Guest Count

Guest Count allows a business to track how many customers it serves by enabling cashiers to enter a number of guests for each sale at the register. Guest count data appears on reports accessible from the register, BackOffice, and Lightspeed Pocket.

Table of Contents

Enable Guest Count

Turn on the Guest Count feature in BackOffice to begin recording the number of guests served at the register. This is an account setting that applies to all registers in a given location.

For restaurants, we recommend enabling the Restaurant Register Type instead of following the steps below. Doing so will automatically enable Guest Count and grant access to future restaurant-specific features.

  1. In BackOffice, click ‘Settings’ and select ‘General’.
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  2. Check the box to enable Guest Count.
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  3. (Optional) Enable the setting to prompt cashiers to enter a guest count for every new transaction.

    If enabled, a keypad will automatically open at the start of each sale to remind the cashier to enter the number of guests. Otherwise, cashiers must manually tap the Guests icon to enter a guest count.

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  4. Click ‘Save’.
  5. Get updates on each iOS or Android register to set the Guest Count feature live on the register.
  6. (Optional) Follow the steps here to ensure Saved Sales Sync is enabled on each register.

    Saved Sales Sync allows sales saved at one register to be viewed, modified, and finished on another. All saved sale information, including the guest count, syncs between registers with this feature enabled.

    Guest count syncing requires the latest compatible version of the iOS or Android versions of the Retail POS (S-Series) app. For help updating the app, visit our Introduction to iPad or Introduction to Android articles.

Guest Count at the Register

At the register, enter the number of guests for each sale to track guest count information in reporting.

  1. On the Retail POS (S-Series) app, open the New Sale screen.
  2. Enter the number of guests for the sale.
    a  If prompted with a keypad, enter the guest count and tap ‘Done’.
    Use ‘None’ to record 0 guests when the exact count is unknown, such as with to-go and phone orders.
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    b  If not prompted, tap the Guests icon to enter the guest count.
    Want to enable the keypad prompt? Visit the section above for help.
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  3. Tender or save the sale.

    The number of guests appears on the Saved Sales screen of iOS and Android registers and syncs between registers with Saved Sales Sync enabled. It also prints on kitchen tickets if ticket printing is set up.

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Guest Count Reporting

From the number of guests served to the average sale value per guest, check out the reports below for guest count analytics.

Guest count data for completed sales is available on:

  • X and Z Reports – See the number of guests served per shift. Learn about X and Z reports here.
  • Dashboard – See the total number of guests served and the average sale value per guest. Learn about the Dashboard here.
  • Shifts Summary – See the number of guests served per shift. Learn about the Shifts Summary report here.
  • Lightspeed Pocket – See the total number of guests served, average number of guests per sale, and average sale amount. To enable Guest Count for Lightspeed Pocket the ‘Register Type’ must also be set to ‘Restaurant’ in BackOffice. Learn about Lightspeed Pocket here.