Discounts at the till: who, what and how much

A regular celebrates a birthday, and the server takes ten per cent off the bill. A friend of the bartender drops in, and the round is half price. A table complains about a slow main, and the manager knocks off a quarter. Each discount feels reasonable at the moment it is given. At the end of the month, the venue has given away more than it spent on its new oven, and nobody decided that it should.

Discounts at the till are one of the most useful tools a venue has, and one of the easiest to lose control of. Used well, they reward loyalty, put right a bad experience and win back a guest. Used without rules, they become a habit, a favour for friends and a quiet leak in the takings.

This guide covers why discounts need rules, four levels of discount worth defining, who should be able to give each, how to record them and how to review them so generosity stays deliberate. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

Without rules, every member of staff decides for themselves what deserves a discount and how much. Some are generous, some are strict, and guests notice the difference. A regular who gets ten per cent off from one server and nothing from another wonders which is the real policy.

Rules also protect the takings. A discount given without a reason, on every visit, by the same person, is not a gesture; it is a price change nobody agreed. Rules make the difference between a gesture and a habit visible.

And rules protect staff. A server who knows what they may give, and when, does not have to make it up under pressure, and cannot be accused of giving away too much when they followed the policy.

Discounts, comps and voids do different jobs, and the till should keep them apart. A void removes something that should not have been on the bill: a dish entered twice, an order cancelled before it was made. A comp gives away something that was made and served: a dessert for a birthday, a dish replaced after a complaint. A discount reduces the price of what was bought: ten per cent off for a regular, a staff rate, a promotion.

Keeping them apart makes each one meaningful in the reports. Voids show mistakes; comps show gestures and complaints; discounts show pricing decisions. Mixing them hides all three. Our guide to POS permissions: who can void, who cannot covers comps and voids in detail.

Most venues need four levels of discount, each with its own rules. The first is the small gesture any member of staff can give. The second is the service recovery discount a supervisor can give after a problem. The third is the larger discount a manager decides. And the fourth is the standing discount the owner sets: for staff, for regulars, for partners or for a promotion.

Defining the four levels gives every member of the team a clear answer to the question "can I do this?". It also makes the weekly review simple: each discount should fit one of the four.

The first level is a small gesture: a coffee on the house for a regular, a dessert for a birthday, a round of bread for a table that waited. These are usually comps rather than discounts, and they build goodwill out of all proportion to their cost.

Let any member of staff give them, within a clear limit: one item, up to a set value, with a reason. A server who can make a small gesture without asking is a server who can make a guest's evening on the spot.

Record every gesture with its reason. A dessert for a birthday is generous; a dessert for the same friends every week is a habit.

The second level is the discount that puts a problem right: a dish that took too long, a mistake with an order, a table that had a poor experience. The right gesture depends on the problem, and it should be decided by someone with experience.

Let supervisors or senior servers decide these, within a limit, such as up to fifteen per cent or the cost of the dish affected. Our guide to service recovery: putting a bad night right covers how to match the gesture to the problem.

Often, removing the cost of the dish that went wrong is better than a percentage off the whole bill. It is clearer to the guest and easier to explain in the reports.

The third level is the larger discount: a significant percentage off a whole bill, a meal on the house after a serious problem, a price agreed for a group. These need a manager's decision, because they cost the venue real money and set expectations for next time.

Manager approvals for level three should be quick but deliberate. The manager hears what happened, decides the gesture, applies it with their own login and records the reason. Our guide to manager approvals that do not stall a service covers how to make them fast.

The fourth level covers discounts that apply again and again: a staff rate, a discount for a local business, a regulars' scheme, a promotion such as an early evening menu. These are pricing decisions, and they belong to the owner or senior management.

Write each standing discount down: who it applies to, how much, on what and when. Make sure the team knows the list, and that nobody applies a standing discount to someone who does not qualify.

Review standing discounts every few months. A discount agreed years ago with a business that has since moved away may still be applied out of habit.

