Caller ID: see who's calling on the POS

Overview

When a call comes in, the POS shows a dark popup in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It shows the caller's number and, if they've ordered from you before, who they are and how often they order.

Tapping Open customer takes you straight to that caller on the Phone order screen, so you can start their order without searching for them — or, for a new caller, add them with their number already filled in.

Note: Caller ID needs a way for the POS to find out about your calls. We recommend a CID Easy G/1 device plugged into the POS, which works with any phone line — see Connecting your phone system below.

This article covers what happens on the POS once a call arrives.

What the popup looks like

The popup appears over whatever you're doing — taking an order, on Track, or in Settings — and stays on screen until you deal with it. It shows:

• INCOMING CALL with a green phone icon
• The caller's full name, or Unknown if the number doesn't match any customer
• The phone number that's calling, followed by the customer's address if we have one
• For a known customer, one extra line:
  • their order in progress (for example Order #256 · In Kitchen · due 17:34) if they have one — they're probably ringing about it, or
  • otherwise how many times they've ordered and how much they've spent (for example 71 orders · £1048.40)
• Two buttons: Open customer and Copy number

Answering a call on the POS

1. When the popup appears, tap Open customer.
2. The POS leaves Track or Settings if you were in them, and opens the Phone order screen, set to Delivery (or Collection if your store isn't delivering, or you chose Collection for your last phone order).
3. What you see next depends on whether we recognised the number:
   • Known customer — their customer record opens and they're added to the order. Their address, order history and Repeat last order are all ready to use.
   • Unknown number — a blank new-customer form opens with the caller's number already in Mobile. Fill in their name (and address for a delivery), then tap Save & use for this order.
4. Carry on and build the order as normal.

To dismiss a call instead, tap the X in the top-right corner of the popup. The popup closes and that same call won't come back.

Tip: Need the number somewhere else? Tap Copy number on the popup to copy it to the clipboard, then use Paste next to any phone field.

Note: An incoming call never changes an order you're already building. If you're partway through an order when a new number rings, Open customer shows the new caller's details — it won't open the customer who's already on your order.

Connecting your phone system

Before any popup can appear, MyFoodFast has to find out about your incoming calls. There are two ways to do that, and which one suits you depends on your phone line.

With a caller ID device — what we recommend. The CID Easy G/1 plugs into your phone line at one end and into the POS's USB port at the other, and reads the caller's number straight off the line. It works with traditional landlines and with VoIP or digital systems alike.

Your number stays exactly as it is: nothing is ported, nothing is forwarded, and there's no monthly telephony cost. It also keeps working if your internet drops. And if you're moving to MyFoodFast from another provider, the caller ID box you already have will most likely work as-is.

See Caller ID with a phone line device for setup.

Over the internet, using Twilio. Your number is hosted on (or ported to) Twilio, which MyFoodFast manages for you. Choose this if you want the Voice Agent to answer calls, which needs the internet route, or if you'd rather have no extra hardware on the counter.

Setup is handled by our team, and involves:

1. Your phone number being hosted on (or ported to) Twilio.
2. That number pointed at MyFoodFast, so we're told about every incoming call.
3. Your number recorded as the store Telephone in Back Office — this is how we match a call to your store, so it has to be the number customers actually dial.

You can see the Twilio connection under Integrations > Twilio in Back Office. For the full setup and what to check when calls aren't coming through, see Connecting your phone number with Twilio.

What happens when someone calls

On the internet route, the caller ID popup fires on every incoming call, before we decide how the call gets answered. What happens to the call itself depends on whether you have the Voice Agent add-on:

• With Voice Agent — the AI answers and can take the order. The popup still appears, so you can see who's on the phone to the agent.
• Without Voice Agent — the call rings through to your store's handset as normal, and the popup appears as staff pick up.

Either way the caller ID popup behaves exactly as described in this article. See Getting Started with MyFoodFast Voice Agent if you want the AI to answer calls.

