Preliminary Steps Before Operating the POS
First, make sure you have gone through the necessary steps to Setting Up Your POS.
Second, make sure you have set up bottles, bottles to go, glasses, and flights with pricing, ounces, discounts, and benefits. Add Inventory and products if you have not yet.
POS Operations Guide
This article provides a general overview of how to work with the VinesOS point-of-sale system.
Set your Location
Inventory tracking will be based on the POS location that you set. It is done once until there is a session reset, such as if you clear your cookies. Choose your location in the bottom right section of the POS screen. As you make sales, it will assign the inventory from this location.
Opening Till
When staff first opens the POS, they should click the Open Till button, and then select their Cash Drawer, enter the starting dollar amount in the Till.
The cash drawer can only be opened by one specific iPad, browser, or device at a time. Once it is opened on that device, it has to be closed on that particular iPad, browser, or device.
At the start of the day, or whenever cash is used, the staff will click Open Till. If this is not opened, the cash option will not appear on the checkout. The popup will ask for a count of the current cash in the drawer. Enter the individual counts of each bill and coin denomination. The software automatically tallies the total amount of cash based on individual counts.
If the drawer has already been opened and tied to a specific device or browser, it will be grayed out and can not be selected, since it is already open.
To accept payment by cash, staff will need to close the order on that device or start a new cash drawer from another device.
Setting Printer
In the Set Printer section, you will see a list of available printers in the dropdown for the POS. Select your desired location to print to.
Starting an Order
You can start a new POS order by (see screenshot below):
IMPORTANT: When working in the POS, you should only ever have one browser open at a time, not multiple windows or tabs. Having more than one window open could cause an order to close prematurely, leaving the ticket in unpaid status.
1. Clicking on a product to add it as a line item in the cart (bottle to go, flight, club release, etc).
2. A green checkmark briefly flashes over the item to indicate it has been added.
3. To change the quantity, click on the quantity box, and select a new quantity from the dropdown or click the keyboard icon to manually enter a quantity. Add as many items as you want and the Sub Total, Tax, and Total will reflect your additions.
4. If you have the Product Upsells feature, click the heart icon to view additional recommended products.
Discounting, Price Override, or Adding a Comp to an Order
Discounts can only be applied based on Staff settings. Each staff must be set to have permission to discount an order.
If this is enabled, press the blue MODIFY button on any open order.
Set the discount to be a dollar amount OR a percent amount using the drop-down on the dollar field on the right.
Enter the amount.
Set the discount to either:
Override the member volume discount (regular member discount)
Override the non-member volume discount (such as a case discount for guests)
Override the sale discount (if an item is on sale, this discount will stack or replace it, if toggled on, it will be instead of the sale price)
Override tax by toggling on Wholesale Order.
Price Override
If an admin user has the Enable price override feature enabled in their profile, they can override a price within the POS on the fly for a specific transaction. Once enabled, add wine to the POS cart, click on the wine price, then input the override price and click Apply.
Comp a Flight
If you want to offer a complimentary tasting flight to your customers when they purchase a certain amount of wine or other products, you can use the Comp button. When you add the flight to the order, and then click the Comp icon, a modal window will pop up and you can set the number of flights to Comp.
Add a Member or Customer to the Order
You can either add a member to a new order or start the order and then add the customer. Click the 'Customers' button at the top right. You can now search for or add a customer.
Add a New Member/Customer on the POS
After clicking on 'Customers' in the upper right corner of your POS home screen, click on the 'Create new customer' button. All fields with an asterisk are required. You can also toggle on 'Confirmed over 21' when you may not have the exact birthday on file but are certain the client is over 21. This will allow you to ship without an error popping up. If they are becoming a member, select which club they are joining.
You can populate the Significant Other fields if you'd like to give that member the option to have a spouse pick up orders or take advantage of benefits in the tasting room. If a member has a significant other name saved, both names will be tied to the member record and will appear when you search.
When you click into the record, the names will appear together at the top as seen below.
Add a New Customer/Member on the Dashboard
Alternatively, you can add customer information to an order later in the VinesOS console. From the Dashboard, click on the order.
