A restaurant's network: tills, orders and guest WiFi

What depends on the network today

• The till and the kitchen and bar printers.
• The waiters' order tablets or handhelds.
• Card terminals.
• Online bookings and delivery orders.
• Music, screens and cameras.
• Guest WiFi.

If they all share one consumer-grade network, any of them can knock out the others.

Separate networks

• Operations: till, printers and orders. The one that can't fail.
• Payments: card terminals, isolated from everything else.
• Guests: internet only, with a speed limit per user.
• Cameras and music: on their own segment.

Cable for anything fixed

The till and kitchen printers should be wired. A kitchen is a tough environment for WiFi: metal, heat, steam and microwaves. A network cable prevents most lost orders.

WiFi for ordering

• Professional access points, wired and well placed: dining room, terrace and the route to the kitchen.
• Roaming between access points, so the tablet doesn't disconnect as staff cross the room.
• A terrace covered by an outdoor access point.

Backup internet

A second 4G/5G connection that takes over if the fibre goes down keeps card terminals, bookings and orders running. And a UPS on the router, switch and till stops a brief power dip rebooting everything mid-service.

Guest WiFi

• Simple access: a QR code on the table or a password changed regularly.
• Isolation between guests.
• A bandwidth cap so it doesn't affect operations.

In high season

The network should be sized for the busiest day, not an ordinary Tuesday. In Andorra, that means bank holiday weekends, ski season and summer.

Checklist

• Are the till and printers wired?
• Are guests on a separate network?
• Is there a backup connection and a UPS?
• Does someone get an alert if a device goes down?
• Is the network documented, passwords included?