Payments
How Pay-at-Table Can Reduce Checkout Friction
Checkout friction is every wait between "we are ready to leave" and walking out of the door: catching a server's eye, waiting for the bill, checking it, working out who owes what, waiting for the card machine, adding a tip, waiting for a receipt. Pay-at-table removes the waits that depend on a member of staff noticing the table: guests ask for the bill from their own phones and say how they want it split before anyone comes over. Where the restaurant takes card payments in the menu, a guest can also pay for an order by card as they place it. It does not remove the need for a clear bill, staff who answer bill requests quickly, or staff who notice when a table has paid.
Where the time goes at the end of a meal
| Wait | With a server and a card machine | With pay-at-table |
|---|---|---|
| Asking for the bill | Catch someone's eye | Open the bill from the menu |
| Getting the bill | Wait for it to be printed and brought | It is already on the phone |
| Splitting | Arithmetic, then one card at a time | The split is chosen on the phone; staff see the amounts |
| The card machine | Wait for the terminal to come round | An order can be paid by card on the phone, where the restaurant takes card payments |
| Tip and receipt | Another exchange with the server | The tip is added when asking for the bill |
Pay first or pay at the end?
Paying when ordering suits counters, cafés and quick service: nobody waits for a bill because there is none. Paying at the end suits table service, where guests order in rounds. Pay-at-table helps most in the second case, because that is where the waits pile up.
Friction pay-at-table can add
- A payment page that is slow or confusing — keep it short, with the total and the share clearly visible.
- A bank confirmation step: the guest's bank may ask them to approve the payment in its app.
- Guests who do not know it exists — tell them early, on the table card and when serving drinks.
- Staff who cannot see that a table has paid — and ask again, which annoys everyone.
- Guests who would rather pay a person — keep cash and the card machine.
Set it up so it feels effortless
- One QR code per table, so the bill on the phone is the right one.
- A maximum tip, so a slip of the thumb cannot become an awkward refund.
- A clear way for staff to see paid, part-paid and unpaid tables.
- A fallback: guests can always ask for the bill and pay the usual way.
The basics are in what pay-at-table is.
The waits earlier in the visit are covered in how to speed up table turnover.
Pay-at-table with Thmenu
With Thmenu, a guest asks for the bill of their table from the menu, can add a tip, and chooses how it should be split — the whole bill, only what their phone ordered, an equal share, a percentage or a set amount. Staff are notified with the table, the amount and the chosen split, and settle the bill the usual way. Where you take card payments through Stripe, a guest can also pay for their order by card when placing it, on a checkout hosted by Stripe, which handles card authentication and decides which wallet buttons appear; the paid order is marked as paid for staff. Card payment needs a Stripe account in a country Stripe supports for this kind of payment and card payments switched on in Settings; elsewhere, guests order and ask for the bill from the menu and pay at the venue as usual.