What is a kitchen order ticket (KOT)?
A kitchen order ticket (KOT) is the printed slip that tells the kitchen what to prepare for an order, without prices.
A KOT is the kitchen's copy of an order. It lists the items, quantities, modifiers and notes, plus who the order is for: a table number, a takeout name or a delivery. It usually leaves out prices, because the cook needs to know what to make, not what it costs. The bill, by contrast, is the customer's copy with prices, taxes and the total.
KOTs are printed the moment an order is sent, not when it is paid. In a sit-down restaurant the server sends the first round, then sends again when the table adds dessert. A good POS only prints what is new on the second ticket, so the kitchen does not cook the mains twice.
Larger kitchens split tickets by station. The grill gets the burgers, the fryer gets the fries and the bar gets the drinks, each on its own printer. This is called KOT routing, and it is usually set by category, by product or by food type. Kitchen printers are almost always thermal or impact printers that survive heat and grease.
In the SeroPOS app, holding an order or pressing KOT prints the ticket, and KOT Mapping in the side drawer sends each item to the right printer by category, product or food type. When a held order is resumed and changed, the new ticket carries only the new or increased items. KOTs also print when the till is offline.
Table 12 orders two burgers (one with no onion), one fries and two beers. With routing set up, the grill printer gets 'Table 12: 2 x Burger, 1 no onion', the fryer gets '1 x Fries' and the bar printer gets '2 x Draft'. Twenty minutes later the table adds one dessert, and only '1 x Brownie' prints at the pastry station.