Stop losing orders at the bar. Let guests tap to order.
Tap-to-order for NYC bars and lounges: a bar ordering system where guests tap an NFC display or scan the QR code, order the next round from their own phone with no app, and the ticket lands on your bar and kitchen display. Your bartenders, your regulars and your paper menu stay.
Or book a 15-minute call. From $297 a month, no commission on a single pour, setup fee waived through 2026.
Tap-to-order at the bar: how it works, and what staff see.
The high-top that finished its drinks ten minutes ago, the group at the end of the rail holding up a card, the patio nobody has checked since the last round: each is a round ready to be ordered with nowhere to go. Tap-to-order gives it a way in.
Tap or scan
Printed NFC displays sit on high-tops, booths, the rail and the patio. Phones that don't tap scan the QR code on the same display.
Order the round
Your drink menu opens in the browser, no app and no guest account. Guests pick drinks, set the swaps and the pour, and send it without waving anyone down.
The bar pours
The ticket lands on the bar and kitchen display with a new-order chime, labeled with the table and every modifier written out. Your team makes it and runs it the way your bar already works.
Every display carries an NFC tag and a printed QR code, so a guest with a newer phone taps and anyone else scans with the camera; there is no app to install either way and nothing to plug in. We place them where your guests actually wait: high-tops, booths, the rail, the patio and the rooftop.
Staff open the Tap2Order portal, a progressive web app, on any phone, tablet or laptop you already own: a tablet behind the bar, a laptop on the back bar, a manager's phone. Tickets move New, In progress, Ready. When a keg kicks or the limes run out, one tap marks the drink sold out behind every display, and if the well is buried, staff pause phone ordering for a few minutes and switch it back on when the rush eases. An alert tells you if the order screen goes offline. There is no terminal to buy, no tablet to lease and no POS to replace. More on the staff side in the staff guide.
See the guest and bar flow in the sample →Built for how busy bars actually run.
A packed Friday usually means one of two things: a bartender you can't find, or a round you never sell. Here is what changes when the tables can order for themselves.
- You sell the round that used to get lost. Guests at tables stop waiting to catch someone's eye and stop closing out early. On Growth Engine, smart upsells suggest food with a round, timed happy hours switch on and off by themselves, and one-tap reorder puts the next round a tap away; your reports show exactly what they added.
- Your bartenders keep up. They work a written queue instead of a crowd shouting from the rail, the floor and the patio at once. On Growth, the Algorithm paces the bar: each drink and dish is fired by its prep time so a table's round lands together, guests see an honest wait, and new orders slow automatically when the bar is buried three deep.
- Groups stay at the table. Nobody has to leave the booth and queue at the rail for six drinks. Anyone in the group sends the round from their seat, with no app, and if your bar runs pickup at the service end, an order-ready alert tells the guest their round is up, so nobody hovers.
- Fewer remakes. A cocktail with a swap or a specific pour arrives in writing, not shouted over the music, so the drink is right the first time.
- You stop pouring money down the drain. On Growth, every pour deducts its recipe from your liquor, beer and garnish stock. Low-stock alerts arrive before service, marking one ingredient out pauses every drink that uses it, and nightly suggested orders are sized to your distributor's cases, with a flag when what you buy drifts from what you pour: more tequila going out, the same vodka still coming in. Pour variance catches over-pouring, spills and theft, and waste shows in dollars, by reason.
- You know what pours. The sales dashboard shows what sold tonight and which pours carry the weekend, from anywhere. On Growth, menu performance ranks every drink by what it sells and what it earns, and peak-hour heatmaps turn into a prep list, so the second bartender and the cut garnish are ready before the rush.
For the long version, read why busy bars miss orders on a Friday.
Built for every kind of NYC bar.
- Cocktail lounges: builds, swaps and garnishes arrive in writing, so bartenders spend the night making drinks instead of taking notes.
- Sports bars: a game-night rush becomes a queue on the bar display instead of a wall of raised hands.
- Rooftop and patio bars: tables far from the bar order from an NFC display without flagging anyone down across the terrace.
- Wine bars: guests browse the list at their own pace, and a suggested plate with the second glass is a prompt, not a pitch.
- Neighborhood bars: regulars reorder their usual in one tap, and customer patterns on Growth show when they come back and what they spend.
- Hotel bars: visitors read the menu in their own language on Growth, so nobody translates at the rail.
Outdoor seating counts too. Sidewalk and roadway tables under NYC DOT's Dining Out NYC program get their own NFC display and order into the same bar view as the room inside, which is where a New York bar's patio usually loses the most rounds.
Running a club or lounge with bottle service? See nightlife ordering. A taproom with a rotating tap list? The brewery guide covers that setup.
Another way to order, without another hire.
Another pair of hands costs real money in this city: New York City's minimum wage is $17.00 an hour in 2026 (New York State Department of Labor), before payroll costs and the hours it takes to hire and train. A second way to order doesn't cut anyone from the schedule. It lets the bartenders already on shift pour for more of the room. What bar owners and managers ask before they say yes:
- "My regulars like ordering from the bartender." They still can. It's an extra way to order, not a replacement: the conversation at the rail, the recommendation and the regular's usual all stay.
- "What happens to tips?" Guests can add a tip at checkout, and a daily tips report shows what came in, ready for payroll. How tips are pooled and paid stays your house policy.
- "What about my POS?" Keep it. Tap2Order runs next to it on devices you already own, with nothing to rip out. Custom integrations are available on Pro Command.
