What happens to your POS when the internet goes down?

It depends on whether your POS is cloud-based or cloud-dependent. A cloud-dependent till needs the internet for every tap, so when the line drops it cannot open an order, print a kitchen ticket or take payment. A cloud-based till with a real offline mode keeps a working copy of the menu and prices on the device, goes on taking orders, printing tickets and taking payment, and sends everything to the server when the connection returns. The way to find out which one you are being sold is to pull the cable during the demo.

Key takeaways

• Cloud-based means your data lives on a server. Cloud-dependent means the till cannot work without reaching that server. The first is useful. The second stops service.
• “Works offline” can mean anything from “shows the last screen” to “runs a full service”. Ask about orders, kitchen tickets, payment, the tax invoice and what happens on reconnect, one by one.
• The outage itself is rarely where the money goes. The risk is afterwards: orders that never sync, food that was sent but never billed, and cash differences nobody can explain.
• Test it yourself. In the demo, disconnect the internet, run a full order from table to payment, then reconnect and check what arrived.
• Bhookly's Windows and Android apps keep taking orders, printing kitchen tickets and taking payment through an internet cut, and send anything that differs on sync to a manager queue.

What is the difference between cloud-based and cloud-dependent?

A cloud-based POS keeps the restaurant's menu, sales and reports on a server, so the owner can see today's takings from home and a new till can be added without copying files. That is a strength. Cloud-dependent describes a narrower thing: a till that has to ask the server before it can do anything at all. When the connection goes, the till has nothing to work from.

The two are not the same, and a good system is the first without being the second. It keeps what the till needs on the device itself: the menu, the prices, the tax rules, the printer settings and the open orders. With those in hand the till can work alone for as long as it has to, and settle up with the server afterwards.

What actually stops when the connection drops?

On a cloud-dependent till, the first sign is a spinner. The cashier taps Pay and nothing happens. The kitchen printer goes quiet because tickets are sent through the server. Waiters' tablets freeze on the last screen they loaded. The restaurant falls back to a notepad and a calculator, and the hour's sales are typed in later from memory, or not at all.

That last part is the real cost. An outage that is handled by hand leaves no record of who took which order, what was cooked, what was paid and by which method. Every one of those gaps is a place where food or cash can go missing. In cities with load-shedding or an unreliable line this is a regular part of the week, but a cut fibre or a failed router can do the same to a restaurant anywhere.

What should you ask a POS vendor about offline mode?

• Can it take a new order while offline? Opening a table, adding items and choosing options should all work, on the till and on a waiter's tablet.
• Does the kitchen ticket still print? If printing runs through the server, the kitchen stops even when the till does not.
• Can it take payment? Cash at the very least, with the right change and a printed receipt.
• Can it issue a tax invoice? Where sales are filed with a tax authority at the point of payment, ask what happens when the authority cannot be reached. A sale should not be blocked, and it should not be filed twice later.
• What happens to prices that changed while the till was offline? If the owner edits a price from home during the cut, the till will have charged the old one. Ask who finds out, and how.
• What happens to an order that cannot sync? Ask where it goes and who has to act on it. “It retries” is not an answer if nobody is told when the retry fails.
• Which devices does it cover? Offline mode may live in an installed app and not in a browser tab. Ask exactly where it works.
• What stops food that was sent during the cut from never being billed? This is the question most vendors have not been asked before.

How do you test offline mode in a demo?

Ask the vendor to run the demo on the same kind of device you will use, with a kitchen printer attached. Then do this, in order.

• Pull the network cable or switch off the Wi-Fi on the router. Do not rely on a setting inside the software that simulates being offline.
• Open a new dine-in order and add three items, one of them with options.
• Send it to the kitchen and check that a ticket prints. Read the ticket: does it say anything about being offline?
• Take payment in cash and print the receipt.
• Start a second order, send it to the kitchen, and leave it unpaid.
• Reconnect. Watch what the till does without being asked, then look up both orders in the reports from a different device.
• Ask to see where the vendor's system would show an order that failed to sync, and what it does about the order that was cooked but never paid.

What good offline behaviour looks like

How does Bhookly handle an internet outage?

Bhookly's Windows and Android apps keep taking orders, printing kitchen tickets and taking payment when the internet drops. That covers the counter PC and the waiters' tablets, so both the till and the floor go on working.

• Orders: each order taken offline carries a temporary order code, so it can be found, added to and paid before the server has given it a number.
• Kitchen tickets: the till still prints the ticket at the station's own printer, stamped “OFFLINE - NOT SYNCED”, so the cook knows the order is real and the manager knows it has not reached the server yet.
• Payment: payment is taken offline and the receipt prints.
• Sync on reconnect: when the connection returns, offline orders are sent to the server without anyone re-keying them.
• The manager queue: anything that differs on sync, such as a price that changed while the till was offline, and anything that cannot sync, goes to a queue for a manager to settle. It does not become a mystery shortage at the end of the night.
• The day close: closing is blocked if food sent to the kitchen during an internet cut was never billed. The outage cannot turn into free food.
• Tax filing: in Pakistan, sales are filed with FBR or the Punjab authority at payment. If the filing cannot go through, the sale completes and the filing joins a retry queue. A sale is never filed twice.
• The kitchen: the kitchen display shows Live or Offline and catches up by itself, and requests and batches entered on a kitchen tablet are saved on the tablet and sent later, never twice.

The Offline POS module page describes the mode in full.

Is a backup connection enough on its own?

A backup connection is worth having, and it is not a substitute for a till that works alone. A second line, a mobile data dongle and a small UPS for the router and the till cover most short cuts, and they cost little next to a lost dinner service. A mobile network can slow down when a whole neighbourhood loses its fixed line at once, so treat backup internet as the first layer and offline mode as the second.

Frequently asked questions

Does a cloud POS work without internet?

Some do and some do not. A cloud POS that keeps the menu, prices and open orders on the device can take orders, print and take payment offline, then sync later. One that asks the server before every action stops when the line does. The only reliable check is to disconnect the internet during a demo.

Does Bhookly work without internet?

Yes. Bhookly's Windows and Android apps keep taking orders, printing kitchen tickets and taking payment during an internet cut. Each offline order carries a temporary code and syncs when the connection returns, and anything that differs or cannot sync goes to a manager queue.

What happens to orders taken while the POS was offline?

They should sync to the server by themselves when the connection returns. In Bhookly, offline orders are sent on reconnect under their temporary codes, and any order whose price differs from the server's, or that cannot sync, is placed in a queue for a manager to settle with a record of the decision.

Can staff give away food during an outage without it showing?

On a system with no offline record, yes, because nothing was written down. Bhookly closes that gap at the day close: the close is blocked if food sent to the kitchen during an internet cut was never billed, so every offline ticket has to end in a payment or a recorded void.

Will the kitchen printer still work if the internet is down?

It will if the till prints directly to the printer over the local network or USB, and it will not if tickets travel through the server. Bhookly's Windows and Android apps print the kitchen ticket during a cut and stamp it “OFFLINE - NOT SYNCED”.

What about tax invoices when the connection is down?

A sale should complete and the filing should follow. In Bhookly, if a filing with FBR or the Punjab authority cannot go through, the sale completes and the filing waits in a retry queue until it succeeds. A sale is never filed twice.

The bottom line

Every vendor says the POS works offline. Ask what that means for an order, a kitchen ticket, a payment and a tax invoice, and then pull the cable and watch. The till should keep selling, and the system should account for the outage afterwards: every offline order synced or put in front of a manager, every plate that left the kitchen billed before the day can close. Bhookly's Windows and Android apps are built to pass that test.