Bar tabs keep a running total of a customer’s charges throughout their visit to your venue. With Lightspeed Payments, you can pre-authorise a tab limit, allowing customers to continue ordering up to that amount without having to present their card again. When it’s time to close the tab, the payment is processed through the POS using the card linked to the order.
What's in this guide?
Enabling bar tabs
Opening a bar tab
Closing a bar tab
Frequently asked questions
Enabling bar tabs
To start using bar tabs, you'll first need to enable the feature in Back Office. Once enabled, you can open, manage, and close bar tabs directly in the POS.
To enable bar tabs:
- Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
- From the navigation menu, select Features.
- Search for and select Bar Tabs.
- Click Enable.
Opening a bar tab
Start a bar tab by selecting the Bar Tabs option in the POS menu. Once the tab is open, you can add items and update the order as needed.
To open a bar tab:
- On the POS, tap the Menu (☰) icon in the top left.
- Select Add-ons.
- Select Bar Tabs.
- Select a customer from the list, or click New Customer to create one.
- Choose an existing pre-authorisation amount or enter a custom amount.
- Tap OK.
- Swipe or insert your customer’s card when prompted on the terminal. Once successful, the screen will display Pre-authorised.
- Add items to the order as needed.
- Tap Send to save the bar tab and send the order to the kitchen.
Orders with a pre-authorised payment should not be merged or split. Merging/splitting orders changes the order ID, which breaks the link to the original authorisation and prevents the payment from being processed correctly.
Closing a bar tab
Close an open bar tab when the customer reaches their limit or finishes ordering. You can process the payment using the pre-authorised card on file or select a different payment method to complete the transaction.
To close a bar tab:
- On the POS, tap Orders.
- Tap the bar tab to view the order.
- Tap Check Out.
- Choose one of the following options based on the customer's preferred payment method.
- Confirm: Allows you to complete the payment using the existing pre-authorised card on file.
-
Pay another way: Allows the customer to pay using a different card or payment method.
The standard processing time for pre-authorisations is seven days, so it's important to close bar tabs regularly to ensure you get paid. Any unused portion of the pre-authorised amount will be released back to the customer.
Frequently asked questions
No. Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) transactions are card-not-present transactions. Bar tabs require the card to be physically present at the terminal, so they are only available for in-store transactions.
No, the pre-authorised amount sets a fixed limit and cannot be exceeded. If the customer wants to continue ordering beyond that amount, you’ll need to open a new bar tab.
Yes, you can open multiple bar tabs using different cards. However, you can’t have more than one tab open for the same card. To open a new tab with that card, the existing one must be closed first.
Yes, surcharging is supported. The surcharge is applied to the initial pre-authorised amount and adjusted accordingly when the final payment is captured.
What's next?
Learn how to set up Pay at Table to let customers pay directly at their table for faster checkout.
Find answers to common questions about Lightspeed Payments.