Square register ticket stub and kitchen ticket optimizations

[tyler]

Hi all, we just started using the Square Register, with a kitchen printer added, and is working on how to best set up our order flow. Please help with any suggestions.

Background: we are a small cafe, very similar to Panera Bread. We have a coffee bar, along with some kitchen items. Recently, we bought the Square Register to test it out, and see how it fits into our business. Currently, we are using the register, with a USB Star Micronics printer at the front counter connected to the register, along with a Star Micronics Ethernet printer in the kitchen. Customers order at the counter, and we give them a ticket stub for their order number. Food items are sent to the kitchen printer, and drinks are sent to the front counter printer as that's next to the drink station. We call out their orders when ready, be it foods or drinks. When we were setting up the printers, we set the kitchen printer to print out only kitchen tickets, picking only the food categories. Similarly we set the front counter printer to print out drink ticket, selecting only the drink categories. We also toggled on the ticket stub on this printer, thinking it will provide a ticket stub for every order.

Issue: after testing out this set up for a few days, we are running into a major issue with the ticket stub printing. The front printer will only print out a ticket stub if the order has any drink categories in it. If any customer orders food items only, there won't be any ticket stub printed. This is totally unexpected for us. After playing around with various printer setting, we've isolated the issue. Turn out that in order to print a ticket stub from the front counter printer, we have to set it to print out order tickets for all item categories, not certain categories only. We can't pick and choose which categories the front printer print, while telling it to print ticket stub for all transactions. This is total bummer. 

Current work around: after playing with this some more, we have found a temporary solution. We switched off the printing of drinks items from the front printer, while keeping the same setting to the kitchen one. We still have the print ticket stub option on, and it is printing out ticket stub for every transaction, just as we want. We have to sacrifice the printing of the drink tickets, and revert back to handwritten drinks on the cup ala Starbucks in the past. This defeats the purpose of us getting the register, as we don't want handwritten order. Another option we are thinking about is to buy a 3rd printer for the drink station, but that's an extra expense we don't really want to.

Anyone is running into this issue, and can help us figure this out. We looked into the various setting in the setting menus, and didn't see another way to set this up. We really want to get this to set up the way we envision.   Ask questions if you need some clarifications, and thanks in advance. 

[Dsandwr · Accepted solution]

I may not have what you want correct. You can create multiple printer stations for the same printer. front #1 to print certain things. And then create a front #2 (with the same printer) to print other things. That worked for us to get duplicates.

[tyler]

We gave this a try and it works perfectly, just as we want. Thank you very much for pointing this out. It has never crossed our minds that we can create multiple stations using one printer. 

For everyone else that may also run into this, what we did was we created 2 printer stations, both using the same front counter printer. One station will only print ticket stub. The other station will print out drink tickets only. 

[Chanswager]

Is your food kitchen to busy to read the drink orders along with their food orders? I've ran into a similar problem, I own a restaurant, I have the impact printer in the kitchen which you can make print drink orders(I don't they are in our way), I also have 3 thermal star printers like yours, Instead of picking categories I only use the receipt option on these (not the in person order where you select categories like in the kitchen printer) receipts and bills still include drinks even though I set them to not print in the kitchen along with pies, candy and other things we don't need to see in the kitchen) All items for the customer still print on the receipt & bill for that customers order. I have been able to pick a printer depending on the location of the printer well actually by it's address or nickname with my previous pos system, but I have not had that option since switching to square I get three exact duplicates (each receipt printer) instead of the one receipt in the location that I would like for it to run. I have switched my other two off or I disable them from the iPads to correct this for now. I have read somewhere that star makes a directional app if you call their customer service that allows for this issue to be resolved, I haven't had a chance to get to it yet but it might be worth a try to contact them and see if their customer service can help?! Also(I know first news wasn't that exciting but have you thought of printing the bills with a customer name instead of a stub) that may be the easiest way of all, until you get your printers the way you like them, wishing you luck I understand the frustration! 

[tyler]

The kitchen and drink stations are separated by a wall; it's not possible to share one printer for both stations. As someone upthread said, we were able to figure out how to solve the issue, by creating multiple printer stations that prints specific things, but they are all using the same printer. Maybe you can give this a try and hopefully it will also help with your needs.