QR table ordering: a practical guide for Saudi restaurants and cafés

What is QR table ordering?

In most restaurants and cafés, a guest's first minutes are spent waiting: waiting for the menu, waiting for the waiter to take the order, and sometimes waiting again because the waiter forgot to ask about the size or an add-on. QR table ordering cuts all of that. Every table has a card with its own QR code. The guest scans it with the phone camera, your menu opens, the guest picks and sends, and the order reaches the cashier and the kitchen already marked with the table number.

It fits the Saudi market well: every guest has a phone, people are used to ordering and tracking on their phone, floor staff cost more every year, and guests judge a place by how fast it serves them, especially in cafés and family restaurants at dinner and at the weekend.

How it works in HADAB

With the QR table ordering add-on for HADAB Restaurant, an order goes like this:

1. In Settings you print a card for each table with its own QR code.
2. The guest scans the code with the phone camera, with no app to download, and sees the menu with photos, sizes, options and prices, in Arabic or English.
3. The guest picks items, adds a note if needed (for example "no sugar") and sends the order.
4. The cashier hears a sound alert and approves with one press, or you choose automatic approval and the order goes straight in.
5. The kitchen ticket prints right away and the order shows on the kitchen screen, on the printers and screen you already have.
6. The guest follows the order live on the phone: received, approved, preparing, ready, served, paid. If the cashier declines the order, the guest sees the reason.
7. If the table orders again, the new order joins the table's open bill. At the end the guest pays at the cashier as usual: cash, card or mada.

Why it is worth it for your restaurant

Fewer trips and fewer errors

The guest writes the order, picks the size and add-ons and types the note, so nothing is misheard or left out. Instead of walking back and forth to take orders, the waiter has time to serve, welcome guests and look after the tables.

Faster table turnover

Every minute a guest waits before ordering is a minute added to the table. When guests order as soon as they sit down and the order reaches the kitchen at once, visits are shorter and you can seat more guests at peak time.

A higher average order

Photos sell. A guest who browses the menu at their own pace and sees the dessert or the iced drink adds it more often than when a waiter reads out the names quickly. A second round from the same table goes on the open bill with no effort.

No missed orders at rush time

On a busy Thursday night or at Ramadan iftar, spoken orders get lost between the floor and the kitchen. Here every order reaches the cashier with an alert, prints in the kitchen and shows on its screen, so you know where each one is.

No commission per order

Delivery apps take a share of every order. QR ordering happens inside your restaurant, from your own guest at your own table, for a fixed yearly fee however many orders come in.

Does it replace the waiter?

No. It takes away the routine work of taking, writing and carrying orders, but hospitality stays with people: the welcome, the serving, the suggestions and the small details. Guests who prefer to order from the waiter still can, through the cashier screen as before.

Questions owners usually ask

Can someone change the prices from a phone?

No. Prices always come from the restaurant's own menu in the program. The phone only sends the items, so it cannot change a price or add a discount.

What if someone copies the QR code and orders from outside?

You can renew any table's QR code at any time, and the old one stops working. Orders only go in after the cashier approves them (unless you choose automatic approval), there are limits against spam orders, and ordering closes automatically when the restaurant's system is closed.

What about payment and the invoice?

Payment stays at the cashier, and the invoice is a normal ZATCA Phase 2 compliant invoice, signed and sent to ZATCA like any other invoice in the program.

What it costs and how to start

QR table ordering is an add-on for HADAB Restaurant at 115 SAR a year, VAT included, and it is free during the free trial. The owner adds it from the dashboard or the subscription screen with one press. It works immediately for a year, and the invoice can be paid within 14 days.

If you do not use HADAB yet, download the restaurants and cafés edition and try it for 14 days. Set up your menu (items, photos, sizes and prices), print the table cards from Settings, and test an order from your own phone before you put the cards on the tables. Cafés can also read POS for cafés and coffee shops.

Tips for a good start

• Put the card where guests see it on every table, with a short line next to the code such as "Scan to order from your phone".
• Use clear, real photos of your items and short names guests understand at a glance.
• At rush time, have the cashier answer alerts quickly, or turn on automatic approval if it suits you.
• If a card goes missing or a table's code is copied, renew it in the program and print the card again.
• Ask waiters to show new guests how it works the first time; they get used to it quickly.