Restaurant technology glossary
Short definitions of the terms that come up around menus, ordering and payment.
- A digital menu that opens when a guest scans the square code at the table or the door with the phone camera. Nothing to install: the menu opens in the browser and updates the moment the owner changes a price. Learn more →
- A menu shown on a screen instead of paper. It can carry photos, descriptions, allergen information and translations; a QR menu is the most common way to reach one. Learn more →
- PWA (Progressive Web App)
- A web application that can be added to the home screen from the browser and opens offline too. Thmenu's guest menu and admin panel run as PWAs; a store download is not required. Learn more →
- Table ordering
- The guest picks items in the QR menu and sends the order straight to the kitchen. Orders pass through staff approval; whether payment is taken before or after the order is the owner's setting. Learn more →
- Order tracking
- The guest follows the status of an order (received, preparing, ready) on their own phone, with an optional notification when it is ready.
- KDS (kitchen display)
- The screen where incoming orders are listed by status in the kitchen: pending, preparing, ready. Staff sign in with a PIN and move each order to the next status. Learn more →
- Waiter call
- A button in the menu that notifies staff from the table. The owner can switch it on or off.
- Bill request
- The guest asks for the bill from the menu. Staff are notified; the bill can be settled in full, per person or by amount.
- EU-14 allergen list
- The fourteen allergen groups that EU Regulation 1169/2011 requires to be declared: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soy, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs. Thmenu marks each product against this list. Learn more →
- Halal badge
- The owner's own declaration that the menu is halal; software cannot make that declaration. Thmenu shows the owner a conflict if a product is marked as containing pork or alcohol.
- Pay at table
- The guest pays for the order by card from inside the menu. The payment rail depends on the country; the coverage page says what is offered where. Learn more →
- Platform fee
- Thmenu’s only fee: a share of each payment a guest makes to the restaurant online through Thmenu, on top of the payment processor’s own rate. Cash and payments outside Thmenu carry no fee. The rate is on the Free Forever page. Learn more →
- Custom domain
- The menu served at the business's own address (for example menu.yourbusiness.com), connected with a CNAME record at the domain provider. In Thmenu you can add and verify a domain today; serving the menu from it is not available yet.
- Product names and descriptions shown in the guest's language. Thmenu produces them with an AI model in the background; allergen names come from fixed wording in each language. Learn more →
- Reading products automatically from a photo of the existing menu, a PDF or Word file, or a web page, and presenting them as a proposal. Nothing is written to the menu until the owner reviews and approves it. Learn more →
- Loyalty program
- Guests collect points from their orders and redeem rewards. In Thmenu, earning and redeeming happen inside the menu. Learn more →
- Kiosk mode
- A view for a fixed tablet or screen in the venue where guests place orders on their own. Learn more →