Tabern

Terminology

The words these docs use, and what each one means in Tabern.

These terms appear across every guide. Where the dashboard has a label for something, the docs use that exact label, so you can match what you read to what you see on screen.

Plans and tiers

  • Tier — what a venue is allowed to do. Tabern works it out automatically: Free, Paid, or none. The dashboard calls the first two the free plan and the paid plan.
  • Free — the one free website your account earns when you buy a Tabern device or activate a tap card. A free website can publish: menus, hours, deals, and booking links. One per account, no matter how many cards you hold.
  • Paid — a Stripe subscription for one venue, billed monthly or yearly. It adds Scan Menu, Rewards, Members, Kiosks, Notifications, and a custom domain. On the free plan those pages show an "Upgrade to unlock" panel instead.
  • No tier — a venue with no subscription and no free-website eligibility. It can't publish, and a live site goes offline.
  • Subscription — the Stripe billing for one venue. Each venue has its own.

Details in Billing & subscription.

Venue and location

  • Venue — your business on Tabern, and the website that goes with it. Each venue has its own subdomain, menus, rewards program, and plan. One account can own several venues.
  • Location — a physical address belonging to a venue. One venue can have several; each has its own address, phone, contact email, and weekly hours. Managed in Hours & Location.
  • Subdomain — the yourvenue in yourvenue.tabern.app. Every venue gets one.
  • Custom domain — a domain you own, like joesbar.com, connected to your venue on the paid plan. See Subdomains & URLs.

Content

  • Menu — a named list (Dinner, Brunch, Drinks). A venue can run several; guests switch between them.
  • Section — a group inside a menu (Starters, Mains).
  • Item — a dish or drink with a name, price, optional description, photo, and dietary tags.
  • Variation — a priced size or preparation of an item (Small/Large, Glass/Bottle).
  • Deal — a promotion with an image, a discount, and a schedule, managed in Deals & Promos.

Publishing

  • Saved changes — edits you've saved in the dashboard. Saving never changes the live site.
  • Publish — copy everything you've saved to the live site. Every Publish button publishes the whole site.
  • Published snapshot — the frozen copy of your site that guests see. It stays exactly as it is until you publish again.
  • Unpublished changes — saved changes the live site doesn't have yet. The dashboard shows a banner with a Publish now button while any exist.
  • Unpublish — take the site offline. Your saved content stays in the dashboard.
  • Active / Draft — the status on a menu item or deal. Draft items and deals are left off the live site, even when you publish.

Full mechanics in Publishing model.

People

  • Account owner — the one Tabern login that owns a venue and controls its dashboard, billing, and data. There are no team logins.
  • Guest — anyone browsing your public site.
  • Member — a guest who joined your rewards program. Members belong to your venue only; the same email can join other venues' programs separately.
  • Member code — the 8-character code behind a member's QR. Staff scan it, or type it, to check the member in.
  • Staff — people working your venue. Staff never sign in to the dashboard; they unlock the Rewards Scanner with a PIN.

Rewards

  • Rewards program — your visit-based punch card, set up in Customers → Rewards. The dashboard calls it the card ("Pause card", "Delete card"). One per venue, paid plan only.
  • Check-in — one approved visit at the Rewards Scanner. The scanner calls it a punch ("Punch added.").
  • Milestone — a visit count where a reward unlocks, set with "Visits to earn" (1 to 12).
  • Grant — one earned reward a member is holding until it's used. Grants are used up automatically at the member's next approved check-in.
  • Wallet pass — the member's card saved to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. It carries the same member code and updates on its own.

Full lifecycle in Rewards model.

Kiosks and scanners

  • Kiosk — a screen you set up in Customers → Kiosks, usually on a tablet. There are two types.
  • Rewards Scanner — PIN kiosk — the staff screen for checking members in. Unlocks with a 6-digit PIN. "The scanner" in these docs means this.
  • Full-screen Menu — public kiosk — a read-only screen that rotates your published menu. No PIN.
  • Menu scanner — not a kiosk. It's the AI import behind the Scan Menu button in Menu Manager that turns menu photos or PDFs into items.

Setup in Kiosks.

Tap cards

  • Tap card / device — a Tabern NFC Card, Stand, or Dot from the device store. A phone tap or QR scan opens the venue the device is linked to.
  • Activation code — the 5-character code printed on each device. Type it under Activate a card on Orders & cards, or tap the device with your phone, to add it to your account.
  • Card link — the address stored in the device's chip and QR code: tabern.app/c/ followed by the card's own code. It never changes.
  • Linked card — a card pointing at one of your venues. Orders & cards shows Linked; an activated card with no venue shows Active · not linked; a turned-off card shows Off.

Details in Orders & cards.

Account

  • Billing portal — Stripe's self-serve page for payment methods, invoices, and cancellation.
  • Referral — a signup that came through your referral link. It earns you a reward once it turns into a paid subscription.

Details in Billing & subscription and Referrals.