Connect Lightspeed K-Series to Upvendo
This guide connects your Lightspeed Restaurant K-Series POS to Upvendo kiosks, online ordering and QR ordering. When you're done, every Upvendo order lands on your Lightspeed POS and kitchen printers, and your menu, prices and sold-out items come from Lightspeed.
Setup takes about 30 minutes, plus a short wait on Lightspeed support for the VAT step (EU only).
Before you start
- An active Lightspeed Restaurant K-Series account with online ordering enabled for your business location, and at least one POS device online.
- Your menu built in Lightspeed. Every item and every option with a price needs a SKU and an accounting group.
- An Upvendo account with your location(s) created under Settings > Locations. Lightspeed locations are not imported automatically.
- A payment provider connected in Upvendo (Stripe or Viva Wallet) for online payments. Lightspeed handles the payments taken at your till only.
Step 1: prepare Lightspeed
In the Lightspeed Back Office:
- Put every item you sell on a menu that is linked to your POS configuration. Lightspeed only accepts online orders for items on a linked menu; anything else is refused by the POS. After changing a menu, use Update and reload devices.
- Create a payment method for Upvendo orders, for example "Upvendo". Paid Upvendo orders are booked on it, so they are easy to find in your reports.
- Create order profiles for Upvendo orders. The name and code are your choice:
| Example name | Takeaway mode | Order completion |
|---|---|---|
| Upvendo Takeout | Pick up | Complete manually in POS |
| Upvendo Delivery | Delivery | Complete manually in POS |
| Upvendo Dine-in (optional) | Off | Complete manually in POS |
- Only if you offer "pay at pickup": go to POS > Configurations > your configuration > Order Management and turn on Allow orders with zero covers. Otherwise the till refuses payment of a pickup order with "The number of covers cannot be zero!".
- EU only, VAT on the new order profiles: merchants can't edit tax rules in K-Series. Ask Lightspeed support (k-series.support@lightspeedhq.com) to attach the same tax rules as the built-in Take away profile to your new take-away and delivery profiles. Confirm the rates with your accountant first. Until this is done, those orders are billed at the standard rate.
Step 2: connect your Lightspeed account
- In the Upvendo back office, open Lightspeed and go to the Settings tab.
- Click Connect with Lightspeed.
- Log in with your Lightspeed account and allow Upvendo access.
- You come back to Upvendo, connected. There is no separate connection test to run.
Step 3: link your locations
- Go to the Locations tab. Every Upvendo location is listed.
- Click Map location next to a location and pick the Lightspeed business location it belongs to. Each Lightspeed location can be linked to one Upvendo location.
- Upvendo now imports that location's menu. The status shows Syncing, then Active.
Repeat for each location.
Step 4: payment methods and order profiles
- Settings tab > Payment method mapping: pick the Lightspeed payment method from step 1 for online payments, then click Save payment methods. Pay-at-pickup and invoice orders always arrive unpaid; your staff settle them at the till.
- Locations tab > the location's menu > Order profiles: choose the Dine-in, Takeout and Delivery order profiles from step 1, then click Save. An order type left empty uses the Lightspeed default.
- Locations tab > the location's menu > POS menu: pick the menu(s) linked to the POS configuration that receives online orders, then Save. Items not on these menus are hidden from customers. With only one Lightspeed menu there is nothing to pick. If you change the menu on your POS later, update this too; Upvendo shows a hint on the location when the picked menu is gone or orders start failing for missing items.
- Optional, Settings tab:
- Auto Sync Time: when the daily menu sync runs (default 07:01).
- Fee article SKU: a Lightspeed item that delivery and pickup fees are booked on. Leave it empty to keep fees off the POS.
Step 5: publish your menu
When the import is done, Upvendo offers Use your Lightspeed menu. Choose Online Ordering, Kiosk or both and click Use this menu. You can add photos, descriptions and allergens in Upvendo; they are sent back to Lightspeed.
Step 6: place a test order
- Place one small takeaway order on your kiosk or online ordering page.
- Check that it appears on the POS under the right order profile and prints in the kitchen.
- EU: check the receipt shows the reduced take-away VAT rate. If not, the tax rules from step 1.5 are not attached yet.
What syncs, and when
| What | Direction | When |
|---|---|---|
| Menus, items, prices, options, categories (accounting groups), tax rates, floor plans | Lightspeed to Upvendo | Every day at your sync time, and when you click Sync now |
| Sold-out items (sales restrictions) | Lightspeed to Upvendo | Immediately |
| Orders, with payment, tip, options and notes | Upvendo to Lightspeed | Immediately, for every order |
| New items, and name, price or active changes | Upvendo to Lightspeed | When you save the item in Upvendo |
| Photos, descriptions, allergens | Upvendo to Lightspeed | When you save the item in Upvendo |
Lightspeed is the source of truth: if an item exists in both, the Lightspeed version wins. Categories, option groups and SKUs are managed in Lightspeed only.
Dine-in orders (kiosk eat-in, QR at the table) go to the POS as dine-in orders; QR orders are added to the open check of that table. Takeaway and delivery orders arrive as pickup or delivery orders.
Adding a new item
You can create an item in Upvendo; it is created in Lightspeed for you. Lightspeed can't add items to a menu through its API, so add the new item to your POS-linked menu in Lightspeed and reload the devices. Until then, Upvendo shows a warning on the item and keeps it hidden from customers, so nobody can order something the POS would refuse.
When an order can't be sent to the POS
Orders the POS refuses are listed under Transactions > Stuck POS, with Lightspeed's reason. Fix the cause, then click Retry POS Sync on the order, or enter it on the till by hand. Upvendo never refunds automatically.
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| Item not found / could not add item | Put the item on a POS-linked menu (step 1.1) and give it a SKU, check the POS menu setting (step 4.3), then Sync now |
| Location not configured for online orders | Enable online ordering for the business location in Lightspeed |
| Location doesn't accept online orders at the moment | Make sure a POS device is online, then retry |
| Not processed in time | No POS device was online; Upvendo already retried 5 times. Bring a device online, then retry |
| Order voided or refunded on the POS | Not sent again. Refund the customer by hand if they paid |
Reconnecting
If Lightspeed access expires, a Reconnect banner appears on the Lightspeed page. Click Reconnect and log in again. Your location links and settings are kept.
Removing a location link
Locations tab > the location's menu > Remove mapping deletes everything Upvendo imported from Lightspeed for that location (items, categories, options, tax rates). Nothing is deleted in Lightspeed. Use Pause to stop syncing without deleting anything.
Need help?
Contact Upvendo support through the chat in your back office or via our contact page. We set up the integration with you if you prefer.