Getting Started - Flip POS Setup Documentation

Prerequisites

Before you begin setting up Flip POS, ensure you have the following prerequisites in place:

• Active Shopify store
• Products configured in Shopify
• Shopify POS enabled
• Shopify POS locations configured
• Flip POS app installed from the Shopify App Store
• Optional: Kitchen Display - iPad or portable monitor with web browser included (Elo Touch)
• Optional: Receipt printer for kitchen or bar orders

Overview

Setting up Flip POS is simple. This page will walk you through the complete setup steps to configure all aspects of your restaurnt to work within Shopify POS via Flip POS.

IMPORTANT: You must have the following items configured in order for Flip POS to work properly.

• Service Location
• Service Areas (required for Table Service)
• Menu
• Menu Items

Navigating Settings

Everything you configure in Flip POS lives under Settings. Open it from the left-hand navigation under Flip POS in Shopify Admin, or from the Settings button under Quick Actions on the Flip POS home page. On a computer, a menu of settings pages runs down the left side of every Settings page. On a phone, Settings opens as a list of pages with a short description under each one. Type in the Search settings box to find an individual setting by name, then pick a result to jump to the page that holds it.

Settings Pages

Pages are grouped by what they configure:

Saving Your Changes

Every settings page saves through Shopify's Save and Discard bar at the top of the page. Change as many settings as you like, then click Save to apply them together, or Discard to go back to the last saved values. If you try to leave a page (or close the tab) with unsaved changes, you'll be asked to confirm first.

The exception is lists of things you create, edit and delete one at a time. Adding or removing a printer, kitchen display or host display (and setting or removing a host display PIN), creating, editing, reordering or deleting courses, and the booking shifts, special days, deposit rules, add-ons and events in Reservations all save straight away, without waiting for the Save bar.

Your Brand: Shared, or Per Location

Your brand is the name, color, logo and images guests see on the online booking page, the manage-reservation page, the QR ordering page, and in reservation emails.

1. Go to Settings → General and find the Brand section.
2. Set a Display name and Brand Color, and upload a Restaurant Logo (PNG, JPG, SVG or WebP).
3. Under Classic booking page, optionally upload a Booking Page Header Image and Booking Page Background Image. These two images style the classic booking page only (see Venue-Style Booking Page).
4. Click Save in the Shopify Save bar.

Every location uses this shared brand by default. To give one location a different brand, open Settings → Locations, click the location, and in its Branding section choose "Give this location its own brand". You can Copy the shared brand in as a starting point; anything you leave empty keeps using the shared brand. Locations on the list are labeled Shared brand or Own brand so you can see which is which.

Contact Details (Per Location)

Each location has its own address, contact email and contact phone, set on the location's page under Settings → Locations → (your location) → Contact details. Guests see them on the booking and manage-reservation pages and in reservation emails. Replies to reservation emails go to the contact email (if it's empty, replies go to your Shopify store email), and the address feeds the map on the venue-style booking page.

Operating Hours

Set your opening and closing time for each day of the week under Settings → General → Operating hours. Use Close Day / Set Hours on a day, or Apply Standard Hours and Close All Days to fill the whole week at once. Online booking uses these hours at any location that has no booking shifts; once a location has booking shifts, the shifts decide when guests can book there (see Booking Shifts).

Turning Features On or Off

Settings → Features shows one card per feature, each with a switch: Table Service, Online Ordering, Send Check via Email, Time Tracking and Reservations. Turning a feature off shows what will be hidden before you save, and your settings are kept so you can turn it back on later. Once a feature is on, a Configure link on its card jumps to the page that sets it up.

Add Service Location

The first step after installing Flip POS to your Shopify store, is to setup your service locations. Service locations are individual restaurant or food service locations. We support multiple service locations. Flip POS service locations typically mirror Shopify POS locations. Every location that you would like to use Flip POS at, add as a Service Location within the app Settings. NOTE: every service location is an additional monthly charge with Flip POS. Contact us for custom pricing.

1. Go to Settings → Locations in the Flip POS app
2. Click the Add Location button
3. In the Add Service Location window, select a Shopify POS Location - this will be a list of Shopify POS locations you have configured in your Shopify Point of Sale configuration
4. Enter a Service Location Name - this should allow you to easily identify the location
5. Confirm the Timezone and click Create Location

To change a location's name, linked Shopify POS location or timezone later, or to set its contact details and branding, click the location in the list on the Locations page.

