1 · Set up an iPad

Do this once per iPad. Takes about ten minutes. You need the venue's owner

email and password and a manager PIN.

Before you start

• iPad on the venue Wi-Fi (the same network as the printers).
• iPad in landscape with rotation lock on. The app is landscape only.
• Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock: Never. The app locks itself after five minutes of no touches; iOS must not sleep underneath it.
• Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the venue network → Private Wi-Fi Address: off if the printers are on an IP allow-list. Otherwise leave it.

Install the app

1. Open Safari on the iPad and go to https://servd.skytechsvg.com/install-kessl.html.
2. Tap Install. iOS asks to install "Kessl". Tap Install again.
3. Wait for the icon to finish loading on the home screen, then open it.
4. If iOS says the app is from an untrusted developer: Settings → General → VPN & Device Management → tap the developer profile → Trust.

First sign-in

1. Connect via: leave Cloud selected. Only choose Local server if the venue has the on-property box installed and you were given its address.
2. Enter the owner email and password, tap Continue.
3. Pick the venue if the account has more than one.
4. You land on the unlock screen: staff on the left, PIN pad on the right. Enter your PIN; the app shows Continue as <your name> to confirm, then signs you in. Tapping your name first skips the confirmation. If the venue requires staff to be clocked in, the same card offers Clock in & continue.

The first sign-in downloads the menu, floor plan, printers and settings. Give it a few seconds before tapping around.

Allow local network access (needed for printing)

The first time the app talks to a printer, iOS shows "Kessl would like to find and connect to devices on your local network". Tap Allow.

If it was dismissed or denied, printing silently does nothing. Fix it here:

• Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → turn Kessl on.
• or Settings → scroll to Kessl → Local Network → on.

Then relaunch the app. You only have to do this once per iPad, but a reinstall resets it, so check it again after every reinstall.

Check the printer

More (left rail) → Admin → Printing lists the venue printers. From the app, send a test: open any table, add an item, tap ↗ Send. The kitchen or bar ticket should print within a couple of seconds. If nothing prints, see Troubleshooting.

Updates

The app updates itself when it is fully closed and reopened. To force it: on the unlock screen tap ⋯ (top right) → Check for updates. The version line at the bottom of the unlock screen shows what is running (for example b29).

Locking and switching users

• Lock (bottom of the left rail) returns to the unlock screen. It also happens by itself after five minutes without a touch.
• Switch user (the name above Lock) changes who is signed in without closing checks.

2 · Daily service (servers)

Everything here is on the left rail, which is on every screen.

Start of shift

1. Unlock screen → enter your PIN → Continue as you. (Tapping your name first skips the confirmation.)
2. If the venue requires it, you must be clocked in to sign in: the card offers Clock in & continue.
3. To clock in or out without signing in, tap Clock in / out at the bottom and enter your PIN. One tap clocks you in, or out if you are already on shift.

Breaks

Clock out for your break and clock in when you return. If the venue sets a minimum break (for example 15 minutes), clocking back in early is refused and the screen says how many minutes remain.

Is my order started?

Kitchen on the left rail shows the kitchen display read-only for servers: each ticket says *Waiting in kitchen* or *Being prepared*. On your check, lines show SENT, PREPARING or SERVED. If the kitchen flags a line (item unavailable, delayed, or a note) it appears on the line and pops up as an alert wherever you are.

Take an order (table service)

1. Floor plan → tap a table. Enter covers. The check opens.
2. Categories are on the left of the menu: Food and Drinks, then the sub-menus down the left rail. Tap an item to add it; tap it again for another.
3. Modifiers pop up when an item has them. Notes: tap the line, then Note.
4. ↗ Send sends food to the kitchen printer and drinks to the bar printer in one go. Items already sent are marked; only new items go.
5. Tap ← Floor plan to leave the check open and go to another table.

Quick serve (counter, bar, takeaway)

Quick serve on the left rail: no table needed. Tap items, then either Pay now (the order goes to the kitchen/bar as the payment completes), ↗ Send without paying, or ▤ Add to tab to put it on an open tab or start a new one (the items are sent when you attach; the tab is settled later from Tabs).

Bar tabs

Tabs → ＋ New tab (name or card). Add orders to the tab from the table or from Quick order. Close & pay settles everything on the tab.

