Tables, tabs and splitting the bill on the Servatto Register
11 November 2026
A table of six has finished brunch. Two want to pay for their own, one is paying for the kids, and the last person has already gone to the car. At the counter that turns into a calculator, a pen and someone's patience.
The Servatto Register has tables, seats, saved tabs and a split screen built in. Here's how they fit together, and the one thing to know before you rely on splitting.
Draw the room once
Under Tables you can set a number of tables, or draw a floor plan. Each table has a name, a number of seats, a size and a position, and can be rectangular or round. If you have more than one area, such as indoor, outdoor or the bar, put the tables into sections, each with its own name and colour.
The floor plan is shared by every till at the shop, so you draw it once and the second till sees the same room.
Start a table, or save a tab
From Open orders, tap a free table to start a bill for it. Or ring up an order as usual, tap Save, and choose a tab or a table. Give it a name ("Sam, blue shirt") or pick the table, and the till confirms it's saved and where to find it.
Open orders groups what's waiting: phone orders, tabs, other table bills, and the tables on their own panel at the side.
Two things worth knowing:
- A saved bill goes to the kitchen board straight away, marked unpaid, and flips to paid in place when it's settled. The kitchen doesn't wait for the money, and doesn't get a second ticket when it comes.
- Saved bills live on the till where they were saved. If you can't find a tab, check the other till. The kitchen board can still see it.
Seats
At a table you can put items on seats as you go: the eggs on seat 1, the pancakes and the babyccino on seat 3. You don't have to. But if anyone at the table might want to pay for their own, it's the easiest way to set up a split by seat later.
Splitting the bill
When the table is ready to pay, tap Pay, then Split. Type the first amount, pick how that part is being paid, and the rest opens ready for the next person. The top of the screen keeps count: Paid, Left to pay and Change.
If you'd rather split the bill itself, Separate bills is one tap away, with three ways to do it:
- Evenly, for "just split it four ways"
- By items, where each person pays for what they had
- By seat, using the seats you set when you took the order (put items on at least two seats first)
Some details the till handles for you:
- Discounts are shared across the parts, so a 10% discount on the bill doesn't land on whoever pays first.
- Surcharges, tips and notes stay with the split bill. Your weekend or public holiday surcharge doesn't drop off because the bill was split.
- Cash parts are rounded to 5c, and the change is worked out from the rounded amount.
- The kitchen still sees one order. A split bill stays one ticket on the Kitchen board and counts up ("Paid 1 of 3") until it's fully paid, rather than turning into three new orders.
A couple of cases where the till will ask you to do it another way. If a bill has a service charge that can't be divided cleanly by item, it tells you to split it evenly instead. If Rewards points are on the bill, take them off before splitting.
Once a part is paid, the bill is locked
As soon as one part is paid, the bill can't be changed, split again or cleared. That's deliberate. It stops someone editing a bill that's half paid for. If you need to change it, finish paying it, or take a part back, which needs a manager's PIN.
If every part is paid but the bill hasn't closed, the till shows a Finish button. Tap it once the till is online.
Split payments need the internet
This is the part to plan for. Splitting a payment needs a connection. Without one, the till says "Split payments need the internet. Check the connection and try again."
Cash sales carry on when the internet drops, but if a big table wants to split while you're offline, the honest options are one person paying the whole bill or waiting for the connection to come back. It's worth telling staff that before a busy weekend, not during one.
A short checklist
- Draw the floor plan once, with sections if you have more than one area.
- Get staff into the habit of putting items on seats for groups who might pay separately.
- Practise one split of each kind (evenly, by items, by seat) before a busy service.
- Make sure a manager knows how to take back a paid part.
- Tell the team that splits need the internet.
The Servatto Register has no monthly fee: servatto.com. Setup help is at [email protected].
Servatto publishes this post and sells the software described in it.