Closing up
Closing the till at the end of the shift
Closing is not just counting cash: it is leaving the shift balanced and with a record of who did what. Done properly, the next morning does not start with an argument.
Before closing
Check that no table has an open tab and that the preparation queue is empty. An open tab at closing time is food served that nobody charged for, and it turns up the next day with no one who remembers it.
Balancing the cash
The close compares what the terminal says should be there with what has been counted. Record the difference if there is one, however small and even if you cannot explain it: a recorded difference can be investigated, and one that is not written down disappears.
Phone payments are separate
What customers paid from their phones went straight into your bank account, not the cash drawer. It appears in its own section and should not be balanced against the cash. Confusing the two is the most common cause of a discrepancy that does not exist.
What is kept
The till session keeps who opened and closed it, the shift's sales, the movements and the final difference. That record is what lets you review a specific shift weeks later.
Before calling it done
- No table with an open tab.
- The preparation queue, empty.
- The cash difference recorded, even if it is zero.