What is a split bill?
A split bill is one check divided between guests, evenly, by item, by percentage or by custom amounts, with each guest paying their share.
Splitting the bill is the most common payment request in a sit-down restaurant. A table of four may want to pay one each, a couple may want to pay by what each ordered, and a business lunch may want one card for the food and another for the drinks. The POS has to divide the check without losing track of what is paid and what is still due.
There are four common ways to split. Even split divides the total by the number of guests. By item lets each guest take the dishes they ordered. By percentage gives each guest a share, such as 60/40. Custom lets each guest pay a typed amount until the balance reaches zero. Tax and any service charge should follow the split, so each share carries its fair part.
Each share is its own payment and can use its own tender: one guest pays cash, another taps a debit card, a third uses credit and adds a tip. That is why split bills and mixed tender are closely related. The end-of-day report should still show one sale with several payments, so sales counts are not inflated.
In SeroPOS, Split on the payment screen opens CREATE SPLIT with a Split Type of Even, Percent, Item Wise or Custom and the number of splits. Each split row can pick its items, then takes its own method, card type and tip. In QSR Mode an inline split numpad shows what remains as each tender is recorded.
A table's bill is $120.00 including tax. Split evenly four ways, each guest pays $30.00. Split by item, guest A had $34.50 of food, guest B $28.75, guest C $31.25 and guest D $25.50, which adds back to $120.00. Guest A pays cash, B and C tap debit, and D pays by credit with a $5 tip.