The Sofrito guide
How to set up and run a restaurant with Sofrito: from planning the hardware and building the menu to a full night of service and the close of the day.
Get started
- 01How Sofrito worksUnderstand what each Sofrito screen is for, how Sofrito Cloud and Sofrito Hub differ, who uses what, and how a day of service runs.
- 02Plan your setupChoose Sofrito Cloud or Sofrito Hub, the screens and printers for your kind of restaurant, and prepare the network, internet and power before you buy anything.
- 03Create your restaurantCreate your restaurant on Sofrito Cloud or on a Sofrito Hub, sign in to the back office, connect your first device and try the demo restaurant.
Set up
- 04Build your menuPut your whole menu into Sofrito, with categories, dishes, options, allergens, kitchen stations, special prices and sold-out dishes.
- 05Draw your floor planDraw each room, terrace and bar with its tables, so staff can open tables from the floor plan and see how every table is doing at a glance.
- 06Your team, roles and PINsAdd everyone who works with you, give each person a PIN and a role, decide what each role may do, and keep track of the hours they work and the tips they are owed.
- 07Devices, printers and stationsConnect your tills, handhelds, kitchen display, customer display and pickup board, add your receipt, kitchen and label printers, print through a computer when the server can't reach a printer, send each dish to the right station and set up your cash drawers.
- 08Payment methods, tips and service chargeChoose how guests can pay, set up card and mobile payments, gift cards and house accounts, decide how tips are asked for and shared, round cash, add service charges, and let staff put the customer's tax number on a receipt.
- 09Taxes, receipts and legal documentsSet up your tax rates and tax categories, put your business details on every receipt, choose your documents and what receipts show, and understand the legal documents, day closes and tax files Sofrito keeps for you.
Run service
- 10Open for serviceUnlock the till with your PIN, clock in, open the cash drawer with a float and check that printers, screens and handhelds are ready before the first guest arrives.
- 11Table serviceRead the floor plan, open and block tables, take orders by seat and course, send them to the kitchen, hold courses until you fire them and manage the check from the till or a handheld.
- 12Counter, takeaway and pickupRing up quick sales and takeaway orders with the guest's name, follow every order in the Orders list, hand orders over at the pickup point and use the pickup board and the customer display.
- 13The kitchen displayGive each station its screen or printer, read and bump tickets during service, and make sure servers know the moment their food is ready.
- 14Taking paymentTake cash, card, mobile money, gift cards and house accounts, split the bill evenly, by amount or by item, add tips, correct a payment, give an invoice with the customer's tax number, sell gift cards, and print, reprint and look up receipts.
- 15Voids, discounts, refunds and approvalsRemove and void items, give comps and discounts, change prices, refund and reopen paid orders and open the drawer without a sale, with a manager's approval where your role needs it, and find every one of them in the reports and the audit log.
- 16Bookings and the waitlistTake bookings on the till or in the back office, follow each one from booked to seated, keep a waitlist for walk-ins and plan the day's covers.
- 17Close the dayRecord the cash taken in and out of the drawer, pay out tips, count and close the drawer, close the business day with a Z report, and understand every figure on the cash and day reports.
Manage the business
- 18Dashboard and reportsRead today's figures on the dashboard, answer questions about sales, dishes, staff, voids and kitchen times for any dates, and export every report to a spreadsheet.
- 19Stock, recipes and suppliersKeep track of the ingredients and supplies you buy, link recipes to your dishes and their options so sales use up stock, count the shelves, and order from suppliers when stock runs low.
- 20Guests, loyalty and gift cardsKeep a guest book with preferences and allergies that reach the kitchen, reward regulars with loyalty points, sell and manage gift cards, run house accounts, and handle guests' personal data with care.
- 21Settings, section by sectionA reference to every section of Settings in the back office, what each setting changes, who may change it, and where to find the step-by-step instructions.
- 22Sofrito Hub and working offlineKnow what keeps working when the internet drops, and look after a Sofrito Hub: run it as a service, keep and restore backups, update it, link it to Sofrito Cloud and move it to a new computer.
- 23Security, the audit log and your dataKeep the back office and the tills safe, follow who did what in the audit log, connect your own tools with API keys, export your data, and close a Sofrito Cloud account.
- 24For partners and installersUse the partner portal to add restaurants for your clients, hand them over ready to use, put your own brand on them, link restaurants with your referral code, and see which ones need your help.
Appendices
- 25Quick cards for every roleOne card per role, with what each person does in a shift, the buttons they use, what needs a manager, and what to check at the start and end of a shift.
- 26Troubleshooting and questionsWhat to do when something goes wrong, with the exact message Sofrito shows, why it happens and how to fix it, then answers to the questions owners ask most.
- 27Country notesWhat Sofrito sets up and does in each of its 32 countries, and what each restaurant must still confirm with its accountant.
- 28GlossaryEvery word you meet in Sofrito and in this guide, from 86 to Z report, explained in one plain sentence.