Printing Open Tickets in Dine In Restaurant

[MrWellFed]

Hi there.

I run a busy restaurant and have been thinking of implementing the Square system. I've tried the app and am really liking it so far. I intend on buying an impact printer to print Kitchen orders. My question is...how exactly does the printing system work when ordering? Being a sit down dine in restaurant with full waiter service, the customer orders throughout the evening (entree, main, dessert) and settles their bill at the end. So for example if they order their starters, does an option then appear to print it to the kitchen? Then the same for when mains are added, desserts and so on? Also, what if they order entrees and mains at the same time. Obviously we need to place a hold on the mains until they are done with their entrees...so is their an option to only print the entrees and then print the mains later on? I understand the concept of Open Tickets but need more information on how they are implemented in a situation such as mine, especially in regards to the printing of kitchen orders.

Thank you in advance for any insight into this matter...

🙂

[Lima]

You can't postpone or change order on tickets. The moment a ticket is saved it prints on the kitchen printer.

Your servers can have mini iPads with them at table and moment they save order it's printed to drink station or kitchen, saving time server going to order station.

[MrWellFed]

Right, ok.

So I guess they'll have to take the entree orders first, then save/print...then after do the mains. So when they add to the order it obviously only prints out the new additions?

[Sean]

@MrWellFed - You've got it. 👍

[Lima]

Moment  you press save on any added item it will print in kitchen.

i don't know what setup you have now  for orders , make sure you give employees time to train with new system. 

I installed 3 stand and 3 kitchen printer system in Restoraunt and I took them some time to get adjusted.

depends on menu make sure you modifiers are correct for specific item. 

[MrWellFed]

At the moment it's just the old style hand written paper dockets...so this will be a giant leap forward, hopefully!

I intend on just having the one ticket order printer in the kitchen. Then a main iPad on a stand at the main counter with a cash drawer, connected wirelessly to the Square Reader...acting as a hub, taking payments and take away/phone orders etc. In addition to that a couple of iPad Minis plus maybe a couple of iPhones for table ordering. We rarely have more than 4-5 front of house staff on so I think that's plenty. Won't need a receipt printer as we can just SMS or email that to the customer it seems.

Anything else I am missing?

[Lima]

Depends on kitchen organization, my last project had grill station,drinks station,  pizza station and expediter station. 

Grill gets grill orders , pizza theirs end expediter gets whole ticket.  ( make sure that printer is connected with cable to network)

I would suggest iPad minis because it will be easier and faster for server. 

If customer is paying with card they can pay to server right away  ( they carry card reader in their pocket). They get tipped righ away. (You keep track wit employee management (5$ per employee per month).

you can take phone orders on any device ( make sure to check its phone order or carry out so it's shows on kitchen ticket( so they pack it)

i would suggest invoice printer because there will be customers asking for it. And it is easy for you to print end of day etc.

[oregoncrepe]

You will have customers that want a hard copy receipt for filing expense reports or people that still like their paper, or don't want to share their contact info.  Plus if there is an error and you  need to refund we always print a receipt showing the refunded amount (accidental overcharge, etc.).

[Pro38]

What do i need in order to be able to input orders and then have them print in my kitchen.  I own a meal prep and catering business and we have customers that order over email at the moment at all hours of the day.  I need something other than written paper tickets in order for my kitchen to be aware of the orders.  HELP please. 

[oregoncrepe]

We have 4 printers in our cafe with Square.  The printers are all hardwired into our dedicated store router, and we are set up to print tickets to the printer stations - you have to set up each separate Ipad or Android -- we print tickets by categories -- beverages go to one printer, crepes to our crepe station, and kitchen orders print in the kitchen.  It also helps that nothing gets made without a ticket so all sales are rung up in the register, avoid a potential employee loss issue.

Do yourself a favor and purchase a commercial grade router for your store network don't just get a cheap one or use the one from your ISP or telco.   It will save you a LOT of trouble.

[Pro38]

Thank you

[EJ_]

Hey @Pro38

Glad to hear the workaround from @oregoncrepe worked for you!

Let us know if you need anything else, or if you come up with any cool workarounds of your own for other features. 

[MrWellFed]

Yeah, I ended up getting a thermal reciept printer for the front counter as well. Have just started the full implementation of Square Register this week, and it has been performing quite well. It was a bit of a learning curve for the staff, but most of them have picked it up without too many hassles. There's still some teething issues that I'm sure we'll be able to work through quickly.

Only problems are sometimes the printers lose connection, which is weird because they are connected through LAN/Ethernet. This is usually remedied buy turning the printer off then on again, but sometimes we can lose an order being printed...and it is obviously and unexpectedly annoying. We're also having a problem with the Card Swiper. The Contactless Reader works perfectly, but the additional Card Swiper will not accept any cards at all. Comes up with an error message saying "Unknown Card". It's extremely frustrating, and we've had a few very unhappy customers. Luckliy most people have chip cards, but still...we really need to get it working. Any ideas?

[EJ_]

@MrWellFed What were the teething issues?! We'd love to hear them, and maybe a few fellow sellers have some work-arounds that can help you. 

In regards to the magnetic stripe reader, it sounds like there might be a reader connection issue. Have you tried any troubleshooting thus far?

Check out this existing thread that was started by @pnutguy back in June: My magstripe reader is having trouble swiping cards, what can I do?

[Showells33]

Like for instance a party of 2 orders let’s say a grilled cheese and a soup first. Then they want a cheese steak and a chicken sandwich second. 

I want to put them in the same ticket with a break, or line on the ticket to let the kitchen know what comes first, and second. So if the second course item takes some time to make they can start it ahead of time knowing that they’re going to need it soon. 

[Helen]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: “How do I add a course line?”

Thanks for clarifying @Showells33. I moved your post here so you could read through this thread on how other sellers manage orders at their restaurants. Start on page 1 to read the whole thread. 

You might also be interested to read about Fresh KDS and order display options for your kitchen.

If you have any other questions about getting set up let me know!

[CafeJAYA]

You could add a modifier that states "SERVE FIRST".

I would capitalize it so it pops out.  We use KDS system and it works great.  You can always type comments in the note section on each item as well.  

[kathyoue]

WE used a MODIFIER that says PUT IN NOW and HOLD ( 20 min)  so when the items show up in kitchen they will see WINGS PUT IN NOW, (as the app for the patron) and then for the entre they ordered lobster roll, I would click HOLD for the Loster roll so in 20 min. the kitchen help nows to start the lobster roll 15 min after the wings went out to patron