Canteen
Canteen desk
The meal, the coupon, and the count that was served.
A sitting has a menu and a count of meals planned.
A coupon or a staff meal is marked when it is served. The pot and the list can be compared.
Guests are a separate count. They do not hide inside the staff number.
The store issues ingredients against the sitting. What was cooked has a reason.
The evening number is meals served, meals left, and the cost items the kitchen already knows.
A prepaid mess plan sits on the person. A meal outside the plan is its own line.
The manager sees which sitting has not been closed.
A new counter hand can mark a meal and see the running count.
Waste, if you record it, is a number on the sitting, not a story.
The desk follows the serving window you already run.