Register each printer once in Setup → Printers. After that you can send any receipt, folio or invoice to it with Print to…, and kitchen and bar printers print orders by themselves when a round is sent or an online order is accepted.
The web app can't reach a printer on your premises directly, so a PC at the property running Business Sensor Bridge passes the jobs on.
Before you start
- Install Business Sensor Bridge on at least one PC at the property and pair it. The download is on Setup → Keycard Hardware. If the Bridge is already installed for keycards, nothing more is needed.
- For a network printer, find its IP address. Most thermal printers print a self-test page with the address if you hold the FEED button while switching them on. Ask your IT person to give it a fixed address, so it doesn't change.
- For a USB printer, install it in Windows on the PC it is plugged into, and print a Windows test page from that PC first.
- You need the Company Settings permission.
Steps
Add a printer
- Open Setup → Printers and choose Add printer.
- Give it a name people will recognise, such as Kitchen Hot Line or Front Desk Receipts, and choose its Role.
- Choose how it is connected:
- On the network — type its IP address. Leave the port at 9100.
- Plugged into a PC — choose the PC, then the printer as Windows names it. Tick thermal receipt printer installed with a generic driver only for a receipt printer that uses the Windows "Generic / Text Only" driver.
- Choose the Paper: 80mm or 58mm roll, or A4 for an office printer.
- Optionally choose a Backup printer. If this printer can't be reached, the job goes to the backup and the screen says so.
- Tick Beep on each ticket for kitchen printers with a buzzer.
- For a till's receipt printer with a cash drawer plugged into it, tick Cash drawer plugged into this printer.
- Choose Save, then Test print. A short test page should come out. For a printer with a cash drawer, also choose Open drawer: the drawer should open.
Make a kitchen or bar printer print orders
- Edit the printer and under Prints orders from choose Add.
- Choose the department that prepares the orders — the till's delivering department, for example Restaurant.
- Leave All items, or choose an item category to print only those items.
- Save.
A category route beats an all-items route. For example:
| Printer | Department | Items |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen Hot Line | Restaurant | All items |
| Bar | Restaurant | Drinks only |
With these two, food prints in the kitchen and drinks print at the bar from the same round. Add the same department to a second printer to print a copy at the pass as well.
What a kitchen ticket shows
- NEW ORDER for a table's first round, ADD #2, ADD #3 for later rounds.
- The table, room or "QR order", who sent it and the time, in large type.
- Each item with its quantity first, modifiers indented, and the line's note in white on black so an allergy is not missed.
- VOID, top and bottom, when an item is taken off a table after it was sent, with the quantity removed and the reason. Only the removed item prints, never the whole order again.
Tips
- One PC with the Bridge is enough for any number of network printers. Choose Relay through only if you want a particular PC to do it.
- Give every kitchen printer a backup, even if it is the bar printer. A ticket on the wrong printer is better than no ticket.
- The Print queue shows everything that was printed, with reprint, if a ticket is lost or the paper jams.
Common problems
- Status says "Not reachable" → no PC with the Bridge is online, or for a USB printer, the PC it is plugged into is off or its Bridge isn't running. Start Business Sensor Bridge on that PC.
- Test print fails with "did not answer" → the IP address is wrong, the printer is off, or it is on a different network from the Bridge PC. Print the printer's self-test page and check the address.
- The USB printer isn't in the list → install it in Windows on that PC, then restart the Bridge so it advertises the new printer.
- Garbled symbols on a USB thermal printer → untick installed with a generic driver, or install the printer with the Generic / Text Only driver and tick it.
- Kitchen tickets still print at the till → the order's department has no route. Add it under Prints orders from. Kitchen tickets also need Print kitchen ticket on send switched on in Setup → POS.
- Open drawer does nothing → check the drawer cable is in the printer's drawer port and the drawer is not locked. See Connect a cash drawer & receipt printer.
- "Old Bridge" message → update Business Sensor Bridge on that PC. Printing needs the version released with this feature.