Configure Service Areas

Service Areas represent the physical sections of your dining room — for example, "Main Floor", "Patio", or "Bar". Each Service Area contains the tables that belong to it and is associated with a Service Location. If you are using the Table Service app, at least one Service Area with tables is required before your staff can begin seating guests.

Create a Service Area

1. Go to Settings → Service areas in the Flip POS app (under Service; this page appears while Table Service is turned on in Settings → Features)
2. Click Add Service Area
3. Enter a name for the area (e.g., "Main Floor", "Patio", "Bar")
4. Select the Service Location this area belongs to
5. Optionally upload a Table Layout Image — staff can view this image inside the Table Service app for quick reference
6. Click Create to save the Service Area

The old Service Areas and Reservation Settings addresses (/app/service-areas and /app/reservation-settings) still work. Bookmarked links redirect to Settings → Service areas and Settings → Reservations.

Add Tables to a Service Area (Layout Designer)

Tables are created and positioned visually, using the Layout Designer for each Service Area.

1. On the Service areas page, click Layout next to the area you just created — this opens the Layout Designer for that area.
2. Drag a Square or Circle shape from the Table Palette on the left onto the canvas where you want the table to sit.
3. In the Add New Table modal that opens, enter the table number, seating capacity, and confirm the shape.
4. Click Create Table — the table appears on the canvas at the position you dropped it.
5. Drag any positioned table to reposition it, or select it and use the corner handles to resize it. Changes save automatically — there is no separate "Save Layout" button.
6. To edit a table's number, capacity, or shape (or delete it), select it and click Edit Table.
7. Repeat for each table in the area.

Once your Service Areas and tables are configured, they will appear immediately in the Table Service POS app. Staff can switch between Service Areas from the top of the Table Service screen.

Note: A table's Service Area is fixed by which area's Layout Designer you created it in — there is no option to move a table to a different Service Area afterward. If you need it elsewhere, delete it and re-create it from the correct area's Layout page.

Adding Walls, Host Stands & Other Non-Table Objects

Besides tables, the Layout Designer also supports non-table objects — shapes with no seating or ordering behavior, used to mark walls, host stands, planters, or other floor-plan structures for reference.

1. In the Layout Designer, find the "Drag non-table objects onto the canvas" section of the palette, below the table shapes.
2. Drag a Square or Circle shape onto the canvas.
3. Select the new shape and click Edit Shape to set its width and height (20–800 pixels — objects can be sized much larger than tables, for example to represent a wall) and its background color.
4. Drag a corner handle on the canvas to resize it freely at any time, or drag the shape itself to reposition it. Changes save automatically.
5. To remove an object, select it, click Edit Shape, then Delete Shape.

Tables can also be given a custom background color from their own Edit Table panel, using the same color picker.

Carry Out & Open Tab Service Areas (No Floor Plan)

Not every Service Area needs a floor plan. If you run a carry out / takeout counter, or a bar or lounge where guests order without sitting at a numbered table, you can create a Service Area with no tables at all. Instead of a table grid, staff in Table Service tap a single "New Order" button and start each order under a customer name.

1. Go to Settings → Service areas in the Flip POS app.
2. Click Add Service Area (or click Edit on an existing one).
3. Check "No tables in service area." This is for carry out orders and bar / lounge workflows — staff create new numbered orders on demand here instead of tapping pre-built tables; no floor plan or server assignment is required.
4. A second checkbox appears: "Automatically set all orders as carry out." Every order created in this Service Area is marked Carry Out automatically, which shows on kitchen tickets and the Kitchen Display.
   • Check this box for a carry out / takeout counter — every order should print and display as Carry Out by default.
   • Leave this box unchecked for a bar or lounge open tab — orders behave like a normal dine-in check (no Carry Out banner), just without a table number.
5. Click Create (or Update) to finish. A Service Area with "No tables in service area" checked does not use the Layout Designer — there's no floor plan to build, and no tables to add.

For the day-to-day workflow of taking orders in one of these Service Areas — tapping "New Order", entering a customer name, and how orders appear in the list — see Carry Out & Open Tab Orders in the Table Service documentation.

Menu Configuration

You must create your menu in the Flip POS app. The products you are able to add to menu categories automatically sync from your Shopify store, but you can customize them for food service.

