Available Serves Funtion

What You’ll Learn#

After reading this guide, you’ll be able to:

• Prevent overselling your daily specials and limited-stock items across all your tills
• Track portion counts in real time so your team always knows what’s available
• Automatically manage recipes that share ingredients (like ribs used in multiple meals)

What You’ll Need#

Before you start using Available Serves, make sure you have:

• Manager or admin access to your Back Office settings
• One primary till that will act as your master counter (stays on during service)
• All tills on the same network (connected to the same WiFi or ethernet)
• Product buttons set up on your till keyboard with a number pad
• A fixed network address for your primary till (either a static IP or a reserved address from your router)

Understanding Available Serves#

What This Feature Does#

Available Serves helps you track exactly how many portions you have left for specific menu items—and updates all your tills in real time as sales happen.

Here’s a real-world example:

The Harbour Grill prepares 30 portions of their Chef’s Special each day. When a server adds the special to an order on Till 1, all the other tills immediately see the count drop to 29. When the kitchen runs low, they can set the count to 0 so staff stop selling it.

When to Use Available Serves#

How the System Works#

The Counter That Syncs Everywhere#

Available Serves uses a primary till (your master device) that keeps track of all your counts and shares updates with every other till instantly.

How Recipes Work Automatically#

Real-world example:

Joe’s Steakhouse sells a “Surf & Turf Combo” that uses 1 steak + 1 lobster tail. Here’s how the system calculates what’s available:

• Steaks on hand: 20
• Lobster tails on hand: 35
• Surf & Turf combos available: 20 (limited by the steaks)

When 1 combo is sold:

• Steak count: 20 → 19
• Lobster count: 35 → 34
• Combos available: 20 → 19 (automatically recalculated)

What If a Recipe Has Its Own Limit?#

Example:

The Beach Cafe makes a “Ribs Platter” using 2 half racks. They have 40 half racks in the kitchen, but they only made 15 portions of their special BBQ sauce.

• Half racks available: 40 (enough for 20 platters)
• BBQ sauce portions: 15
• Platters available: 15 (limited by the sauce)

Setting Up Available Serves#

Step 1: Choose Your Primary Till#

Pick a till that:

• Stays powered on during your entire service period
• Has a reliable network connection
• Is in a central location (like your main POS station)

Step 2: Configure It in Back Office#

1. Go to Back Office (your admin settings area)
2. Navigate to Settings → Location Settings (or Till Configuration)
3. Find the Available Serves section
4. Enter these two pieces of information:

Step 3: Set Up Your Network Address#

You need a fixed address for your primary till so other tills can always find it:

Step 4: Verify the Connection#

Managing Your Serve Counts#

Setting a Count for the First Time#

When to use this: You’re starting the day and want to set how many portions you have.

Example: The Riverside Bistro prepped 25 portions of their fish special.

1. Enter 25 on the number pad
2. Press and hold the Fish Special button on your till
3. Select “Set Available Serves”

Result: The number 25 appears at the top-left of the button. All tills now show this count.

Adding or Subtracting from the Current Count#

When to use this: The kitchen just prepped more portions, or you need to remove some that were damaged.

Example: You currently have 15 portions, and the kitchen just made 10 more.

1. Enter 10 on the number pad
2. Press and hold the product button
3. Select “Add”

Result: Count changes from 15 to 25.

To subtract: Follow the same steps but choose “Subtract” instead.

Stopping Sales When You Run Out#

When to use this: You’re sold out or the item is temporarily unavailable.

Example: The Harbour Grill ran out of their special mid-service.

1. Enter 0 on the number pad
2. Press and hold the product button
3. Select “Set Available Serves”

Result: The button shows 0—staff can no longer add it to orders.

Removing Serve Limits#

When to use this: An item is back in full stock and no longer needs tracking.

Example: Yesterday’s special is now a regular menu item with plenty of stock.

1. Press and hold the product button (no number needed)
2. Select “Delete Available Serves”

Result: The count disappears and the item can be sold without restrictions.

Resetting Counts#

Automatic Reset Each Day#

Example: If your trading day starts at 6:00 AM, all counts set yesterday are cleared at 6:00 AM.

What this means: You’ll need to re-enter counts each morning for daily specials.

Manual Reset at End of Shift#

When you run a Z Read (shift report) on your last connected till, you’ll see this prompt:

“Reset Available Serves?”

Common Questions#

Q: Can I use Available Serves without enabling Mesh?

Yes. Available Serves works on its own—you don’t need Mesh active (though Mesh does help with other sales data syncing).

Q: What happens if the primary till loses power?

Serve counts will stop updating across tills until the primary till reconnects. Always use the most reliable till as your primary.

Q: Do I need buttons for every ingredient in a recipe?

Only if you want to set direct counts on those ingredients. The system calculates recipe availability automatically based on any components that have counts set.

Q: Can I set serves from any till?

Yes—once the primary till is configured, you can manage serve counts from any connected till.

Q: Why is my count different than what I entered?

The displayed count = Total you set – Items currently in open orders. If 3 servers have the item in active sales, your count will be 3 lower than what you set.

Next Steps#

Now that Available Serves is set up, here’s what to do:

1. Train your team on the basic workflows (set count, stop selling, adjust count)
2. Set up your daily routine for entering morning prep counts
3. Create a process for kitchen staff to update counts as they prep throughout the day
4. Review your Z Read reports to see which items sell out and adjust prep accordingly