Technology has slowly and steadily crept into the restaurant industry. So much so, that it has become an indispensable part of streamlining restaurant operations and has become an absolute must for running the business seamlessly. The restaurant Kitchen Order Ticket (KOT) is small, although a critical aspect of the restaurant ordering system. with innovations in restaurant technology, has seen significant changes in how orders are moved in a restaurant.
KOT is an abbreviation for Kitchen Order Tickets. It is a note which is forwarded to the kitchen, billing division, and one copy is retained in the system for future reference. The KOT application primarily contains details related to the table number, items ordered, and their quantity. Having a restaurant KOT, which is automated, reduces the scope of manual mistakes, saves time, helps you to have real-time reporting of all the orders at your restaurant, and reduces monetary discrepancies. With so many positives, what is stopping you from having an automated restaurant KOT generation process at your restaurant?
Why You Should Consider Shifting To An Automated Restaurant KOT Generation Process
Let us break down the steps of how a traditional restaurant KOT generation process works.
- The waiter takes an order using carbon paper. Typically the traditional restaurant KOT contains three copies, in Red, Yellow, and White.
- The Red goes to the kitchen to process the food. The kitchen keeps this copy and ideally should send all the KOTs to the audit team after the day ends.
- The yellow copy remains with the waiter until the food is served. Once the food is served, this copy is sent to the billing counter. The cashier enters the KOT in the system.
- All these yellow KOTs are then sent to the audit department to create their jobs. But, somehow, this is a tedious task and often ignored and delayed for this very reason. Most of the time, the entire audit process is stopped. Moreover, if the audit functions exist, then the report comes after 15 days. The action is delayed. You cannot go to that customer and ask that you have forgotten to bill 2-3 items that were consumed by them.
- The white copy remains in the KOT application pad. Loads of such pads are created and sorted. Eventually, all those pads are sent to the recycle bin.
All of the above mentioned is a slow, manual process, with much scope for errors, and a little area for monitoring and tracking of the orders. Thus, it is high time that you switch to an automated restaurant KOT application system that would not only save your time and increase efficiency but also reduce your costs in the long run.
A smart restaurant POS provides instant KOT generation and also helps you manage other operations such as inventory management, customer relationship management, along with detailed reporting.
Use this restaurant POS checklist to ensure that you make the right decision while purchasing the POS for your restaurant business.
How An Automated KOT System Improves Restaurant Ordering And Kitchen Operations
Contrary to what tech-phobic restaurateurs might tell you, an automated KOT system is easy to install and use. The entire process can be broken down into three simple steps:
- Install KOT printers in the kitchen and bar.
- Make sure that the kitchen prepares and supplies food, based on the printed KOT. Train all your staff accordingly.
- Install the POS system at the foodservice desk.
While shifting from the traditional to the automated restaurant generation process seems rather straightforward, its associated positive impacts are a lot more than expected. The various ways an automated restaurant KOT generation process can smoothen your restaurant operations are:
1. Easy To Use
The method of accepting orders into the POS is quite simple. Orders can be simply punched into the system, and the restaurant KOT is automatically generated. Most of the restaurant POS software is a touchscreen. It does not require much training as it is just like using a mobile phone. This makes it easy to use, and the training can be done on the fly. The junior-level restaurant staff might not be as tech-savvy, and a simple, and automatic KOT generation process makes it easier to process orders.
2. Accelerates Your Restaurant Service
The food service process will be accelerated as the order is punched right at the floor, and the KOT is printed in the kitchen in real-time. Otherwise, someone has to keep running to the kitchen all the time to hand over the KOT manually.
This kind of arrangement also saves time since it allows the automatic capture of data. It reduces table turnaround and the time taken to serve the customers. This directly impacts customer satisfaction since it takes you less time to communicate, prepare, and deliver the order.
In case you are further looking to automate your restaurant ordering system, you can digitize the entire KOT generation process as well. A Kitchen Display System (KDS) comes in handy in this case. Instead of printing a paper-based KOT, the orders are directly displayed in the kitchen through display screens along with the order details.
Learn more about how KDS improves efficiency in your restaurant kitchen here.
3. Integrates With Online Ordering
One of the biggest challenges that restaurateurs face is streamlining the online orders received from online ordering platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, etc. Unless your restaurant ordering system is automated, there is a high chance that these online orders can get delayed or even missed while sending them to the kitchen for preparation. An automatic restaurant KOT application system ensures that these orders are directly accepted at the POS, and the KOT is generated immediately and printed in the kitchen.
4. Provides Real-time Reports
You can have complete control over your business through real-time monitoring, even if you have outlets at multiple locations. Live analytics allow you to view the number of KOTs generated, and enable you to monitor your restaurant operations at all times, from anywhere.
5. Reduces The Scope Of Discrepancies
Since you can have everyday sales and stock details on your fingertips, it helps in minimizing revenue leakage. For example, you will know the raw materials, which are there in stock, and the ones that will have to be ordered. So, there are fewer chances of duplicate orders. You can also exercise theft control because you can keep a tab on the inflow and outflow of materials.
6. Reduces The Dependence On Manual Entries
In the manual system, the wait staff always check-recheck the KOT. Automated restaurant KOT system reduces the manual tasks at hand, and thus the labor costs are lowered as well. Besides, it also cuts down the problem of wrong delivery, since it contains the token number, which is also present on the bill. This is one of the brownie points that helps in providing better customer satisfaction.
7. Low Investment
The new-age cloud restaurant POS is easy to install and does not take much space in your restaurant. The majority of the restaurant POS has an annual subscription, and you can mount those computers on the wall at the service desk. When the billing apps are integrated with the KOT feature, you will not have to invest much. These are usually affordable and instead bring on an overall improvement of the business and, thus, the revenue earned.
These clearly show that have an automated restaurant KOT application will not only help you accelerate your restaurant operations; it will also help in reducing the restaurant expense to a great extent.