Click CRM > Customers.
Click the 'New Customer' button
The billing phone number (not shipped) is now at the top of the page.
They are set Active by default so you don't need to check that box.
A new customer will only require the following fields:
View POS Insights for a Personalized Experience
Click into the customer window to view a range of insights to personalize the experience. You can view which club they are in, internal notes, last visit date, lifetime value, member benefits, orders for pickup, most purchased wines, all orders (club orders, shipped orders, POS orders, etc), and recommended wines.
Member Benefits
If you have set up member benefits (e.g., free tastings, glasses, etc), the system will prompt you to apply them as you add the customer to the order. If you select 'Apply', the benefit will automatically zero at that charge on the order. You may also select 'Skip' and apply at a later time during the order process.
To apply the benefit at any point while the order is open, click on the customer profile and select the 'Apply benefit' button.
Member Discounts
If you add a club member to the order, club discounts will automatically be applied as established in membership settings.
How to Create and Process an Order for Members
How to Add a Club Release to Member Order
Sign up a new member on the POS and give them the last club release.
Open Orders
Click the 'Open' tab above the checkout section to view all Open orders.
In this view, you will see all open tabs comprehensively. The tabs at the top of the screen give options to dive further into specific views/actions.
Capture End-Of Day Authorized Orders
In the open tabs screen, click on Capture EOD in the upper right-hand corner to view all authorized orders. You can quickly open each order and then close & capture to finalize.
Manage Club Pickup Orders
On the Open Orders page, for club orders, click the 'Club Pickups' button to view those orders specifically.
On the Club Pickups page, click the order 'Open' button to manage it and mark the order as picked up. Alternatively, click the 'Mark picked up' button on this page.
Manage Pending Club Pickup For Individual Before Batch Processing
If your club run has been created but the orders and credit cards have not been fully processed yet, your members can still pick up ahead of time if they visit the tasting room. On the POS home screen, click on 'Customers' and search by phone, email, last name, or first name. If you see is blue button like Ted Daily below, they are eligible for pickup of a pending club order. Click the blue button to open the active order.
You will see the club order with the default products added. If the member is preset to receive the order as a shipment, click the yellow 'Remove Shipping' button on the order. Add any additional bottles of wine or flights as you would any other POS order.
Once you click the green 'Checkout' button, add a payment method and close out the order. This club order will be processed and completed.
Manage an Individual Member Club Pickup For Processed Orders
When a customer arrives to pick up their order, type their name in the Customers section, then click on their name to view details. If the customer has an order(s) ready for pick up, an 'Orders for Pickup' notification will be observed. Click on the button to view the orders.
Declined Orders
View all Declined Orders
In the Open Orders window, click the 'Declined Orders' button to view all orders that need updated credit card information.
Process an Individual Member's Declined Order
First search for the customer's name. If they have declined orders, you will see a red 'Declined Orders' button displayed. Many declined orders are due to missing credit card information. If an order lacks credit card details, you'll see a 'NO CARD ON FILE' alert, and you can easily resolve this by clicking the notification to update the card information. Next, click the 'Declined Orders' button and continue checkout with the new stored card on file. If there is more than one declined order you will continue to see the Update Card message until all of the declined orders have been cleared.
NOTE: Update the member credit card by Manual card entry or the Swipe option.
Forfeit a Member's Declined Order
For declined orders that no longer want to be picked up, you can forfeit the order and return the items to inventory.
Search the customer name on the POS home screen and click 'Declined Orders'. In the Declined Orders window, click 'Forfeit' for each order and proceed. There is also a 'Forfeit' button in the individual order window.
Send order to Kitchen Printer
Watch this video to learn how to send orders to a Kitchen printer.
Here is an example Kitchen printer receipt. In this example, the Customer Identifier field prints out where it shows 'Table 4'.