Create Categories and Adding Products to the Menu

Products from your Shopify store can be organized into menu categories:

1. Go to Menu in the Flip POS app
2. Create a new menu by clicking the New Menu button
3. Name your menu (e.g., "Main Menu", "Drinks Menu")
4. Click the Create menu button
5. Click the Activate button to make the menu available in the POS
6. Click the Manage button next to the menu you created
7. Create menu categories (e.g., "Burgers", "Drinks", "Sides") by clicking the Add Category + button
8. Within a category, click the Add Product button
9. By clicking into the Search Shopify Products input, you will be presented with Shopify products that are configured in your SHopify store, to add to the category you are within.
10. Click Assign Product

Editing a Menu Item

Each menu item's row shows two direct actions plus an edit icon:

• Modifiers — opens the modifier assignment screen for that item.
• Make Unavailable / Make Available — hides or restores the item on POS without removing it from the menu.
• The pencil (Edit) icon opens the Edit Item panel, which consolidates everything else:
  • Name — rename the item as it appears in Flip POS.
  • Category — move the item to a different category.
  • Manage Variants — only shown for products with more than one Shopify variant; choose which variants are sellable on POS. Single-variant products don't show this option, since there's nothing to manage.
  • This is a course bundle — only shown for products that are actual Shopify Bundles; marks the item so its components fire as separate courses in Table Service, and opens Course Order to arrange them. See Preset Course Menus for the full setup and how servers fire the courses.
  • Remove — removes the item from the menu (see note below on order history).

Deleting a Category

A category can only be deleted once it's empty. Open the category's "…" menu and choose Delete Category. If it still contains active items or subcategories, the delete is blocked with a message telling you how many of each remain — move or remove them first (using Edit Item → Category on each item, or the category's own Edit Category/subcategory tools), then delete the category again.

Modifiers and Customizations

Modifiers allow customers and staff to specify details for each order, like ingredient preferences or custom requests, helping boost accuracy and customer satisfaction. Modifiers groups contain a set of modifiers that can be applied to a category or an individual product in your menu:

• Go to Modifiers in the Flip POS app
• Click the New Modifier Group button and add a Group Name (e.g., "Drink Sizes", "Toppings")
• Optional: select Required Group: if a customer must choose a modifier within this group.
• Minimum Selection: is the minimum number of modifiers that must be selected from this group. This will default to zero.
• Optional: Maximum Selection: Maximum number of modifiers that can be selected (leave blank for unlimited)
• Click the Create Group button
• Within the modifier groups page, click View Details to see modifiers that are within the selected modifier group.
• Click the Add Modifier button to add a modifier to the group
• Enter a modifier name (e.g., "Small", "Medium", "Large")
• Set a price if applicable, this can be a negative price to apply a discount or a non-negative to apply a price increase
• Optional: set a sort order to control the display order of modifiers
• Click the Add Modifier button

Staff Management

The Staff Management screen lets you add and manage the restaurant staff members who appear in Flip POS. Staff names are used for server assignments on tables, order tracking, and reporting.

Adding a Staff Member

1. Go to Staff in the Flip POS admin navigation
2. Click the Add Staff Member button in the top right
3. Fill in the staff member's details:
   • Name (required) — Full name as it will appear in Table Service and reporting
   • Role (required) — Select from: Server, Manager, Host, Bartender, Busser, or Other
   • Initials — Short display identifier used on table layouts (e.g., "AJ" for Alice Johnson)
   • Email — Optional contact email for the staff member
   • Phone — Optional contact phone number
4. Click Create to save the staff member

Editing a Staff Member

1. In the Restaurant Staff table, find the staff member you want to update
2. Click the Edit button in the Actions column
3. Update any of the staff member's details — name, role, initials, email, or phone
4. Click Update to save your changes

Deactivating a Staff Member

Staff members cannot be permanently deleted, but they can be deactivated so they no longer appear in active workflows.

1. In the Restaurant Staff table, find the staff member you want to deactivate
2. Click the Deactivate button in the Actions column
3. The staff member's status will change to Inactive and they will no longer appear as an option when activating tables or assigning servers

Staff Roles

Roles help organize your team and are displayed alongside staff names in the staff table. Available roles are:

• Server — Front-of-house service staff
• Manager — Management-level staff
• Host — Host or hostess staff
• Bartender — Bar staff
• Busser — Bussing and support staff
• Other — Any other role not listed above