Applying Discounts or Gratuities to an Open Check

The Gratuity/Misc $ tab in the Restaurant Check screen allows you to apply a gratuity (tip) and/or discounts to the check. These can be applied either as straight currency amounts or as a percentage of the check.

For gratuities in particular, whether you apply them before or after printing the check for payment depends on the situation.

For example, the check is for a large table and the restaurant has a policy of adding an automatic 20% gratuity to tables of 10 or more. Use this tab to post the additional charge to the check before printing it for payment.

Alternately, if the customer has added a tip to their payment, you could apply that amount in this tab after receiving payment from the customer, creating a zero balance for the check and no mistakes in posting amounts. The Note at the bottom of this topic explains why adding gratuity amounts after posting payments is often recommended.

There are three ways to view an open check to apply a discount or a gratuity - these are each done from the Checks section of the Point of Sale Menu:

• Click the Create/Open Check command, and select one of your tables (listed in blue) from the Table list. Then select an open check from the Checks list on the left.
• Click Quick Sale and select one of the open checks listed in the Checks list on the left.
• Use the Open Checks command to see a list of open checks, and select one to view.

Click the Gratuity/Misc $ tab to activate it.

Each of the boxes on the tab has its own "Post" button associated with it. This allows you to enter the gratuity amount/percentage as well as the discount amount/percentage and post each separately.

To apply a gratuity or discount to a check:

1. Click the Gratuity/Misc $ tab to activate it.
2. What you do next depends on the situation you are applying. The following are sample scenarios:

• If you must apply an automatic gratuity to the check, enter the amount or percentage into the appropriate Gratuity text box and click the associated Post Gratuity button to apply it to the check
• If the customer is using a coupon for the meal, or has requested an applicable discount (i.e., AARP, hotel guest), enter the amount or percentage into the appropriate Discount text box and click the associated Post Discount button to apply it to the check.
• If the customer has added a gratuity to their payment, you have the following additional options:
  • Enter the total amount paid into either the Amount Tendered field (if cash payment) or the Amount field (if other type of payment), and click Post. Then enter the remaining Total Due shown in the Postings as the Gratuity amount and click Post Gratuity. This should render a zero balance on the check.
  • Enter the gratuity amount written on the payment receipt and click Post Gratuity. Then apply the full payment amount as indicated in the instructions above.

NOTE: It is not uncommon for customers to simply write a Total amount to charge on their check, or to add the tip amount incorrectly. Regardless of which applies, the number entered by the customer in the Total space of the check is the amount that must be charged. For this reason, you may want to make a habit of using the first of the two bullets' instructions immediately above for applying customer-added gratuity to the check. This ensures that you don't attempt to apply a gratuity to the check that does not calculate to the total payment authorized by the customer.