The constantly evolving technology has also made its way into the restaurant industry and has made restaurant operations seamless and easy to manage. Kitchen order ticketing (KOT) system or a kitchen order management system is one such innovative tech that is also playing a major role — it has changed the way how orders are moved in a restaurant.
When a restaurant makes use of an automated KOT or a restaurant kitchen software, it is basically reducing any kind of chance or risk of manual mistakes. Restaurant KOT or kitchen management software also saves time plus it greatly helps the management to have real-time reporting of all the orders that are placed at your restaurant. KOT is definitely the need of the hour for restaurants which are still making use of manual KOT.
Talking about how it works, POS system is installed at the foodservice desk and then KOT printers are installed in the kitchen and bar. Every time there is an order placed on the POS food ordering system, it generates notes for departments like kitchen, billing etc. The note contains details like table number, items ordered and its quantity. It is crucial to ensure that the kitchen of your restaurant prepares and supplies food, after carefully taking note of the printed KOT.
Why Is An Automated KOT Important For Restaurant Business?
Very Convenient To Use
If you take a look at the traditional or manual way, every time the waiter takes an order, it’s always on a pad that contains carbon paper. One copy of the order goes to the kitchen, one copy goes to the billing and one remains in the pad. And at the end of the day, the KOTs are sent to the audit department which takes a significant amount of time to complete the process.
Moreover, the manual process also doesn’t make your inventory cluttered. There are times when food gets wasted because of manual errors that happen during taking and processing an order.
But on the other hand, kitchen management software makes this entire process really seamless. The orders are simply punched into the system after which the KOT gets generated automatically. It acts as a kitchen inventory system as well and ensures that inventory management is being done right.
Furthermore, at present, almost every restaurant POS software is touchscreen-enabled, thus they do not need specialised training and are as easy to use as your smartphone. With very little on-site training the staff can become expert of using automated KOT.
A Kitchen Management System That Speeds Up The Service
Kitchen order ticket system will also speed up the restaurant’s service process as the order will get punched at the floor only. After which the KOT will get printed in real-time at the kitchen. On the other hand, if the restaurant uses traditional or manual KOT, then a person has to keep running to and fro the kitchen every time there is an order placed.
When everything is done on automated restaurant ordering software, a lot of time is saved and the order reaches the customer’s table at a faster rate. This increases customer satisfaction and also ensures repeat customers thus increases the revenue of the restaurant.
Online Ordering Integration
A big challenge that restaurants are exposed to these days is online orders streamlining that are received on food ordering platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, etc. If your restaurant’s POS food ordering system is not automated, then there is a huge risk of the online orders getting delayed and, in some cases, even missing out on sending those orders for preparation to the kitchen. An automated restaurant ordering software connected to a KOT ensures that the orders placed on online portals get accepted directly at the POS after which the KOT gets generated immediately and is printed in the kitchen.
Real-Time Reports
The management of the restaurant through automated kitchen order ticket system or restaurant ordering software will have real-time reports monitoring on the business, thus increasing their control over it. Also, in the case of chains of restaurants which have outlets in multiple locations, it eases the effort of management as they can keep the operations in check by putting their business on the cloud.
Brings Down The Rate of Errors
As the restaurant owner has the details of everyday stock and sales on their fingertips, this decreases and completely eliminates any chance of profit leak. The owners know which raw materials are there in stock and which raw materials need to be ordered. In departments, thefts can also be controlled as the owners can keep a check on the inflow and outflow of raw materials.
Reliance On Manual Labour Is Brought Down
When the restaurant makes use of a manual system, it is the responsibility of the wait staff to check the KOT, again and again. However, when a restaurant uses automated restaurant kitchen software like the KOT system, it brings down the need for manual tasks because of which the labour costs are also brought down. Even the risk of supplying a wrong order is eliminated as everything is recorded on KOT or kitchen order ticket system after which a token number is assigned.
Investment is Minimum
The modern and advanced cloud restaurant POS is straightforward to put in and doesn’t take much space in your restaurant. The bulk of the restaurant POS has an annual subscription and you’ll mount those computers on the wall at the service desk.
When the billing apps are integrated with the KOT feature, you’ll not need to invest much. These are usually affordable and rather cause an overall improvement of the business and thus the revenue earned.
Outlook
Hotelogix understands that it can be quite a task for restaurants to run seamlessly without a system in place. And that’s why Hotelogix PMS and its POS module can be integrated with almost every KOT.
Once you integrate KOT with the PMS, your orders would reach the respective kitchen and be printed for the items to be prepared quickly. You can also add different kitchens (E.g.: Indian, Chinese, Continental etc.) and link the printers in each kitchen to the POS itself. All the items in the menu will be linked to a specific kitchen from which the items will be prepared.
After going through the above-mentioned points and reasons which show why automated KOT or kitchen management software is better than traditional or manual systems, it becomes clear why restaurants should include this much better technologically advanced system in their operations.
