticket screen. The Guest has no account: they join the table by QR or code and only see their own cart. The admin creates each person and assigns their role; everyone sees only what their role allows.

Floor & tables

The floor view is a map of every table in the room with its live status: free or occupied, and how many guests are seated. From there the server opens a table session, assigns it, merges or splits tables, and frees it when the bill closes. Everything syncs instantly across devices, so two servers never see different states for the same table.

Collaborative cart

The guest joins their table session by scanning the QR or entering a 5-character code in the phone browser, with no app to install. Everyone at the table shares the same cart and watches it update in real time as each person adds dishes. Each participant confirms and pays their own share, or the server charges the whole table. On confirmation, the order goes straight to the kitchen.

Kitchen display (KDS)

Every confirmed order appears on the kitchen screen and moves through controlled states: Pending → Preparing → Ready → Delivered. The kitchen taps each card to move its state and the change reflects instantly on the server panel. Orders that sit too long without progress flag themselves. You can run one screen per station — say kitchen and bar — each showing only what belongs to it.

Bills & payments

From a table panel the server sees everything ordered, adds manual items that did not go through the cart, and splits or merges bills depending on how the guests want to pay. Each payment is recorded with its method. At the end of the shift the cash close with reconciliation is done: Ember compares what should be in the drawer against what the server counts. The shift has a closing time; if it passes, Ember warns and asks to close or extend it before taking more cash.

Analytics

The admin analytics panel shows total sales, average check and top-selling products, with day, week, month and year filters. It also breaks down performance by product, by table and by server, so you can see what sells, which table turns most and how each team member is doing. The data updates as payments come in.

Ticket & receipt printing

Ember prints kitchen tickets and customer receipts through a print agent running on a computer in the venue. The agent connects network or Windows-queue printers and receives jobs automatically when an order is confirmed or a table is charged. It supports thermal (ESC/POS) printers and also regular driver printers, for venues without a dedicated thermal one. It is set up once, assigning each printer to a role (kitchen, bar, register).

Restaurant configuration

In Settings the admin adjusts the branding guests see (logo and colors), the ticket format, the full catalog (categories, dishes, prices and modifier groups), tables and rooms, staff and their roles, printers and the business details. Every settings screen has a help button that opens a guided tour of that section.

Troubleshooting

The guest cannot join by QR: check that the table has an open session and the phone has internet; you can always read them the table’s 5-character code.

The printer does not print: make sure the computer running the print agent is on and connected, the printer has paper, and it is assigned to the right role in Settings.

An order does not show in the kitchen: only confirmed orders are sent; anything left in the cart unconfirmed does not go through. Also check the screen is set to the right station.

“Cash shift overdue”: the shift has passed its closing time. Run the cash close with reconciliation, or extend the shift if service is still going.

You cannot see a module or an action: it is almost always because your role has no access to that part. Ask the admin to check your role.