Large groups and private events often ask for a discount or a special price. Decide in advance how you will price them: a set menu at a fixed price per head is usually clearer than a percentage off the full menu, because both sides know what they are paying for.

Agree the price in writing before the event, and charge it on the night as agreed, not as a manual discount at the till. That way, the event's figures are clear, and nobody has to decide on the spot how much to take off.

Regulars are the guests most often given discounts, and often the ones who least need them to come back. Recognition usually matters more to them than money: a greeting by name, their usual table, a word from the chef, a small gesture on a birthday.

If you want to reward regulars with money, make it a standing scheme with clear rules, set by the owner and applied the same way by everyone. A regular who receives a different discount from each server learns to choose their server rather than their venue.

Discount abuse is rarely dramatic. It is the friend of a bartender who always pays half price, the server who gives every table they like ten per cent, the manager who settles every complaint with a large discount to avoid a difficult conversation. Each feels harmless; together they add up.

The signs are patterns: one member of staff giving far more discounts than the others, discounts on the same guests every visit, discounts with no reason or the same reason every time, discounts that cluster at the end of shifts.

Most of it stops once discounts are recorded against names and reviewed. People are far more careful when they know their discounts are seen.

Every discount should be recorded against the person who gave it and the reason they gave. That depends on every member of staff signing in as themselves. A shared login turns every discount into an anonymous one. Our guide to staff logins: one till, eleven people covers why.

Reasons should be chosen from a short list where possible: birthday, regular, complaint, slow service, staff, promotion. A short list makes the reports readable and stops "other" becoming the most common reason.

Discounts should always be applied on the bill, through the till, never by handing back cash or by charging less without recording it. A discount that does not appear on the till is invisible to the reports and impossible to review.

The same applies to gestures. A free dessert should be rung in and comped, not simply carried to the table. That way, the kitchen's records and the till agree, and the gesture appears where it can be counted.

Discounts change more than the bill. They lower average spend, reduce margins on the dishes discounted and, if they are frequent, change what guests expect to pay. A venue that discounts heavily on quiet nights may find guests waiting for the discount rather than coming at full price.

Look at the effect on the figures each month: total discounts as a share of sales, discounts by level and by reason, and the margin on discounted checks. Our guide to offer margin: the sum to do before you publish covers the sum for promotions.

A promotion, such as two courses for a fixed price or a discount on a quiet night, is a discount the venue has chosen in advance. It should be set up properly on the till, with its own name, so it is applied the same way every time and reported separately.

A promotion entered as a manual discount, at whatever percentage the server remembers, is impossible to measure. Set it up once, train the team on it and check that it is applied only to the guests and times it is meant for.

The accounting idea of discounts and allowances is a useful reminder that every reduction in price has a cost, however it is described.

Staff discounts are one of the most common standing discounts and one of the most often misused. Decide what staff may have at a discount, when and how much: meals on shift, drinks after a shift, meals for family on a day off.

Record staff discounts with a staff reason, under the staff member's own name, so they appear in the reports as what they are. A staff discount given under another reason, or by a colleague as a favour, hides a cost the venue has agreed to pay.

Discounts teach guests what to expect. A guest who receives a discount on every visit learns that the menu price is not the real price, and may feel short-changed on the day the discount does not appear.

A gesture given once, as a surprise, feels generous; the same gesture given every time becomes part of the price. Keep gestures occasional and personal, so they keep their value.

Explain the four levels to every new member of staff on their first day: what they can give, what needs a supervisor, what needs a manager and what the standing discounts are. Explain why the rules exist: to keep gestures generous and deliberate, and to protect staff from suspicion.

Practise the hard cases: a regular who expects a discount every time, a friend who asks for one, a complaint that seems to need one. Staff who have practised saying no politely, or yes within the rules, handle these moments far better.