- "Guests hate QR menus." They hate being forced onto one. Your printed menu and your bartenders stay; the NFC and QR display is there for the guests who would rather order than wait.
- "Who checks ID?" Your staff, exactly as now. Tap-to-order takes the request; age checks and responsible service stay behind the bar.
- "Will guests actually use it?" The ones who would rather not wait will, and nobody has to. With no app to download and no account to make, a tap opens the menu in the browser, which is why guests try it on a busy night.
- "Will it make my bar feel like a chain?" No kiosk, no screen on the table, no terminal on the bar. Guests use their own phones, and the designer-made display and poster are made to sit well in your room.
- "Another system to learn?" The portal runs in a browser, and a Tap2Order team member trains your staff in person. Day to day, they read tickets and mark what ran out.
Pricing for bars. A flat fee your bar can plan around.
| Feature | Essential Core, $297/month | Growth Engine, $597/month (Recommended) | Pro Command, $997/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Take every order: NFC and QR ordering with no app, live bar and kitchen display, pause and sold-out in one tap, tips at checkout with a daily tips report, sales dashboard from anywhere | Included | Included | Included |
| In-person setup, staff training, displays and poster | Included | Included | Included |
| Sell more: the Algorithm pacing the bar, smart upsells, timed happy hours and one-tap reorder, with what they added in your reports | Not included | Included | Included |
| Waste less: stock that counts itself, buy-what-you-pour ordering, pour variance, waste in dollars, low-stock alerts and ingredient out | Not included | Included | Included |
| Know what pours: menu performance, heatmaps turned into a prep list, customer patterns, weekly owner report, multi-language menus | Not included | Included | Included |
| Run on numbers: up to 5 bars compared, two-week forecast behind every liquor order, live food cost %, bar staffing by hour, refund and void audit, daily owner report, exports to your books | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Annual prepay (2 months free) | $2,970/year | $5,970/year | $9,970/year |
| Support | Priority email | Priority phone, dedicated onboarding |
Pro Command is for owners and bar managers running 2 to 5 bars on numbers, not gut feel: every bar side by side on sales, waste, food cost and labor, one menu with local specials and prices, and labor as a share of sales shift by shift, so you know whether Saturday needs a fourth bartender. Running 6 or more bars, or a franchise? Group HQ adds brand standards and one roll-up across every location, with custom pricing on a call.
- The term: billed monthly on a 3-month initial term that renews quarter to quarter. Cancel with 30 days' notice before a quarter ends; no fee after the first quarter.
- The setup fee: $599, waived for every bar that signs by December 31, 2026. Waived, not deleted: cancel in the first quarter and the $599 becomes payable with the rest of that quarter's monthly fees.
- Commission and card fees: none from us. Guest card payments go through your venue's payment processor at its standard rates, set up during onboarding.
- Add-ons: an extra pack of 10 NFC displays for a rooftop or a long rail, $149 one-time; an extra NYC training visit for new hires, $149; a design refresh, $199; the AI phone ordering agent, $149/month on any plan.
Example, not a result: Essential Core works out to about $10 a day. One extra $14 round a day that would otherwise have gone unordered pays for it. Run the sum with your own average drink ticket. Compare every plan
Tap-to-order for bars across NYC, with setup done in person.
- Onboarding call. We learn your drink menu, your tables and rail, your service style and how rounds are handed off.
- In-person install. A uniformed Tap2Order team member programs and places the printed NFC and QR displays, whether your bar is in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island, and gives a quick in-person demo.
- Staff training. Your team learns the portal and exactly what they need on a busy night, from marking a kicked keg sold out to pausing orders in the rush. You keep a designer-made table display and a poster pointing guests to your ordering site.
Launch guarantee for NYC venues: "Live within 7 days of your onboarding call, once we have your menu and venue details. If we miss it, your next month is free." The clock starts at the onboarding call, not at purchase. Outside NYC, timing is confirmed per venue.
Check us before you sign: the demo is a sample of the guest menu and the bar view with no signup, and Tap2Order was founded in New York by Dan, who comes from NYC hospitality and events. Meet the founder, or read why Tap2Order. New York bars serve after-work regulars, visitors and big groups in the same room; a menu in each guest's own browser gives all of them the same clear way to order.
Bar owner questions, answered.
Will this replace bartenders?
No. Bartenders still make the drinks, check ID and carry the conversation that makes a bar worth visiting. Tap-to-order takes the flagging-down out of ordering so they spend more of the night pouring.
Can guests use a QR code instead of NFC?
Yes. Every display carries an NFC tag and a QR code, so a guest taps with their phone or scans with the camera and lands on the same menu, no app either way.
How does the bar know an order arrived?
It appears instantly on the bar and kitchen display in the staff portal, with a chime. Where that screen sits and who watches it in a rush is set up with you on the onboarding call.
Do guests need to download an app?
No. Nobody at a loud bar wants to download anything to order a beer. A tap on the NFC display or a scan of the QR code opens your drink menu in the phone browser: no app download, no guest account, no password.
What does my bar need to buy?
Nothing. No terminals, no leased tablets, no POS replacement. The printed NFC and QR displays come with every plan, and the portal runs on devices you already own.
Can we run happy hour prices on a schedule?
On Growth Engine and Pro Command, yes. Timed happy hours switch prices on and off by themselves, and your reports show what they added.
Book 15 minutes. Get a plan for your bar.
Bring your floor plan and your busiest night. We'll show you where the displays go and where the next round gets lost.