How to take canteen orders at the counter?

"Using Google Forms for school lunch orders"- Google Docs Editors Community

This is a common question for school canteens: 22 people on Google's forum have asked about using Google Forms for school lunch orders. At the counter, though, a Google Form is slow. Staff scroll through the whole menu for each student, there's no running total, and after every order they start again from a blank form while the line builds. With Neartail, the same order form also runs as a point of sale. Staff search for an item, add it to the cart and see the total, submit, then click Place another order for the next student. Every order goes to your ORDERS tab, so nobody adds anything up afterwards.

Let's start. Create your canteen form and follow the steps below.

1. Create your canteen form

Click Create a canteen form and sign in. Check your form's title, language and currency and click Proceed. You land on the form's Edit tab. If it asks "Do you want to preview this form?", click No.
The screen with Enter your own title, Select language and Select currency, with the Proceed button marked

2. Open the POS form at the counter

In your form, click SHARE, then click Link. Under POS form, click Copy and open the link on the counter's tablet. When it says "To proceed, you need to be logged in.", click Login.
The Link tab of Share on Lunch order form, with the POS form link https://near.tl/pos/SO33XtPeC and Link and its Copy button marked

3. Search for the item

Click Search products and type a name in Search for products. Click the item to go straight to it.
The search panel with chicken typed in, listing Chicken rice at $4.50 and Chicken wrap at $4.00 in Mains, with Chicken rice marked

4. Add it to the cart

Click the cart icon on each item. Your Cart shows what the student ordered and the total.
The Point of sale page with Chicken rice, Veg pasta, Fruit cup and Orange juice, the cart icon on Fruit cup marked and Your Cart with an Order Amount of $6.00

5. Go on to the next student

Fill in the student's details and submit the form. The order goes to your ORDERS tab. Click Place another order and the page is ready for the next student.
A green tick, the message Your order has been placed successfully and the Place another order button marked

Summary

Taking orders at a counter with a Google Form means scrolling the menu, adding up by hand and starting from a blank form for every order. With Neartail's POS form, staff search for the item, add it to the cart with the total showing and go straight on to the next order. Create your canteen form and complete the steps above.

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