Empower Your Guests: Complete Guide to Kiosk Setup in NX POS 🖥️🍔

Self-order kiosks are a game-changer for modern restaurants! They shorten wait times, increase average check sizes through smart upsells, and free up front-of-house staff to focus on hospitality. With the Kiosk Setup tool in NX Restaurant POS, you have full control over the self-ordering experience—from branding and idle screen screensavers to order types, checkout prompts, and smart upsell suggestions.

This guide breaks down every setting, tab, and step required to design a seamless self-ordering kiosk for your venue!

What is Kiosk Setup? 🤔

The Kiosk Setup dashboard in NX Portal lets venue managers design and configure the entire software experience for guest-facing kiosks.

While the kiosk automatically pulls its menu items, categories, prices, and live stock directly from your master POS menu, the Kiosk Setup page determines how that menu is styled, presented, and experienced by your guests.

What Kiosk Setup Does vs. What It Doesn't Do 💡

It Does... 🛠️	It Does NOT... 🚫
Theme the kiosk with your venue's brand colors, fonts, and background graphics.	Build your menu. Items, categories, modifiers, pricing, and stock levels are managed in the master POS Menu tab.
Select available order types (e.g., Dine-In vs. Takeout).	Pair physical hardware. Pairing a physical tablet hardware unit is completed on the terminal device screen itself.
Configure checkout prompts (e.g., asking for guest name, phone, or allergy notes).	Configure card processing. Merchant payment accounts are managed globally at the venue level.
Manage idle screen screensavers and attract loop slideshows.
Curate automated upsell items at checkout.

Where to Find Kiosk Settings 📍

📌 Venue-Specific Note: Kiosk configurations belong to a single venue. If you operate multiple locations, each restaurant location gets its own dedicated kiosk setup!

Pre-Setup Checklist 📋

Before building your kiosk configuration, make sure you have these prerequisites ready:

🏢 An Active Area: Every kiosk must route its orders into a designated venue area (e.g., Main Dining Room or Kiosk Orders).
⏰ Time Ranges (Optional): Set up custom time ranges if you want settings to change by time of day (e.g., a lunch idle screen vs. a dinner idle screen).
🖼️ Brand Media & Logos: Prepare any background photos or logo files you wish to display on screen.
👤 Accountable Employee Record (Optional): Select an employee profile to attribute kiosk sales to for reporting purposes.

Page Overview & Interactive Live Preview 📱

Each kiosk setup includes a custom Name (internal only; guests never see this) and six configuration tabs.

On the right side of the screen, you'll find an Interactive Live Preview framed inside a device screen!

Navigating the Live Preview Frame 🧭

Real-Time Rendering: Every color adjustment, label tweak, or setting change on the left updates the live preview instantly!
Flow Jump Buttons: Use the preview control bar—Attract, Browse, Item, Cart, Checkout, Complete—to jump straight to any stage of the guest checkout journey.
Sample Data: The preview uses sample menu items to help you double-check color contrasts and button placements without cluttering your live menu.

Step-by-Step Configuration Guide ⚙️

1. General Settings 🛠️

Establish core routing and payment rules for the kiosk:

Setting	Function 💡
Area	Selects which venue area kiosk orders route into.
Accountable Employee	Assigns an employee record for sales attribution and reporting.
Allow Customer Stored Payments	When turned On, guests logging into loyalty accounts can pay using saved cards on file.
Require Exact Promo Code Match	When turned On (default), guests must enter promo codes precisely.

2. Interface — Theming Your Kiosk 🎨

Customize colors, typography labels, and layout behaviors across your kiosk screens:

Important Color Format Requirement!

All color fields must use valid HEX codes (e.g., #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA with transparency). If an invalid code is entered, the field will highlight in red and the kiosk will silently fall back to default colors! Always resolve red-outlined fields before saving.

🖼️ Screen Backgrounds: Adjust background colors and text colors across ordering and checkout screens.
🗂️ Menu Tiles & Category Layout: Set item tile colors (normal and selected states), header text, and placeholder text. Choose whether to completely hide out-of-stock items or grey them out, and configure "Low Stock" badge thresholds (e.g., show badge when N left).
- 📐 Category Layout Options: Choose between Horizontal (Row)—a scrolling row of pill buttons across the top—or Vertical (Sidebar), which displays categories in a left-hand column using existing category photos. Switching to Vertical (Sidebar) is great if you have many categories and want to prevent guests from having to scroll off-screen!
🍔 Item Customization: Customize modifier choices, Add to Order button colors (normal vs. disabled states), and enable or disable guest free-text item notes (e.g., "no onions" or allergy notes).
⏱️ Checkout Button & Timeout: Set Checkout button labels/colors and establish an Inactivity Timeout (in seconds).
(Note: NX POS enforces a minimum floor timeout of 30 seconds to prevent accidental resets).

