Using courses allows you to manage service by organizing order flow, scheduling timing, and managing kitchen production. Items can be automatically assigned to courses, and you can send course updates, dockets, or special instructions to the kitchen directly from the POS.

To enable and use courses on the POS, you need to be on the Extend plan. Check your plan by navigating to the subscriptions tab in Back Office.

What's in this guide?

Courses setup and configuration
Sending and calling courses
Online ordering compatibility
Frequently asked questions

Courses setup and configuration

This section guides you through enabling and customizing course settings in Back Office. You’ll learn how to enable courses, set up automatic course allocation, create and manage courses and categories, and configure course printing settings.

Enabling courses

To start using courses on the POS, the Courses feature must be enabled from Back Office.

The Courses feature is not compatible when combined with the Group Ordering feature. Using both in the same location may lead to issues, particularly with order printing.

To enable the courses feature:

1. Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials. 
2. From the navigation menu, select Features. 
3. Search for and select Courses. 
   
4. Click Enable.
   

Automatic course allocation

Automatic course allocation enables you to choose whether menu items are assigned to courses automatically or manually when orders are placed at the POS. 

To set automatic course allocation:

1. From the navigation menu, select Features > Courses.
2. Under the Settings tab, toggle YES or NO to set up automatic course allocation. 
   • YES: Automatically assign menu items to their relevant courses when an order is placed.
   • NO: Manually assign items to courses each time an order is taken. 

Creating courses and assigning POS categories

By default, all product categories are assigned to a course named Now. This is used for items that are sent immediately, such as drinks or starters. You can create new courses, then reassign categories as needed. 

To create courses and assign POS categories:

1. Under the Settings tab, click Add Course.
2. Enter a name for the course.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all required courses have been added. 
4. Assign POS categories by typing the product category name in the field next to each course and selecting it from the dropdown. Each category can only be assigned to one course. 
5. Click Save Changes. 
   

Staff can manually override course assignments in the POS when needed. To do this, tap the item in the order summary to access the Edit screen. Then, under Courses, use the dropdown to select and change the course assignment.

Managing courses and categories

Once your courses are set up, you can make adjustments as your menu or service workflow evolves. You can remove POS categories, reorder the sequence, or delete courses. Any unassigned categories will default back to the Now course. 

• Remove a POS category from a course: Click x beside the category name to remove it. The category will be reassigned to the Now course, as all products must be assigned to a course, and Now is the default.

• Reposition the order of the courses: Drag and drop the course using the double-headed arrow beside the course name (A in the image below).

• Remove an entire course: Click the trash icon (B in image below). When you delete an entire course, all the product categories under it will be assigned to Now.

• Remove all product categories under a course: Click the x within the box where the category names are (C in the image below). When selected, all removed product categories will be assigned to the default course, Now.

  

Configuring docket printing

Once your courses are set up, you can configure how dockets are printed to align with your kitchen workflow. Choose how and when items are printed, whether all at once or per course, and decide how changes are communicated to the kitchen.

1. From the navigation menu, select Features > Courses. 
2. Under the Settings tab, scroll down to SEQUENCE OF SERVICE. Choose from the three printing options based on your kitchen workflow:
   • Print all items immediately & call away verbally: Select this to send the whole outline of the courses (see A in image below) to the kitchen after the staff selects Send in the POS. This is best for restaurant venues that do not have a printer system for order dockets and can only communicate with the kitchen verbally.
   • Print all items immediately & call as needed on POS: Select this to send the whole outline of the courses (see A in the image below) to the kitchen after the staff selects Send. Once the bell icon is selected on the POS to call the course, this will print a docket to alert the kitchen (see B in the image below). This is best for restaurant venues that have a printer system for order dockets.
   • Print items only as their course is called: Select this if you don't want to send the outline of the courses to the kitchen. This only sends dockets of individual courses as they are called (when the staff clicks the bell icon on the POS). This is best used for quick service environments where food is already made and does not require further preparation.
3. Under the PRINT UNCALLED ITEMS WITH CHANGES section, configure how changes and remaining items are sent to the kitchen:
   • Print uncalled items and changes since last printed: Sends a new production docket with the remaining uncalled items, with a summary of changes displayed in the footer (see C in the image below).
   • Print changes only since last printed: Sends the summary of changes on a separate instruction docket (see D in the image below).

   • Disable change summaries: New items print on individual dockets with no summary of previous changes.

Sending and calling courses

After setting up your courses, you’re ready to use them in the POS. The course called Now is automatically called to get items to the customer as soon as possible. As for the rest of the courses, tap the bell icon to call a whole course or individual dish.

To send and call courses:

1. Enter items as usual on the POS. Items will be automatically assigned to their courses based on your settings.
2. When the order is complete, tap Send to submit the order to the kitchen.
3. Tap the bell icon to call courses or individual dishes. This will also print a docket depending on your printing configurations. 
   

Online ordering compatibility

Courses can be used with online ordering platforms like Bopple or Deliverect, but you'll need to ensure the following settings are configured:

• AUTOMATIC COURSE ALLOCATION is turned on.
• The SEQUENCE OF SERVICE printing configuration is set to print all items immediately & call away verbally.
• Under the Courses' settings tab, toggle on APPLY COURSING TO DINE-IN ONLINE ORDERS.

Frequently asked questions

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