Holding an Order
You can choose to hold an order for a customer and give it an identifier, such as Table 2 or Blue shirt, green hat:
Create a tab and hold an Order with a Credit Card
If you want to further reduce the risk of lost payments, improve your customer experience, and increase the speed of checkout, you can pre-authorize credit cards to hold orders. Capturing the credit card while you are holding the order ensures that if the customer does leave before having paid, you already have the card authorized and can complete the checkout process. The following video describes how this works and the setup for using this option:
Printing receipts
When you hold the order, there is an option to print a receipt. This receipt can be handed to the customer for payment, or enclosed in a billfold if you provide table service. The status on the order will show that it has been printed.
When the order is ready to be paid, open the order and hit Checkout.
Authorizing a card and printing a Tip line receipt
If you have a dine-in customer or wish to present a tip line receipt, you can authorize the credit card sale and print out a duplicate copy of the receipt with the tip line. Select the Auth Only option when you choose Card Swipe or Card on file.
Note - If you are set up for Retail bottles for 'sales to go' - these are by default excluded from the suggested tip calculation.
On the pop-up box, select Print Receipt. Now, because the order has been only Authorized but not captured, the receipt will print in duplicate, each labeled for Merchant Copy and Customer Copy, with a suggested gratuity.
Now the order status will show authorized.
Capturing and Closing an Authorized Order
When you are ready to close out the order, Open the order and click the Checkout button. Enter the tip amount, and confirm everything looks correct. Simply click the Close button to complete the final charge to the card, which will include the tip.
Full Checkout and Card Capture (No Tip Receipt)
Open the Order and click Checkout
Set the order to Picked Up or Hold for Pickup, and enter the payment using one of the options presented, including Cash, Card Swipe, Card Manual, Gift Card, Paid by Check, or Card on file.
If using a Card Swipe, ask the customer to swipe the card, or take the card to swipe. The customer can also use card tap or Apple Pay.
A Successful Payment confirmation popup will appear, where you can choose to email, print, or decline to take action on the receipt. Try to ask the customer if you can email the receipt. This is a great way to capture the email address to be able to use it for future marketing or follow-up.
Once you click on one of these options, the order will immediately be closed out, and you will be auto-logged out of the POS. The PIN login screen will appear next, where staff must log back in to begin a new order.
Apply Gift Cards and Coupons at Checkout
Gift Cards
To apply an available gift card balance to an order during POS checkout, click the Checkout button then scroll down to the payment options section and click on the green Gift Card button.
Enter the code from the egift card receipt (paper) or enter the code from the back of the gift card, and click the Apply button. The gift card amount that has been applied will show as a line item as a deduction from the balance due.
Coupons
To apply a coupon to a POS order, click on the blue Discount button.
Select the appropriate coupon code from the Apply Coupon dropdown menu, and then click the Apply button.
The coupon will be applied against the order as a line item discount.
Order Tenders
If you need detailed reporting of depletions at $0.00, select an order tender option at checkout. You can add and delete tenders in the POS Settings.
Click 'Other' on the checkout screen and then highlight the option.
NOTE: If you need to cancel a tender order put into the system, open the POS order and click VOID. Do not click Refund.
The following video describes how to set up tenders, edit tenders, and view the inventory depleted at no charge according to the tender types.
Tips Management
Tips accrued through the POS are tied directly to the staff member who is logged in through their PIN. For all completed transactions where a tip was recorded, those tips will show in the Tip Report, which can be exported.
If an open order was changed to a different staff than the one who created the order, the tip would be allocated to the staff who took over the order.
Serving Staff Tip Summary
Your serving staff can click on Recent Orders, RSVP, Open, etc. to get to the My Tips summary. In the table view, Tips are listed by the order in a dedicated column, and when they click the My Tips button at the top, they can get a quick summary view of their tips total accrued for the day thus far.
Modify Tips
You can Open an order on the POS, click Modify Order, and adjust the tip amount. This can only be done by a manager. This is useful for:
Online reservations. If you are not doing preset tips on online bookings, the staff can print the Tip receipt for an online reservation, and then open up that paid online order, and Modify the tip, to charge the additional amount.
POS orders that are not finalized or fully captured. If the Order was auth'd and not captured, you can open it and enter an updated amount for the tip. This will replace what is currently showing on the tip.
