Bar or lounge

A bar or lounge runs tabs in its guests' names, sells spirits by the measure, keeps to its licensed hours and counts the bar at every shift.

A bar or lounge serves drinks at the counter and the tables, often late into the night, and lets customers pay once when they leave. Kila treats it as a restaurant with a bar’s words and a bar’s rules: alcohol sells only to adults and only in the licensed hours.

What is special

Tabs. A bill is a tab, opened in the guest’s name with their first round: Run a tab. For alcohol, the till asks for the ID check once per tab.
Licensed hours. The till shows today’s hours for alcohol, such as Alcohol 17:00 to 02:00 at The Vault Lounge on a Friday. See Selling alcohol.
Measures and pour cost. Spirits sell by the single, the double and the bottle from one bottle in stock, and the bar is counted at the start and end of each shift: Count the bar and read the variance.
The bar’s own pages. The Kitchen and floor menu adds Bar: measures, counts and variance, Door, and Empties and crates.

How Kila sets it up

The main screen is Tables and tabs.

Rules it follows:

Alcohol: Licence, age checks and licensed trading hours
Food safety: Expiry, waste, temperature and hygiene checks

Its words:

Most businesses	Bar or lounge
customer	guest
product	drink
sale	order
bill	tab
branch	outlet
staff	bartender

Its set-up steps

Business details, KRA PIN and licence
Liquor licence: number, class, county, expiry and hours
Outlets, areas, tables and VIP tables
Menu: categories, items, options, prices
Bottles sold by measure: tots, doubles and bottles
Kitchen and bar stations and printers
Opening stock of ingredients and drinks
Opening bar count by bottle
Suppliers
Staff and their roles: waiters, kitchen, cashiers
M-Pesa till or paybill
Reservations: tables kept, deposits, no-shows
Delivery apps (Glovo, Uber Eats, Bolt Food)
Door and entry charges (if you charge entry)
QR codes on the tables (optional)
First order

Its home page

Last night: sales, covers, cash-ups and the log
Open bills now, their value and the oldest
The door tonight
Bills waiting to pay or to close
Bills by waiter
Reservations today
The waitlist now
Today’s briefing and the log
Sales today by outlet and by hour
Top menu items; items out of stock
Pour cost
Bar variance by count
Off today (86)
Food cost this week
Labour cost against sales
Delivery apps today
Waste and write-offs today
Approvals and reviews waiting
Payments waiting for confirmation
Licences, permits and returns due

Roles it starts with

Waiter: Opens tabs for guests on Kila Floor, adds rounds, prints the bill and sends an M-Pesa prompt at the table; hands their tabs over at shift change; the cashier closes them. No discounts, voids or refunds.
Bartender: Serves at the bar, runs tabs and their own shift, takes M-Pesa at the table, counts the bar (open bottles by tenths or weight) and switches drinks off when they run out. No discounts or refunds.
Kitchen: Works the kitchen display, bumping tickets item by item; makes the prep list; switches dishes off for the day, records waste and completes kitchen checklists. No sales.
Head chef: Runs the kitchen: tickets and the pass, recipe cards and plate costs, the 86 list, waste, kitchen counts and requisitions from the store. No sales or prices.
Host: Works the host stand: the reservation book and the waitlist, deposits, texts when a table is ready, seats guests (opening their tab) and looks after guest records. No payments or discounts.
Floor supervisor: Runs the floor: moves and hands over tabs between waiters, fires courses, keeps the reservation book, the 86 list, the briefing and the log, clears waiters at the end of their shift, approves discounts and removals within limits, reviews shifts. No settings or refunds approval.
Door: Works the door: takes entry charges on their own shift, keeps the headcount against capacity and checks ages. Nothing else at the till.

Where to go next

Restaurants and bars: everything a bar needs.
Selling alcohol: the ID check, licensed hours and the licence.