Print the bill before paying

On the payment screen the receipt is on the left. Tap 🖨 Print bill to print a copy marked NOT PAID for the table.

Take payment

Open the check → Pay. The amount due is always at the top of the right pane, with tip chips beside it; the big green button at the bottom completes the sale. Pick a tender from the grid:

• Cash: key the amount given on the numpad (or tap a quick amount); change due updates live. Complete sale records it and repeats the change on the confirmation.
• Card (terminal): take the card on the terminal, then Record card; add the auth code if you like.
• Account: regulars with a house account. Search the customer, confirm, and the check goes on their account.
• Gift card: enter or scan the code.
• Room: hotel guests (only offered where a PMS is connected). Verify the guest, then charge to the folio.
• Split: equal, by item, by seat, or a custom amount. Each share carries its own tip ("Tip on this share").

Tenders the venue hasn't set up appear greyed with a reason.

Print bill and ✎ Adjust sit at the top of the receipt pane. Adjust holds the promo code, an email address for the receipt, and discounts (whole bill or one line, manager PIN).

Payment goes through the kitchen check first: anything not yet sent is sent before the sale completes.

Tips

Tip chips sit beside the amount due (percent or custom). Suggested tips are worked out on the net food and drink value, with the VAT and service charge that are already inside the price taken out, so guests aren't asked to tip on tax. The venue can switch this to the ticket total in settings.

Receipts, reprints, mistakes

Receipts → search by order number, table, guest, room or amount. Tap a receipt to view or Reprint. From there a manager can Refund / void payment or Void order.

End of shift

Shift → count the drawer (blind count) and close. Clock → clock out.

3 · Manager tasks

Manager and owner PINs unlock everything below. When a server needs one of

these, the app asks for a manager PIN on the spot; that approval is good for

one action and expires after two minutes.

Approvals servers will ask you for

• Discount on a check
• Void an item or a whole (unpaid) check
• Refund or void a payment
• Close the cash drawer and view the X report

Reservations

Reservations (left rail) shows the book for the day. Use ‹ › to move days.

• ＋ New reservation for phone bookings: name, phone, party size, time, notes.
• Online requests arrive as REQUEST. Tap Confirm.
• Seat jumps to the floor plan with the party selected; tap the table and the check opens with the right covers.
• No-show and Cancel keep the record but free the slot. Show finished reveals seated and cancelled bookings.

Guests and house accounts

Guests → search a customer. From the card:

• Enable house account, set a limit (or none). Once enabled, servers can charge a check to the account with the Account payment method.
• Settle · cash / card when the customer pays down the balance. The last transactions are listed underneath.
• Loyalty points and gift cards are looked up on the same screen.

Receipts and corrections

Receipts searches every check in the venue, from every iPad.

• Refund / void payment → pick the payment, amount and reason. A refunded check reopens.
• Void order is only offered on checks that are not fully paid. To cancel a paid check, refund it first, then void it.
• Reprint sends the receipt to the receipt printer again.

Shift and cash

Shift → open the drawer with a float, X report for a mid-shift read, Close drawer with a blind count at the end. Handovers between servers are recorded here too.

Admin (web)

Admin (left rail) opens the web dashboard inside the app: menu, prices, images, modifiers, floor plan, staff and PINs, printers, taxes and settings. Sign in with your manager PIN.

Things worth knowing in Admin:

• Settings → Pricing: "Prices include VAT" and "Prices include service charge" decide whether tax is inside the price or added on top. La Vue is inclusive.
• Settings → POS: idle lock minutes (default 5; 0 = never) and lock-after-payment.
• Settings → Time clock: *Require clock-in to sign in* and *Minimum break (minutes)*. Managers and owners are exempt from the clock-in rule so an admin can always get in.
• Settings → Lock screen: faces + PIN (default) or PIN-first with a large clock and the on-shift list.
• Staff: PINs are 4 to 6 digits. The iPad signs in the instant the PIN is complete, so avoid two people sharing a PIN.
• Printing: one printer can serve receipt, kitchen and bar, or split them by role.

Updating iPads

Fully close and reopen the app, or unlock screen ⋯ → Check for updates. All iPads should show the same version line.

4 · Printers and kitchen

The iPad prints directly to the printer over Wi-Fi (no server in between).

