Service Fees — Automatic Charges

Plain-English summary#

A service fee is a percentage charge added automatically to qualifying orders — most often a 10% service charge on dine-in. Discounts take money off; service fees add it. Taxes are set by the government; service fees are your restaurant's policy. They show as their own line on the receipt, between Subtotal and Tax.

When you'd use this#

• Dine-in service charge (10% is standard in Maldives F&B)
• A fee on delivery orders
• Large-party surcharge (groups of 8+)
• Event catering markup

How to access#

• Sidebar: in admin.foodops.io, Settings → Accounting → Service Fees

Key concepts#

• Service fee — a charge set by the restaurant that the customer can't opt out of (unlike a voluntary tip).
• Rate — always a percentage. For a flat charge (e.g., an MVR 15 delivery fee), use a line item instead of a service fee.
• Tax on top — the service fee is added to the subtotal before tax is worked out. The receipt shows: Subtotal → Service → Tax → Total.
• By order type — a dine-in-only service charge doesn't apply to takeout orders. Set it per order type.

Common questions#

Q: Is a service fee the same as a tip? A: No. A service fee is set by the restaurant, isn't optional, appears on every qualifying order, and is part of the restaurant's revenue. A tip is up to the customer and goes to staff.

Q: Can a customer remove the service charge? A: Not from the POS — it's added automatically. In exceptional cases a manager can apply a manual discount to offset it.

Q: Does the service fee show on the kitchen ticket? A: No — kitchen tickets only show items. The service fee appears on the customer's receipt and in reports.

Q: Can I set different service-fee rates per outlet? A: No — service fees apply across your whole organisation and are set by order type, not by outlet. The add/edit dialog only offers Dine-in / Delivery / Takeout toggles, and each order picks up the fees for its type.

Q: How does the Day Summary report handle service fees? A: Service Charge has its own line in the Sales Summary section — separate from Subtotal, Tax and Discounts.