When the power or the internet goes down

Two different problems

An internet outage and a power cut feel alike at the counter, but they need different answers.

• With the internet down, your devices still have power. What matters is whether your POS keeps taking orders, sending them to the kitchen, printing and taking payment without a connection.
• With the power down, devices run on their batteries — if they have them — and anything plugged into the wall stops: printers, routers, card terminals on charge, screens.

Plan for both.

Before it happens: prepare once

For an internet outage

• Know what your POS does offline. Ask plainly: can it take orders, send kitchen tickets, print the bill and take cash without the internet? For how long? What waits until the connection is back?
• Keep printers on your local network. A printer on your own Wi-Fi or network cable can keep printing from a device on the same network even when the internet is down. A printer that prints only through the internet cannot.
• Have a second connection if your area drops often: a mobile hotspot on a phone that is charged and paid up.
• Know how your card machine behaves. Whether it can take a card without the internet depends on the machine and your card provider. Ask them, not your POS supplier.

For a power cut

• Use devices with batteries at the counter where you can: a tablet or phone keeps running when the wall socket stops.
• Put the router and one printer on a small backup power supply (UPS), so the local network and printing survive a short cut.
• Keep a paper pad and a printed menu with prices at the counter. If everything stops, staff can still take an order and add it up.
• Keep the cash drawer key where a manager can find it — a drawer that opens through the printer won't open without power.

For everyone

• Write the plan on one card by the POS: who decides, what staff say to guests, what to do with cards and cash.
• Practise once. Unplug the router on a quiet afternoon and serve a test order.

In the moment

1. Tell the team, then the guests. One calm sentence: "Our internet is down; we can take cash" (or "card is still fine", if it is).
2. Keep the kitchen fed. Make sure orders still reach the kitchen — on screen, on paper or by hand.
3. Take payments you can be sure of. Cash is always safe to take. Take card only if your card machine confirms the payment.
4. Write down anything the system can't record. A paper note with the table, the dishes and the amount is enough; enter it later.
5. Don't close or restart the POS unless you know it keeps its orders when you do.

Afterwards: tidy up before you close

When the connection or the power is back:

• check that every order taken during the outage reached the system;
• enter anything written on paper;
• compare card payments with your card machine's report;
• count the cash drawer as usual;
• note what went wrong, and fix it before the next outage.

How BillDine keeps selling offline

BillDine's POS is built to keep working when the internet goes down:

• It keeps billing. The POS shows "Internet is down — keep billing." and carries on: dine-in, takeaway and delivery orders, changes to dishes not yet sent, kitchen tickets, printing the bill, opening the cash drawer, taking the whole bill in cash or recording a card payment taken on your own card machine, and marking orders collected or delivered.
• Some things wait. Anything that changes money after the fact waits for the connection: cancelling a dish the kitchen already has, splitting a bill, moving a table, discounts, refunds and closing the cash drawer. The POS menu lists them under Internet is down, so staff know why a button isn't there.
• How long. A POS terminal that has been online recently keeps selling offline for a window your outlet can set; one that has never been online can't, because it has not downloaded the menu and prices. A sale that arrives later than the window is never thrown away — it waits for a manager in Offline sync review.
• Signing in. People who signed in on that POS terminal with their PIN within the offline window can still sign in during the outage.
• Printing and the kitchen. The BillDine app prints by itself to Wi-Fi printers on its network and Bluetooth printers paired to it, with or without the internet. With Kitchen screens over Wi-Fi when offline turned on, the POS passes new tickets to the kitchen screens over your own Wi-Fi.
• Coming back. The banner says "Back online — syncing …" while the bills are sent, then "All bills synced ✓". Anything that can't simply be accepted waits in Offline sync review, where a manager sees what the POS showed, what BillDine would bill and the cash collected.
• Which devices keep billing. The BillDine app, and a browser paired as a POS terminal, keep billing offline. The app is the sturdiest, because it keeps orders on the device and prints by itself; a paired browser keeps selling as long as its window stays open — don't close or refresh it until the connection is back. Take orders from a sign-in in a browser (without pairing) works online only.

A power cut is a hardware question for any POS: a phone or tablet on battery keeps the BillDine app running, and a printer and router on a backup supply keep it printing. See the offline app in depth and the lesson Use a tablet at the counter as a POS terminal.

The plan on one card

1. Internet down: keep billing; cash is safe; card only if the machine confirms.
2. Check orders still reach the kitchen.
3. Power down: battery devices, paper pad, printed menu, drawer key.
4. Write down anything the system can't take.
5. Afterwards: sync, enter paper orders, match card and cash, note what to fix.