Read the discount report every week, by level, by reason and by member of staff. Look for patterns: one person far above the others, discounts without reasons, the same guests discounted every visit, discounts outside the rules.

Ask about anything unusual, privately and without accusation. Most patterns have an innocent explanation, such as a regular's agreed discount or a run of complaints on a bad night. The few that do not are much easier to deal with early. Our guide to POS reports a manager should read daily sets the discount report alongside the others.

POS permissions should match the four levels where the till allows it: servers can give level one gestures, supervisors level two, managers level three, and only the owner or senior managers can set standing discounts. A till that lets everyone give any discount makes the rules impossible to enforce.

If your till cannot set limits by role, use the reports instead: every discount is recorded against a name, and the weekly review checks that each one fits the rules.

Sometimes the right answer is no. A guest who asks for a discount because they are a friend of the owner, a group that wants a discount for being a group, a guest who complains in the hope of a free meal: each needs a polite, firm answer.

Give staff a few phrases that help: "I'm afraid I can't do that, but let me see what I can do about the dessert." A polite no, with a small gesture where it fits, is usually received far better than a reluctant discount.

Many venues discount their quiet nights to fill the room. It can work, if the discount brings in guests who would not otherwise come, rather than moving existing guests from busier, full-price nights.

Measure it before deciding whether to keep it: the covers on the discounted night, the spend per head, and whether the full-price nights lost guests at the same time. A discount that fills Tuesdays by emptying Thursdays has cost money and gained nothing.

One person should own the discount policy, usually the owner or the general manager. They decide the four levels, approve standing discounts, read the weekly report and update the rules when something changes.

Without an owner, the policy drifts: a manager adds a discount for a neighbour, a supervisor raises their own limit, and within a year the rules on paper no longer match what happens at the till.

An invented bistro lets every member of staff give any discount they think fits. At the end of a quarter, discounts are a significant share of sales, and most have no reason recorded. Three servers account for most of them, and one regular has received a discount on every visit for a year.

The bistro defines four levels: servers can give one item up to a small value as a comp, supervisors up to fifteen per cent for service problems, managers anything larger, and the owner sets the standing discounts, which are written down. Every discount needs a reason from a short list. The manager reads the report every Monday.

Within two months, discounts fall by more than half. The regular is offered a standing discount as part of a small regulars' scheme, and is delighted to be asked.

servearound's till has no discount button today: there is no way to take a percentage or an amount off a bill. What it has is the comp, on a single dish or a whole check, with an optional reason, and the void, for what should never have been rung, each recorded against the member of staff who signed in on the till with their own name and PIN. So in servearound, the first two levels in this guide become comps with a clear reason, and standing discounts and promotions are handled outside the till for now.

There is no manager-approval step either: anyone whose role lets them take orders on the till can comp or void, so the roles decide who can use the till at all, and the reports do the checking. Payment analytics show voids and comps by member of staff, and order analytics show the comp and void rates and the value comped and voided. See Order Fulfillment.

To keep gestures generous and deliberate, protect the takings and give staff a clear answer about what they may give.

The small gesture, the service recovery discount, the manager's decision and the standing discount.

Anyone for small gestures within a limit, supervisors for service problems, managers for larger ones and the owner for standing discounts.

Discounts given out of habit or favour: the friend who always pays half, the server who discounts every table they like.

Yes, from a short list, recorded against the name of the person who gave it.

Yes. Set them up properly on the till, with their own name, so they are applied consistently and reported separately.

Every week, by level, by reason and by member of staff.

Politely and firmly, with a small gesture where it fits.

Discounts at the till reward loyalty and put problems right, but without rules they become a habit. Keep discounts apart from comps and voids, and define four levels: the small gesture anyone can give, the service recovery discount for supervisors, the larger discount a manager decides and the standing discounts the owner sets.

Record every discount against a name and a reason, apply it on the bill rather than in cash, set promotions up properly, match permissions to the levels where you can, review the report every week and give staff the words to say no politely.