For POS orders that are fully captured, you can modify the tip amount but it will add a new charge amount, on top of what was already captured, and you will need to swipe or manually enter the customer card again.
Capturing Large Tips
You can capture large tips if the tip amount fails to be authorized due to Stripe's max tip limits. When you have an opportunity to do so, can you try doing it this way:
Fully capture the order without a tip
Open the order again and add the tip
This will process it as a second charge and the customer will see it as two charges.
Finding a Recent Order
You can click on the Recent Orders button to see a list of recent POS orders.
On the Recent Orders page, you can view the items included in each listed order. Notes can be added as needed. Click the Open button to open an order in the POS.
Searching for an Order
You can use the Search field to search for recent POS orders. Enter the order number or name of the customer to query the database.
A list of recent orders will be displayed on the page of results. You can view the items in the order, add notes, or click the Open button to open the order in the POS.
Voiding a POS Order
If you need to void an active or unprocessed order, look up the order through the Recent Orders button or search. Once you have the order opened up in the POS, click the Void button, and the order will immediately be voided as well as inventory restored. If the order had been invalid, inventory would have never been pulled, and therefore, the total count would not be affected.
Upon Void, a modal asks for a void reason and to restore funds to the customer's card.
Full Refund on POS Order
If you need to refund a processed order, look up the order through the Recent Orders button or search. Once you have the order opened up in the POS, click the Refund button.
A button will prompt you with an option to waste the refunded order. Toggle on 'Waste' if you do not want inventory restored. Otherwise, simply click 'Refund' and inventory will automatically be restored.
Partial Refund or Removing an item from a POS Order
If you need to remove an item from an order, click the remove icon next to the line item you want to remove. The Remove Item popup will appear, where you can retrieve the item back to your inventory. Alternatively, you can toggle the Waste option if you do not want to return the item to your inventory stock.
If a refund is due, it will indicate to refund it for that amount.
Notes: In your Reports section, refunds and surcharges are treated as separate line items when they are processed, preserving the original sales data for the original period of processing. Learn More
Managing RSVPs
Event registrations can be easily managed within the POS. The red notification icon on the tab will show how many reservations are pending for the current day.
Click the RSVP button to visit the RSVP page, where you will see a list of all reservations for upcoming bookings. You can click on the green Open button to view any RSVP in the POS to confirm and make changes if needed. The RSVP will open as a line item in the order, where it can be edited, and removed, and you can charge the customer's card on file to process any changes or additions to the order.
End of Day Procedure
Close any authorized/uncaptured orders
Look for any Open orders and make sure they are fully captured.
!MOST CRITICAL!
The authorization on a held order will be dropped within 24-48 hours, so it is critical to complete the checkout and capture by the end of the day to not lose the funds on hold. If you fail to capture, there is nothing Stripe or VinesOS can do to re-authorize the temporary hold on the card.
Closing Till and Entering Closing Cash
The cash drawer should be closed at the close of the day, and again, the cash counted. The operation for closing the Till will be the same as for opening, where you will enter the remaining cash and coin denominations. As you enter each bill and coin, the system will automatically tally your entries and display any Variance from the Expected, if any.
End of Day Report
For an End of Day report for sales, tax, and tips, the EOD Report will print to the receipt printer your daily summary.
Note: The EOD Report button is only visible for those users that are set as Manager level, and only when logged into the POS using the PIN login.
Cash Drawer Report
The cash drawer report will show a daily summary of the cash total reported and expected. ** IMPORTANT NOTE: If you fail to close the cash drawer, any sales accrued during the period queried will not be included in the report, since the drawer is still technically considered 'open'.
To get to the report, follow these steps:
1. On the Orders List page, select a Date Range
2. Click the Reports button at the top of the page
3. Scroll down and click on the Cash Drawer tab to view activity
Open Bottle Report
Enter the approximate amount of a bottle that is either being discarded or taken home and not being Coravin'd or stored for sale the next day. This is only required if you are tracking bottle usage vs consumption. You do not need to use the Open Bottle feature for basic inventory reporting purposes.