How to Check Order Accuracy Before the Guest Leaves

To check order accuracy at a counter-service restaurant, compare what the guest ordered with what went into the bag or onto the tray, at the moment it's handed over. The order is on the POS ticket. The bag is on camera at the pass. Lining the two up for every order shows which items go missing or wrong most often, at which store and which hour, before the refunds and reviews arrive.

Why you hear about wrong orders last

Most stores find out an order was wrong when the guest calls, asks for a refund in a delivery app, or posts a review. By then the guest has left with it, and the report rarely says which item, which station or what time. Complaints undercount it too: plenty of guests with a missing side never say anything and just don't come back.

Where orders go wrong

• Missing items: the side, the drink or the sauce that never made it into the bag.
• Wrong modifiers: no onions on the ticket, onions on the sandwich.
• The wrong bag to the wrong guest: two orders with the same name or number on the pass.
• Mobile and delivery orders, packed between dine-in tickets with nobody at the counter to check them.

Check it at the handoff

The pass is the last place an order can be fixed cheaply. A camera over it sees what goes into the bag and when it's handed over, and the POS ticket says what should be there. TableIQ pairs the two, so each order is checked against its ticket and the misses add up by item, by store and by hour. The GM gets a text when a store's misses climb, with the clips to show the crew.

Fix the item, not the whole line

Once misses are counted by item, the fix is usually small: a sauce kept on the wrong side of the pass, or a drink station the bagger can't see from where they stand. Fix that one thing and check the count again the next week.

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