A KOT and a customer bill have different jobs
A kitchen order ticket, or KOT, tells a preparation station what to make. A bill explains the sale and payment to the customer. Printing one does not prove that the other reached its destination. Start by asking which document is missing, then check the order reference, table or takeaway reference, time and preparation station.
For a restaurant in Pondicherry or Karaikal, use the names your own team recognises during this check. “Table 4, second round, drinks station” is more useful than “the printer failed”. In the Posnic-based KOT workflow, bill and kitchen printing are separate actions. Your Bill Pondy demo should show those actions in the installed version and on your physical printers.
Choose between a new change, a retry and a copy
| Situation | Check first | Agreed next step |
|---|---|---|
| A guest adds another dish | The original items are already with the kitchen. | Save the addition and send the pending change through the configured KOT workflow. |
| A print dialog was cancelled | No paper was produced at any intended station. | Use the supported retry or return-to-queue action. Do not confirm that it printed. |
| Paper stopped halfway | Which items and stations received a readable instruction? | Agree recovery with kitchen staff before retrying. The result is uncertain, not automatically failed. |
| A confirmed ticket is needed for reference | Staff already have the preparation instruction. | Use the explicit reprint-copy action and identify it as a copy. |
| A dish is cancelled | Whether preparation has started and who approves the change. | Use the supported cancellation workflow and tell the kitchen what changed. |
This table is an operating checklist, not permission to cancel an item or an instruction to alter a database. Manager approvals and the available actions depend on your configured system.
Work through a changed order with small numbers
Use a disposable training order: table A orders two dosas and one coffee. Confirm that the intended stations receive that first instruction. The guest then adds one more coffee. The new kitchen work is the additional coffee; it is not another instruction to make two dosas and two coffees from the beginning.
Now suppose the added coffee ticket stops halfway through printing. Ask the drinks station whether it already accepted that coffee. If staff have begun making it, a second full preparation instruction could produce an extra drink. Record the original reference and agree how the replacement paper will be identified.
Finally, request a reference copy of the confirmed first ticket. Ask staff to point out the copy marking and explain why it is not another order. The test succeeds when the cashier and kitchen both understand the paper, not merely when a printer makes a sound.
Check the kitchen before repeating uncertain work
- Keep the existing order open for inspection. Avoid creating a replacement sale simply to obtain another ticket.
- Record the order reference, affected change, time and printer or station.
- Ask each intended station what arrived and whether preparation started.
- Inspect the visible print state and queue using the actions available to the cashier.
- Agree who will retry, release the work back to the queue or request a copy. Use one responsible person for the recovery.
- Compare the final kitchen instruction with the saved order and record the outcome.
A computer can report that it handed work to a printer without proving that readable paper reached the cook. Multiple kitchen printers make a partial result especially important: one station may have printed while another did not. Do not clear every queue or mark every item printed to remove a warning.
What Posnic documents—and what to demonstrate
Posnic’s counter-printing documentation describes pending kitchen changes, explicit reprint copies and confirmation after a browser print dialog. It says that cancelling the dialog does not acknowledge printing. It also describes a return-to-kitchen-queue action and coordination between the counter and kitchen poller.
These are source-supported product behaviours, not a guarantee about every installed Bill Pondy build or device. Ask for a demonstration of the exact labels, permissions, printer destinations and recovery actions in your setup. Automatic printing and manual printing should have a clear owner; do not leave staff guessing which device is responsible.
Use the printer and scanner worksheet to record model, connection and roll width. A supported interface on paper is not a completed physical printer test.
For the parent product’s desktop workflow, see the Posnic kitchen-print recovery manual. Confirm which workflow is installed before using its version-specific controls.
Keep a short incident record that the next shift can use
The blank worksheet records the order reference, station, visible print state, what physically arrived, whether preparation started, the authorised action and who confirmed the result. Keep customer names, contact details and payment information out of this print-troubleshooting record unless your approved procedure specifically needs them.
Use the record to spot repeat problems: the same station loses power, a roll runs out unnoticed, or staff mistake a copy for new work. Fix the underlying device or training issue. Repeatedly re-entering orders can leave stock, sales and payment records harder to reconcile.
Bring one completed, non-sensitive example to a Bill Pondy restaurant demo. For a wider rehearsal, follow the whole-service checklist through order entry, kitchen handoff, payment and closing.
A note from Bill Pondy
We provide a white-label Posnic POS offering with the restaurant module. These are practical planning guides from the business offering the software; examples are illustrative. Confirm features, equipment, prices and service arrangements for your own setup. Questions or corrections? Talk to us.