Note: Some older plug-in caller ID units relied on Windows drivers and won't work with MyFoodFast POS. CID Easy devices — the ones used by most ordering platforms — do work. If you have a box from a previous provider, send support a photo of the label and we'll confirm.

Turning Caller ID on for a POS terminal

Caller ID is switched on per terminal in Back Office, so you can have it popping up on the front counter POS but not on a kitchen or office terminal.

1. In Back Office, go to Setup > In-Store > POS Terminals.
2. Click the pencil icon next to the terminal you want to change.
3. Under Caller ID, turn on Enable Caller ID. Caller ID Popup switches on with it — leave it on.
4. Click Save.
5. Restart the POS app on that terminal. It reads its Caller ID setting when it starts up, so the change won't take effect until you close and reopen the app.

Note: The popup is the only way the POS shows a call. If Caller ID Popup is turned off, that terminal ignores incoming calls even with Enable Caller ID on.

Repeat calls from the same number

To stop the same call filling the screen, the POS ignores duplicates:

• The same call never pops up twice, however many times your phone system reports it — and that now holds even if the POS app is restarted during or just after the call.
• If the same number rings again within about half a minute, no new popup appears.
• Once you've dismissed or opened a call, it won't come back.

If a customer genuinely rings back after that, you'll get a fresh popup as normal — a caller who tries again a minute later is treated as a new call, not a duplicate.

Note: This also covers stores using both a caller ID device and the internet route at the same time. Both report the same call, and you'll still only see one popup.

Checking which calls came in

Where your calls come in over the internet, Back Office keeps a record of every one, whether or not anyone opened the popup. Go to Reports > Online Reports > Caller ID Logs to see the numbers and times.

This is the quickest way to tell whether a missing popup is a phone-system problem (nothing in the log) or a POS problem (the call is logged but never appeared).

Note: Calls read by a caller ID device don't appear in this report. The device talks straight to the POS without going through us, which is exactly why it keeps working when your internet doesn't.

Troubleshooting

• No popup appears at all. Check in order: are Enable Caller ID and Caller ID Popup both on for that terminal in Setup > In-Store > POS Terminals, and has the POS app been restarted since you changed them? If you're on the internet route, also check whether the call shows in Reports > Online Reports > Caller ID Logs — if it isn't there, the issue is between your phone provider and MyFoodFast rather than the POS, so contact support. If you use a caller ID device, see the troubleshooting in Caller ID with a phone line device.

• It works on one POS but not another. Caller ID is a per-terminal setting. Turn it on for the other terminal and restart the app on it. If you use a caller ID device, remember it only feeds the terminal it's plugged into.

• A regular customer shows as "Unknown". The POS doesn't care how the number is written — a customer saved as 07700 900123 is matched by a call arriving as +447700900123 and the other way round, so you don't need to reformat anything. If a regular caller still shows as Unknown, the number on their record genuinely differs from the one they're calling from (a second mobile, or a withheld number). Open the customer and check the number saved against them.

  Note: Callers who withhold their number show as Withheld or a short code rather than a number, and can't be matched to a customer. That's the caller's own setting, not a fault. For these callers the new-customer form opens with Mobile left empty.

• "Invalid mobile number" when saving a new caller. The number is checked when you save. Landline numbers and some unusual numbers are rejected as a Mobile — clear the field, and put the number in Home or Other under More fields instead.

• The popup stopped appearing after a while. On the internet route the POS reconnects automatically a few seconds after any drop-out. If nothing has appeared for a long stretch and calls are showing in the Caller ID Logs, restart the POS app on that terminal.

• Popups appeared, then stopped after the terminal was re-registered. A terminal has to be registered and signed in for Caller ID to work. Complete the terminal registration, then restart the app.

Related articles

• Caller ID with a phone line device — keep your existing line and read calls with a device plugged into the POS
• Connecting your phone number with Twilio — the Back Office and phone-line side of the internet route
• Getting Started with MyFoodFast Voice Agent — let the AI answer your calls
• Phone orders: collection default and required delivery address
• Repeat a customer's last order