QR table ordering for bars and cocktail bars

How does QR ordering work in a cocktail bar?

Each table or booth has its own QR code. A guest scans it with their phone camera, the menu opens in the browser, and they build the drink: the cocktail, a single or double, the gin they want, the tonic to go with it, and a note such as “less sweet” or “no garnish”. They can add a first name so the runner knows who it’s for, then send it.

The ticket appears on the bar screen with a chime and the table name in large type: “Booth 3”, “Window 2”, “Mezzanine 5”. Your bartender taps it into Making, builds the drinks, taps it to Ready, and a runner takes it out with the card machine. Guests pay at the table by card, contactless or cash.

The screen runs in a browser on a tablet, laptop or phone, so you can mount it wherever the bartenders can see it from the well.

Keep bartenders making drinks, not taking orders

In a busy bar, your most skilled person spends a surprising part of the night as an order-taker: leaning over the counter, repeating “sorry, which one?”, working out whether the tonic was slimline. Every one of those conversations is time not spent shaking, stirring or pouring.

With orders coming in by QR, the ticket already says what was ordered, in what size and with which mixer. The bartender reads, makes and moves on. Garnish preferences and dietary notes are written down rather than remembered. If you run a barback or a floor runner, they can watch the Ready lane and take drinks out while the bartender starts the next ticket.

None of this replaces the conversation a good bartender has with a regular. It just stops the bartender being the only way to place an order.

What happens to the late-night three-deep queue?

It shrinks to the people who actually want to be at the bar. After ten on a Friday, a crowd three deep is often groups who already have a table, sent up to fetch the next round. Give them a QR code and they stay seated; the bar is left for walk-ins and people who want to chat to the bartender.

The bar screen keeps the rush in order. Tickets line up in the New lane in the order they arrived, and each one carries a timer that turns orange after five minutes and pink after ten. When the room is loud and the queue is long, the colour tells the team which table has waited too long without anyone having to shout. Alcohol tickets show “Check ID”, so whoever runs the drinks out knows to look at anyone who seems young.

Cocktails, spirits and mixers on one menu

Bar menus are built from options, and the back office is set up for that. Rather than listing every gin and tonic combination, you create an option list once and attach it where it’s needed.

• A shared “Mixers” list (tonic, slimline tonic, lemonade, ginger ale, soda) attached to every spirit, edited in one place.
• Sizes per item: single or double for spirits; 125ml, 175ml, 250ml or the bottle for wine.
• Tags and details: ABV, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free tags, and the 14 UK allergens against each drink, which matters for cocktails with egg white or nut syrups.
• Sold-out toggles for the night the passion fruit runs out, plus optional stock counts that auto-mark an item sold out at zero, useful for a limited batch cocktail.

See the full list on the features page.

Happy hour and two-for deals, priced correctly

Happy hour is where hand-keyed orders go wrong: someone orders at 6:58, the drinks are made at 7:05, and nobody is sure which price applies. DrinksQR prices deals on the server, so the price is the price at the moment the guest sends the order.

You can run time-based happy hours, including ones that run past midnight for a late licence, multi-buys such as 2 cocktails for £12, and meal deals that pair a drink with food. Set them up once and they switch on and off by themselves. Our guide to deals and happy hour walks through each type.

What does QR ordering cost for a bar?

A single-room bar with up to 20 tables fits the Standard plan at £69 a month, with one bar screen. If you have a main bar and a terrace or a downstairs bar, the Large plan at £99 a month gives you up to 100 tables and multiple bar screens or service points. Your own colours, logo and font cost £20 a month extra, which most cocktail bars will want so the menu matches the room. Contracts are 12-month rolling, billed monthly.

See the pricing page for setup options, or read QR ordering vs table service if you’re deciding how far to take it. Running a pub rather than a bar? See QR ordering for pubs.