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Opening a table starts a session — a new bill container that will hold orders, discounts, splits, and payments until the guests leave.

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Overview

You open a table when:
  • A group is seated at a permanent table (reservation or walk-up).
  • A temporary table is created for a walk-in and needs its first session.
  • A previously closed table is being re-seated.
You do not open a table if it’s already active, merged, or reserved — see the exceptions below.

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Open a free table

  1. Tap a Free card on the Floor view.
  2. The Open New Session sheet slides up.
Open session

Open New Session sheet — set guest count and confirm

  1. Enter the Guest Count using the − / + stepper. Default is 2. Minimum is 1. There is no maximum — a 4-seat table can seat 6.
  2. Tap Open Session.
The card immediately flips to Occupied on your floor plan and the modal transitions you to the Menu view so you can start Taking Orders.

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What happens on open

  • A new row is inserted in table_sessions linked to your staff_member_id.
  • The table status flips from free → occupied.
  • A LAN broadcast fires so the POS terminal, other waiters, and the Kitchen Display all see the new session within a second.
  • Your device caches the optimistic session immediately.

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Offline opening

If your tablet is offline when you tap Open Session, DishInk does not fail — it goes through the offline-first path:
  1. An optimistic session is created locally (via createOptimisticSession).
  2. The table’s local cache is patched to occupied.
  3. An open_session operation is enqueued in the offline queue with your staff ID.
  4. A LAN broadcast still fires so nearby devices on the same Wi-Fi see the change.
  5. A toast appears: “Table opened offline · Table 7”.
  6. When connectivity returns, the queued operation replays via the table-management edge function.
You can add items, send them to the kitchen, and request the bill — all offline. Everything syncs when you’re back online.
Optimistic sessions carry a temporary local ID. Once the real session is created on the server, DishInk seamlessly swaps the ID in the cache. You will not notice.

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Special cases

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Merged tables

If you tap a table that has been merged into another, the Merged Table Notice modal appears:
Table 5 has been merged. Its bill has been combined into Table 4. Orders and payment now happen from there.
Tap Go to Table 4 to jump straight to the primary table’s session. See Merging Tables.

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Reserved tables

Reserved tables cannot be opened by tapping them directly. Instead, tap Open in the Table Session modal — DishInk clears the reservation and creates the session in one step. See Reservations.

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Tables with a stale cache

Rarely, a table may appear Free locally but be Occupied on the server (another device opened it while you were offline). When you tap Open Session:
  • If online: the server rejects the double-open. You’ll see the existing session load instead.
  • If offline: your optimistic open is queued. On reconnect, the queue processor detects the conflict and either merges your cart into the existing session or discards the duplicate open — with a toast explaining what happened.

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Adjusting the guest count later

You can change the guest count anytime from the session’s Manage view. It’s used for:
  • Per-guest reports.
  • Automatic split-bill suggestions (“Split 4 ways”).
  • Analytics (turnover, average check per guest).
Adjusting it does not affect the bill total.

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Tips & best practices

Set the guest count accurately at open. Even if you don’t split by guest later, kitchen and manager reports rely on it.
Open the table before you take the order. Waiters sometimes take the order at the table and then open, which risks losing items if the tablet crashes mid-order — the cart persists per table, but only if the table exists.
If a group is undecided (e.g. “we might get a few more”), open with the current count. Adjust upward when they’re settled.

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Common mistakes

  • Opening the wrong table. Close it back to Free (see Closing Tables) or leave it and open the correct one — the empty session won’t cause billing issues.
  • Opening a merged table. Blocked with the Merged Notice modal; go to the primary instead.
  • Forgetting to open before ordering on a temporary table. Fine — temporary tables auto-prompt the Open Session modal when you tap them.
Last modified on July 19, 2026