Two different sheets: the receipt and the kitchen ticket
The first mistake in many restaurants is printing one sheet that serves both the guest and the kitchen. The receipt needs the business name, its tax number, items with prices, VAT, the total, the payment method and a QR code where required. The kitchen ticket needs the opposite: order number, table and time, then the items in a large font with their modifiers and notes, and nothing about prices, tax or the guest’s phone.
Once the two are separated, the cook can read the ticket from a metre away, the guest gets a clean receipt, and the guest’s phone number never reaches the prep counter.
One printer per station, one routing rule per printer
A kitchen that prints the whole order on one printer forces someone to read the ticket and sort items aloud: “drinks to the bar, burgers to the grill”. The right rule is that the system decides before printing: every printer has routing rules naming the categories or items it receives, so the grill gets grill items only, the bar gets drinks only, and the full receipt prints at the till.
When an order holds items from more than one station, each station gets its own ticket with the same order number, so every section knows its share and the order comes together at the pass.
- Receipt printer: at the till, prints the receipt and opens the cash drawer.
- Kitchen printer: hot items, larger font, no prices.
- Bar or dessert printer: its own items only, so they are not lost among kitchen tickets.
- Delivery printer: a copy with address and phone to stick on the bag.
What must a kitchen ticket carry?
The short daily order number, the order type, the table number or driver name, and the pickup time. Then the items with quantities, and under each item its modifiers and notes in a distinct style, because “no onion” in small print is the cause of most returned plates. If the order is a second round on an open tab, the ticket carries the round number so the kitchen does not remake what was served in round one.
In restaurants with a mixed team it helps to print the ticket in two languages: the item name in Arabic with English underneath, so no cook needs a translator.
Print exactly once
The most dangerous thing in printing is not the ticket that did not print but the one that printed twice, because the kitchen will make two dishes and only find out at the pass. The usual cause is a slow network: the cashier presses print again because the paper is late, or the device retries automatically after a dropout.
A sound system gives every ticket one identity, knows it was claimed for printing by a specific device, so no other device prints it and the same device never reprints it without an explicit decision by the cashier. When it cannot confirm the paper came out, the ticket appears in an “unconfirmed” list for the cashier to decide after looking at the printer.
Voids and changes after sending
Deleting an item on the screen after its ticket reached the kitchen does not cancel it in reality; the cook does not see the screen. So every removal of a sent item must come with a distinct void ticket printed on the printer that originally received the item, carrying the item name, the cancelled quantity and what remains. The same applies when items move from one table to another or two tables are joined: the kitchen needs a sheet telling it what changed.
Printing from different channels
An order from the website, the call centre or a waiter’s phone must reach the same printers as a till order, with the same rules. The only difference is the moment of printing: a website order prints when it is accepted, not when it arrives, so the kitchen never starts an order that may be refused. A waiter’s round prints when the cashier sends it, or immediately when the waiter is allowed to send directly, according to the restaurant’s policy.
Checklist before opening
Print a test receipt and a test kitchen ticket from every printer, and check the font size and that the QR code at the foot of the receipt scans from a phone. Create an order with one item from every station and confirm each station received only its share. Then remove an item after sending it and watch for the void ticket. Finally unplug a printer mid-print and confirm the ticket shows as pending and does not print twice when the connection returns.