3. Idle Screens (The Attract Loop) 📺

When no one is actively ordering, the kiosk displays an attract screen with background imagery, a "Touch to Order" call-to-action button, or a rotating Guest Display slideshow.

Priority Row Ordering:

You can create multiple idle screens (e.g., a Lunch design and a Dinner design). The kiosk checks screens top-to-bottom and displays the first row whose Active Time Range is valid or blank! Drag rows up or down to set display priority.

4. Order Types 🍽️

Select which service order types this kiosk offers (e.g., Dine-In, Takeout).

Critical Setup Check!

If the Order Types list is left empty, guests will be unable to start an order! Always ensure at least one order type is added.

5. Order Suggestions (Checkout Upsells) 🍟🥤

Curate a list of recommended add-on items to show guests at checkout (e.g., suggesting drinks, sides, or desserts).

Time Range Scoping: Limit specific suggestions to time windows (e.g., suggest coffee items during breakfast).
Automated Top-Up: If your curated suggestion list is short, the kiosk automatically tops it up with popular, affordable, in-stock items!

6. Prompts — Questions Before Ordering ❓

Configure mandatory or optional questions asked before guests reach the menu:

Supported Prompt Types: Guest Name, Phone Number, Email Address, Order Type, Tent Number, Allergens, or Loyalty Login.
Input Keyboards: Assign appropriate on-screen keyboards (Text, Number, or Phone).
Required Toggle: Toggle On to force guests to answer before proceeding.
Ordering: Drag prompt rows up or down to change the question sequence.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Common Setups 🚀

Setting Up a Basic Dine-In Kiosk

Set Area:Select venue location.
Go to General tab ➔ select your target Area from the dropdown menu.
Configure Order Type:Add order channel.
Go to Order Types tab ➔ click Add Order Type ➔ select Dine In ➔ leave Active Time Range blank for all-day availability.
Save Configuration:Apply settings.
Click Save in the top bar to apply your kiosk baseline!

Setting Up Time-Based Lunch & Dinner Idle Screens

Configure Lunch Idle Screen:Create lunch screen.
Go to Idle Screens tab ➔ click Add Idle Screen ➔ set Active Time Range to Lunch ➔ upload your lunch background graphic and CTA button text.
Configure Fallback Idle Screen:Create default screen.
Click Add Idle Screen again ➔ leave Active Time Range blank ➔ upload your standard all-day background graphic.
Arrange Row Priority:Set priority order.
Drag the Lunch row so it sits above the blank fallback row. The kiosk evaluates rows top-to-bottom and will display the lunch screen during lunch hours, falling back to the default screen afterward!

Troubleshooting Common Kiosk Issues 🔍

Problem / Symptom 💡	Likely Cause 🔍	Solution / Fix 🛠️
A customized color doesn't show up on the kiosk	Invalid HEX code format.	Check NX Portal for a red-outlined field. Enter a valid `#RRGGBB` hex code and save.
Guests cannot start orders on the kiosk	Missing Order Types.	Navigate to the Order Types tab and add at least one active order type.
Wrong idle screen is displaying	Row priority order or Time Range mismatch.	Reorder your idle screen rows so specific time-based screens sit above fallback screens.
Changes aren't updating on physical hardware	Unsaved draft or device pairing issue.	Click Save in Portal. Verify on the physical tablet that it is paired to this specific kiosk setup profile.
Custom prompt question isn't appearing	Unsupported prompt type.	Ensure your prompt uses one of the 7 official supported types (Name, Phone, Email, Order Type, Tent, Allergens, Login).

Need Additional Help? 💬

If your self-order kiosk is not behaving as expected, reach out directly to NX Restaurant Support! Please provide:

Your kiosk's exact Name.
The specific tab or setting being changed.
A photo or screenshot from the physical kiosk showing the issue.

Our technical team will have your guest checkout lanes running smoothly in no time! 🌟