Open ticket printing

[Elks409]

I’ve seen similar posts such as at https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Food-Beverage-Group-Discussion/Printing-Open-Tickets-in-Dine-In-R... that almost answer my question but I’m still trying to figure out the best way to handle open ticket printing.

• Triyng to get set up for square use in a restaurant. 
• The menu entrees (the main course) have sides such as salads and soup that are included in the price of the entree. 
• I realize I can have specific items print to whichever kitchen printer I want them to via categories. 
• In the kitchen we will have 2 order printers. One will be for salads on which I will call "salad kitchen and the other I will call "main kitchen".
• Salads will print to salad station and everything else will print to main kitchen. 

Here are the issues I am trying to solve. 

1. I can't include the sides (salads in this case) as modifiers as I then cannot control which printer that salad part of the order prints to. Everything including the salad would print to main kitchen if I try to use mods. 

So I tried separating out the sides (just salads for now) into a category named Entree Salads so that I could then set that category to print to the salad kitchen printer. Then I discovered that I cannot enter an item without a price which is what I wanted to do since sides are included in the price of the entree. (edit 09/15/17 today I am able to save items without a price) I can solve this issue by reducing the entree price say by 50 cents and charge 50 cents for the side salad. That would leave the total on the ticket the same but would look strange to the customer on the receipt. It does solve the printing to specific printer problem though. So far this is the only solution I can come up with for this issue. Anyone have a better idea as I don't love it?

2. About half of the customers want the salad and/or the soup brought out before the entree. In order to make that happen the wait staff would have to enter the entree salad if customer orders one but would not be able at this time to enter the actual entree since when you save it prints the complete order. The only way this can be handled was discussed in the post I linked to in my opening comments and that is: Enter the side salad only at first and then save, this prints to "salad kitchen" printer. Deliver the salad to the customer when it is ready and then enter the entree and save again so that it will print the entree to "main kitchen" printer. This method requires the wait staff to still have to be writing things down or remembering the entree and entering it after salad delivery to table. Not all the staff has that kind of memory including myself especially on a busy day so writing down the entree would be best in my opinion. Again, this is the only solution I can come up with but I don't like it either. One of the reasons for us switching to a POS was to eliminate hand writing tickets. Again, looking for a better idea.

Sorry, about the long post but it just got out of hand and thanks for reading. 

Kirk

[Russell]

Hey there @Elks409 - 

First, thanks for writing this post - I have seen a lot of similar questions and the detail you've included really makes it clear what your needs are. I think a lot of other sellers here on the community working in the restaurant industry are right there with you. 

For your first point, I think lowering the price of the entrée with the supplemental price of the side makes sense (I have definitely seen my bill presented this way when dining out). This will definitely allow you to print the items from different stations. 

For your second point, you can either have your staff start a ticket with the sides and enter it. Then, reopen to enter the entrée. Your staff will need to make sure to remember to enter the rest of the ticket in order to make sure your customers receive their dishes in the best timing. Another option would be for your back of house to manage meal prep off of tickets that are submitted all at ones.

I realize there are some limitations here - I am curious if other sellers are using Open Tickets in a way that will help @Elks409 troubleshoot this better - please share. 😄 

[hundleybk]

Personally, I would add a new category, "Included Side Salads", that has a $0 price so that the item can be printed to the preferred station, and that doesn't change the price of the entree. As a customer, I would see value in there not being a price added for the salad. I know customers who wouldn't see the decrease in the entree price and would complain that "it was supposed to be included"...  Of course, the server will have to choose a different category if you do not use display all, but I assume they do this for drinks also. And, of course, the server must remember they have to add the additional item, but that's part of training. I would think they'd be just as likely to forget the salad if they were writing it down.

[hundleybk]

I apologize, I should have read the question thoroughly instead of skimming. 

I see you found you can add items without price.  If you leave it blank/grayed out, it will ask for the price when you select the item, so i would type 0 so that it doesn't ask. I'm hoping you figured out your best option by now.