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Table of Contents

Purpose

This article overviews prep (preparation) tables and table sheets.

Process

Below are descriptions and processes surrounding prep tables and table sheets.

Prep Tables

What are Prep Tables?

Simply put, prep tables are the tables where products are made. Many commissaries designate specific food to be made on a specific table. Many companies that assemble items or kits may make them on specific tables as well. Prep tables in Connect allow for the tracking of what items are made on what tables.

There are several reasons a company may do this:

Allergens – There may be one table where allergens such as peanut products are never used. This reduces the likelihood of contamination when preparing to make a new food item.
Contamination Tracking – By always making specific foods on specific tables, any potential contamination is both limited and easy to trace. Since food is assigned to a specific table, it can quickly be identified which food items may have also been exposed.
Available Parts – If assembling kits or items, specific parts/ingredients may be stored at different tables.

Set Up Prep Tables

If the use of prep tables and/or table sheets are desired, please be sure the configuration is turned on by Lightspeed.

It will be necessary to tell Connect what the prep tables are and what food is made on each table. To do this, navigate to Facility on the nav bar. In the center of the screen, there will be a section titled Preparation Tables, which displays all of the current preparation tables. In this section there, is the option to create or edit a prep table.

Create a Prep Table

To create a prep table:

Click the + icon in the top-right corner of the header bar. A box will appear to enter in the new prep table’s name.
Enter the name and click on the green checkmark to confirm changes. (To cancel, click the red x to close the box without saving anything.) Once the table has been saved, it will appear in the list below.

Edit a Prep Table Name

The prep table name can be changed after the fact, if it's been spelled incorrectly or just needs to be changed for any reason.

To edit a prep table name:

Click the row of the desired prep table to edit. It will turn blue.
Click the Edit button, type the correct name, and click the green checkmark. The corrected name will now appear in the list.

Assign Products to a Prep Table

Once prep tables have been created, products can then be assigned to them.

To assign products to a prep table:

Navigate to the Products section of the website, and find the desired product to assign to a table - use the search bar in the top-right corner to search for products by name or SKU. Then click the row of the desired products to add them to the prep table.
A window will open to the right with details about this item. One of these details is the prep table that this item is assigned to. To change that prep table, simply choose the correct table from the drop-down list, then click the blue Save button to save changes.

Activate a Prep Table Within LS Admin

Think of a prep table as a Lightspeed product category filter. When a prep table is added in Connect, it is also added to Lightspeed but remains inactive. Ensure you are logged into the correct instance/version of Lightspeed Connect when adding tables.

To activate a prep table within LS Admin:

The prep table must first be added in Connect before it can be added to Lightspeed Admin.
(Prep tables can be added by following the previously outlined steps in the Set Up Prep Tables section of this article.)
Refresh the Lightspeed provider categories, which can be found under Lightspeed processes. Once they have been added in Connect, they can then be added to LS Admin. (Prep tables can be added following the previously outlined steps in the Set Up Prep Tables section of this article.)
They can be made visible by first refreshing LS provider categories, found under Lightspeed processes.
Next, activate the prep table category under the Lightspeed category filters, located in Lightspeed settings. The prep table category will display; make sure to activate it. Once finished, the category has been successfully added.

Table Sheets

What are Table Sheets?

Table sheets are reports that can be generated in Connect that summarize what items need to be made on a specific table on a specific day. Table sheets can only be used if Prep Tables are in use.

From our test environment, let's look at table sheets for 7/4/21. (Note that this is a test environment, and placeholder data may be visible in some of the provided screenshots.)

Rollup Table Sheet Report

The Rollup table sheet report provides a breakdown of what to make by table.

To create and view a Rollup Table Sheet report:

Navigate to Reports and choose the correct packout date. In our example, we will choose the packout date of 7/4/21. These are the items that are due to the customer on 7/4, and will be made on 7/3. Let’s just choose All Tables and All Customers first. Then check the box for Print as Rollup Sheet.

Once the desired filter selections have been made, click the View Report button.

In this example, a report will display that breaks down all the items to be made for 7/4 by each prep table. At the top of the page, in green text, it will show the Customers and Locations who have ordered these items. Then in blue text, it will show the name of the prep table where these items will be made, followed by the total number of items to be made on the table for 7/4.

Below that in the Product column, it will show the quantity of each item to be made, followed by the item name.
Then there will be a space for the staff to initial, after cleaning in between each item.

Master Table Sheet

This table sheet report will provide a breakdown of what will be made for each customer without viewing the tables they will be made on.

We will choose the same filters; except we will now check the Master Sheet checkbox. Once the desired filter selections have been made, click the View Report.

In this example, we can now see that Duluth Bowling ordered 35 total items to be made for 7/4 delivery and we can see the breakdown of those items. Page 2 shows the breakdown for the customer Amex Vend.

Plain Table Sheet

Now let's assume that your commissary makes all the food for one customer, then moves to the next customer. You still break down the food by prep tables, but you do not want your customers combined. You have two choices. You can select the Customer in the filter list and then print a roll up sheet. You would have to do this for each customer, which may not be the best use of time. Enter the plain Table Sheet. This table sheet will provide all your table sheets for the day, grouped by Customer then tables.

The filters would look like this:

In this example, on that first table – the Breakfast Table – Duluth Bowling ordered 11 of those 16 items. This page will be followed by the rest of Duluth Bowling’s table items, and then it will move to the next customer’s tables.

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