Any ESC/POS thermal printer with an Ethernet or Wi-Fi port works (Epson TM

series, Star, and most generic 80 mm printers).

Network

• Give the printer a fixed IP on the venue router (DHCP reservation by MAC address). If the IP changes, tickets stop.
• Printer and iPads must be on the same Wi-Fi / LAN. Guest Wi-Fi with client isolation will block printing.
• Port 9100 (raw). Leave the printer's own web page open in Safari on a laptop while you set up; it shows the IP and lets you print a self-test.

Add the printer in Admin

Admin → Printing → Add printer:

• Name (for example "Kitchen"), IP address, port 9100.
• Roles: tick what this printer does: receipt, kitchen, bar. One printer can do all three (La Vue's "Main Printer" does).
• Save, then Ping to check the iPad can reach it.

The app refreshes its printer list within a minute, or sign out and in.

Routing

Menu categories carry a station: kitchen items (hot, cold, expo) go to the kitchen role; bar categories go to the bar role. Set the station on the category in Admin → Menu. Tapping ↗ Send on a check prints one ticket per station.

What a ticket shows

Station header, order type and table, server, time, course, the items in double-height with quantities, modifiers underneath, notes flagged NOTE, and an item count at the bottom. Reprints are marked.

Kitchen display (KDS)

An iPad signed in with a kitchen PIN (or a manager) works the display: Start ▶ marks the ticket as being prepared, DONE ✓ marks it served; both update the lines on the server's check. Servers see the same screen read-only.

Tap a line on a ticket to tell the floor something:

• 86 — not available: the line is flagged on the server's check, the server gets an alert, and the item is taken off the menu for the rest of the day (re-enable it in Admin → Menu).
• Delayed…: how many minutes; the server sees the delay on the line.
• Note to server…: free text.
• Clear flag removes it.

Local network permission (iOS)

Printing needs iOS's Local Network permission for Kessl. If tickets never arrive and Ping fails from the iPad but works from a laptop, this is almost always it: Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → Kessl on. A reinstall resets it.

Cash drawer

A drawer connected to the receipt printer's DK port pops on cash sales. If it does not, check the drawer cable is in the printer (not the iPad) and that the receipt printer is the one marked with the receipt role.

5 · Troubleshooting

Try these in order. Most problems are one of the first three.

Nothing prints

1. Local Network permission. Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → Kessl on. Relaunch the app. (A reinstall switches it off again.)
2. Same network? iPad Wi-Fi name must match the printer's network. Guest networks block it.
3. Printer IP changed. Print a self-test from the printer (hold the feed button on power-up) and compare with Admin → Printing. Set a fixed IP on the router.
4. Admin → Printing → Ping. If Ping works and Send does not, check the category's station and the printer's roles.

Floor plan or menu is empty after sign-in

• Pull to refresh, or unlock screen → ⟳ Refresh, then sign in again.
• If it stays empty, fully close the app (swipe it away) and reopen. The download runs again at sign-in.
• Still empty: delete the app, reinstall from the install page, allow Local Network again.

"⚠ N unsynced" on the floor plan

Some changes could not reach the cloud. Tap it → Retry. If it keeps failing, the message says why; do not re-enter the payments — they are recorded on the iPad and will be sent.

The app shows an old version

Unlock screen → ⋯ → Check for updates. If nothing changes, fully close the app and open it again; it checks for updates on launch.

"Offline" banner

The iPad has no internet. Cash and terminal-card payments keep working and queue. Gift card, room, account and reader-card payments need a connection. Kitchen tickets still print (they go straight to the printer).

Wrong totals / VAT on top

Admin → Settings → Pricing: check Prices include VAT and Prices include service charge. Existing open checks re-price when they are opened on the payment screen.

A paid check needs changing

Receipts → open it → Refund / void payment (manager PIN). The check reopens; then edit, or Void order.

PIN not accepted

• PINs are 4 to 6 digits; the app submits as soon as the expected number of digits is entered.
• Ten wrong attempts lock PIN entry for the venue for a while. Wait, or an owner can reset the PIN in Admin → Staff.

The iPad locked while a guest was paying

The idle lock is five minutes without a touch (Admin → Settings → POS to change). Unlock and reopen the check; nothing is lost.

Who to call

Screenshots help. The version line on the unlock screen (for example b29 · OTA 236d4482) tells support exactly what the iPad is running.