Fast-Food Point

POS setup and configuration for a fast-food point. From an empty account to a moving queue: the counter, the kitchen pass, and the settings that matter.

What it does

A fast-food point is a throughput machine. The menu is fixed, the queue is long at exactly the same times every day, and the only thing that matters is how many people you can serve between twelve and two. This guide sets POSolid up for that: combos that ring up in one tap, a kitchen that starts before the customer has finished paying, and a number called out so nobody crowds the counter.

The short version: build your combos properly and put a screen in the window. Those two things do more for throughput than any hardware.

What you need

Thing	Why you need it	Notes
Till device	your counter — takes the order and the payment	A tablet or small touchscreen PC. At peak you will want two, so pick something you can buy a second of.
Internet + Wi-Fi router	POSolid is a cloud app and needs a connection during service	Fixed broadband and your own router. A 4G/5G backup is cheap insurance for a lunch rush.
Fiscal printer — depends on your country	required by law in some countries to record sales	In Poland: Posnet, Novitus or Elzab. See Supported Fiscal Printers, or Fiscal Printers in Other Countries if you trade elsewhere.
Kitchen printer or screen	so the kitchen starts the moment the order is taken	A thermal ESC/POS printer at the pass, or a spare tablet running the Kitchen Display.
Card terminal	taking card payments	From your payment provider, works on its own. You record which method was used so takings reconcile.
Optional: a screen for the pickup board	calling numbers instead of shouting	Any TV or monitor with a browser — see Customer Display Board. At a fast-food point this is the highest-value optional item.
Optional: a second till	two people taking orders at peak	Any device with a browser and a staff PIN. Both tills see the same orders.

"Optional" means your choice — not an upsell. Every optional line above is hardware you may or may not want; none of it unlocks anything in POSolid. Every feature named in this guide is included in your subscription from day one, with no per-device or per-feature charge. The only thing you would ever spend money on is the physical equipment itself — and only if you decide you want it.

How everything connects

One router, everything on it:

Router (broadband + Wi-Fi)  --( internet )------> POSolid
Tills, pickup screen        --( local Wi-Fi )---> Router
Till with the Print Agent   --( USB or local Wi-Fi )--> Printers

Every device reaches POSolid over the internet. Tills and the pickup screen open POSolid in a browser; nothing is installed on them.
The Print Agent runs on one device only — usually the main till. It only makes outgoing connections, so there is nothing to configure on the router.
Give each network printer a fixed address on the router so it does not move after a power cut, and keep printers off any guest Wi-Fi.

Getting started

Create your organization — see Create Your Account. Set your country, currency and, in Poland, your tax settings.
Build the menu in Menu → Catalog, then the combos as complex items and the upsells as priced modifier groups — see Modifiers.
Tune the register in Settings → Orders configuration: require payment before accepting order on, order type selector on if you do delivery, table assignment off, pager numbers off — you call numbers instead.
Install the Print Agent on the main till (Settings → Printers → Connect) and link it with the one-time code — see Printing.
Add your printers — the fiscal printer (Poland) and the kitchen printer at the pass.
Set up prep stations — grill, fryer, drinks — so each part of a combo goes to the right place. See Kitchen Display (KDS).
Put up the pickup board on a screen the queue can see, and add your staff with PINs so they swap tills in a second.
Do a dry run at the quiet time: a full combo with an upsell, payment, kitchen ticket, marked ready, number on the board. Then check Reports.

Combos and calling numbers

Throughput comes from two places: how few taps an order takes, and how little time staff spend explaining that an order is ready.

Build combos as complex items. A "burger + fries + drink" meal should be one line at one price, not three separate taps. Behind the scenes each part still goes to its own prep station — the burger to the grill, the fries to the fryer, the drink to nobody — and on the Kitchen Display each part is its own card, moving through Queue → In Progress → Ready independently. The meal only counts as ready when all of its parts are.

Make the upsell one tap, not a conversation. Put the drink and the side as priced modifier groups on the main item, with the most common choice marked as default. "Large, no pickles" should be two taps on top of the item, not a trip through three screens.

Put the order number on a screen. The Customer Display Board shows in-progress and ready order numbers on any TV with a browser. It pairs with the Kitchen Display: as the kitchen marks items ready, the board updates by itself. Guests watch the screen instead of leaning on the counter asking, which is worth more at peak than an extra pair of hands.

Take payment up front. Turn require payment before accepting order on. At a fast-food counter the money and the order happen together, and it keeps the queue moving in one direction.

Recommended setup

Minimum — one till, one kitchen printer

Till, fiscal printer, kitchen printer. Combos built, payment up front. That is a complete fast-food counter.

Recommended — the lunch rush

Add the pickup board on a screen and a second till so two people take orders at once. Give everyone a PIN. Turn on Work Shifts so the peak is recorded.

Full — several stations, steady volume

Split the kitchen into separate prep stations with a printer or screen each, add a QR Menu so the queue can read while it waits, loyalty cards for regulars, and use the hour-by-hour report to staff the peak exactly.

Key things to know

Combos are the single biggest throughput win. One line, one price, parts routed automatically.
Mark a default on every modifier group. Pre-selecting the common choice removes a tap from most orders.
The pickup board buys you counter space. Guests watch a screen instead of asking staff.
Keep one Kitchen Display per print station. Each open board watches for orders independently, so an auto-printing station can print one ticket per open screen.
Take payment with the order. At a counter the money and the food move together.
Poland: the fiscal printer is not optional, and the daily report has to be printed to close the fiscal day.
The hour-by-hour report is your staffing plan. Peak is narrower than it feels — staff for the actual hour, not the whole shift.

FAQ

Q: How do I stop a meal being three separate taps?
A: Build it as a complex item — one line, one price. Each part still routes to its own prep station automatically.

Q: Can the fries and the burger go to different people?
A: Yes. Assign them to different prep stations and give each station its own printer or column on the Kitchen Display.

Q: Do I need pagers?
A: Usually not — a pickup board on a screen does the same job for a queue that stays in the room, and costs you a TV you may already have.

Q: Does the pickup board update itself?
A: Yes. As the kitchen marks items ready, the board moves the number from in-progress to ready. Nobody has to touch it.

Q: Can two people take orders at once?
A: Yes — extra users and devices are included. Add the second till, give staff PINs, and both see the same orders.

Q: What happens if the internet drops at noon?
A: POSolid needs a connection, so you cannot take new orders until it is back. A 4G/5G backup router is worth the money at these volumes.