The Held Orders feature in ABACUS POS is designed for businesses, particularly in hospitality, where not all items in an order need to be sent or served immediately. For instance, a customer might order a dessert but request it to be served later. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how to hold individual items or entire orders, manage held orders, and access them when needed.
Holding an Item in an Order
In ABACUS POS, you can hold individual items within an order, meaning they will not be sent to the kitchen or printer until specified. This feature is particularly useful for staggered orders, such as holding a dessert until after the main meal is served.
Send Items Now, Hold Some Later: Even when you press SEND, held items will not be sent until manually released or automatically timed to be sent.
Visual Cues: Held items are highlighted in yellow on the Point of Sale screen, differentiating them from items that are ready to be sent. The currently selected item will appear in blue for clarity.
Note: Ensure that you Enable Hospitality Mode in Settings.
After sending, go to Held Orders and tap the order tile to bring it to the Point of Sale screen.
How to Hold an Individual Item (Manual Hold)
To manually hold an item:
Swipe Left on the item in the order.
Press OPTIONS.
3. A pop-up will appear with time options to hold the item. Choose a specific duration (e.g., 5 minutes or 1 hour 15 minutes), after which the item will automatically be sent, or select LATER to hold the item indefinitely.
If you select LATER, you’ll need to manually release the item by accessing the Held Orders screen.
4. Once held, the item will be highlighted in yellow, indicating it is on hold and will not be sent until released.
Holding an Individual Item (Automatic Hold)
For frequently ordered items that are often held (e.g., desserts), you can set them to be automatically held.
Go to Product Details for the specific item.
Navigate to the Advanced Settings tab.
Scroll down and enable Held By Default.
Press SAVE.
Once this setting is enabled, any future orders containing this item will have it held by default, and it will appear highlighted in yellow until sent.
Holding a Whole Order
To hold the entire order, follow these steps:
After creating the order, press ORDER DETAILS.
2. A window will pop up with time options, allowing you to choose how long the order will be held (e.g., 5 minutes or 1 hour 15 minutes). You can also select LATER to hold the entire order indefinitely.
Similar to holding individual items, if you select LATER, you must manually release the order from the Held Orders screen.
3. When the order is held, none of the items will be sent until the specified time elapses, or you manually release them.
Accessing Held Orders on the Held Orders Screen
The Held Orders screen displays all orders that have been placed but not yet closed. This is useful for orders that are partially served, awaiting further items, or held for a future time.
Order Display: Held orders are displayed chronologically, with the oldest orders appearing at the top. A timer on the top-left of each order tile shows how long ago the order was placed. Even if new items are added to an existing order, it retains its original place in the sequence.
Order Information: Each order tile includes:
Cost: The total value of the order.
Order Time: The time when the order was first placed.
Type: The type of service (Eat-In, Takeaway, Delivery, Buzzer). For eat-in orders, the table number will be displayed, and for orders designated to buzzers, the buzzer number will be shown.
Customer: The customer’s name if entered during the order process.
Slave iPads vs. Master iPads
On Slave iPads, the Held Orders screen will only display orders placed on that particular device. For instance, in Restaurant Mode, only takeaway orders without a table number will appear on slave devices.
On the Master iPad, orders from all iPads in the system will be displayed.
Managing Held Orders
Accessing a Held Order: Tap any order on the Held Orders screen to bring it back to the Point of Sale screen. Items that have already been sent will be highlighted in grey, while held items remain highlighted in yellow.
Holding Again: If you access a held order but are not ready to complete it, make sure to press HOLD (where the SEND button usually is) to place the order back in the Held Orders screen.
New Orders: You can start a new order from the Held Orders screen by tapping NEW.
Updating Orders: Tap UPDATE to pull down any orders that may not have been synchronized from other terminals.
Searching for Held Orders: Use the search bar to find a specific order by entering the table number, order number, or customer name. Only held orders (incomplete transactions) will appear in the search results.
Customizing the Display of Held Orders
By default, once you finish viewing or working on an order, the system will return to the Table Map (if Restaurant Mode is enabled) or remain on the POS screen. However, if you prefer the system to return to the Held Orders screen instead, you can enable this feature.
Go to Settings > System > General.
Enable Focus on Held Orders.
With this setting enabled, the Held Orders screen will be the default view after managing or viewing a held order.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can I manually send an item that was held for a later time? Yes, you can manually release a held item by accessing it through the Held Orders screen and sending it from the Point of Sale screen.
2. What happens if I forget to hold an item and already pressed SEND? Once an item is sent, it cannot be held. Make sure to hold the item before pressing SEND. Alternatively, you can delete the sent item and re-add it to the order, then hold it.
3. Can I hold both individual items and entire orders at the same time? Yes, you can hold individual items or the entire order depending on the customer’s needs.
4. How long can I hold an item or an order? You can hold an item or order for a specified period (e.g., 5 minutes, 1 hour), or indefinitely by selecting LATER.
5. Can held orders be viewed on all iPads? Held orders are viewable on all devices, but slave iPads will only show orders initiated on that specific iPad, while the master iPad will display all orders.