Service changes by the second.
Tabs move between staff, payment states, and service areas during the same shift.
Work 02 · Service
Bar Tabs &
Table Service
Staff need one clear place to find a tab, understand its state, and take the next action.
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My roleResearch and design lead
Workflow architecture, testing, direction, and release review
Research15 staff interviews
Customer sessions, expert workshops, and ten competing products
Period2024 to 2026
Work with design, product, and engineering
StatusReleased and evolving
Bar Tabs shipped. Table Service remains in design
Project value
Reduce errors and keep service moving during a busy shift.
What the design needed to achieve
- ✓
Make every open bill easy to find and understand.
- ✓
Protect restricted actions without forcing staff to lose their place.
- ✓
Keep table and seat status clear in the list and ordering screens.
Slow recovery affects guests.
Unpaid tabs, unclear ownership, and restricted actions create delay and errors.
Keep state and action together.
The list keeps table status, order status, and the next action together.
Design screens
See the table list and seat-ordering decisions.
01 · Find the table
02 · Work with seats
Design decisions
Turn service research into visible rules for every tab.
01Research the pressure
Field understanding
I reviewed ten products, interviewed 15 staff, earned Smart Serve, and worked behind a bar.
Intended impact
The design reflects service speed, errors, training, and low-light conditions.
02Build one working overview
Visible state
The Bar Tabs Visualizer combines tile and list views, search, quick view, filters, ownership, and status.
Intended impact
Staff can find a bill and understand its current state quickly.
03Replace drag with selection
Lower learning effort
Testing changed bill splitting from drag and drop to a select-and-assign model.
Intended impact
The split stays explicit and requires less new interaction learning.
04Keep approval in context
Recover safely
Restricted access originally forced a logout. Manager approval now happens inside the active workflow.
Intended impact
Staff can recover without losing the tab or their place.
05Cut the first scope
Table Service
I asked for a smaller first release. The team chose a table list, one section, and a separate Table Service mode.
Intended impact
The team could test the basic table flow before adding floor planning.
How the work changed
From broad exploration to a smaller first scope.
Bar Tabs shipped first. The team then narrowed Table Service one decision at a time.
- 01 · Research and release
Build the Bar Tabs base
I researched service work and led the first flows. A teammate led the shared kit. Product, engineering, and quality teams reviewed the February 2026 release.
- 02 · Explore
Map Table Service
The first design case covered floor planning, seats, table status, and recovery.
- 03 · Reduce
Start with a list
I asked for a smaller first release. The team chose a table list and moved floor planning later.
- 04 · Refine
Work through seat actions
I led ordering while another designer led the visualizer. The design blocks removal of a seat with items. Two options await estimates and user review.
Result
Bar Tabs shipped. Table Service is still being refined.
Bar Tabs
The first release supports single-server tabs and clear payment states.
Table Service
The team is refining the list, seat ordering, and table actions. Floor planning is later work.
Table workflows
Team leads will estimate two seat-action variations. User reviews will test the connected flow.
The Bar Tabs release is verified. Table Service design outcomes and task results have not been measured here.
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