# Read the restaurant dashboard

**Console: Dashboard.** Confirm the business. The dashboard brings together
summary figures and shortcuts; read each card's period and location context
rather than assuming every figure is live, today-only, or for every branch.

## Start with the data state

- **Sample data** is an illustrative preview, not the restaurant's trading
  result.
- **Couldn't refresh** shows the age of the last figures or says it is showing
  the last known result. Retry and verify before a current-service decision.
- **Couldn't load today's figures** is a failed query, not zero activity.
- **Incomplete costs** in Cost pulse is not a healthy low prime cost or margin
  leak.

The onboarding checklist can point to setup still needed. A completed setup item
does not prove every channel, provider, or device is ready for service.

## Read the cards

| Card/view                | Check                                                                                                    |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Today's snapshot         | Revenue/orders/reservations/staff/average order and each caption's scope                                 |
| Revenue                  | Selected period versus the same-length previous period; not necessarily calendar month                   |
| Revenue mix and labour   | Channel mix, recorded work and estimate context                                                          |
| Heatmap/peak performance | Displayed day/hour and metric, before deciding staffing or stock                                         |
| Menu performance         | Top sellers/slow movers, selected period, revenue and quantity; list share is not the whole menu's share |
| Staff performance        | Selected ranking metric and period; not proof of complete payroll or individual performance              |
| Reservations & Waitlist  | Service date, bookings versus covers, status and genuinely waiting parties                               |
| Cost pulse               | Location/card scope, costing coverage, and links to the detailed cost report                             |

A coloured chart or ranking is a prompt to investigate. Use the source order,
booking, time record, count or costed recipe before changing configuration.
Business summaries and location-specific card links can have different scope.

## Find the next task

Use the current Service, Menu, Guests, Marketing, Stock, Team, Reports and
Settings groups. For guidance see [Navigation](/getting-started/navigation),
[Daily service](/guides/daily-operations), [Daily reports](/daily-reports),
[Analytics](/analytics/analytics), and [Inventory reports](/reports/inventory).

If figures disagree, preserve business/location, card, period, data-state label,
metric and source references when escalating. Do not recreate records, guess
costs, or change payment state just to make a chart balance. Keep staff/guest
and financial screenshots within authorised access.