How to: Send Comments to the Kitchen

You can mark the kitchen status of centralized comments for a reservation or an order as To Be Sent. The comments will be automatically printed or displayed when KOTs are created for the order.

You can also send comments to the kitchen after KOTs have been created.

When a KOT is created for an order that has comments marked to be sent to kitchen or already sent (this includes related comments), these comments are displayed or printed with the KOT.

NoteThere is another way to send KOT comments to the kitchen - if this way is used the staff sends a KOT comment after KOTs have been created. These comments are stored with the KOTs themselves, and are not a part of the centralized comments. Sending KOT comments this way can be replaced by centralized comments.

When a KOT is created

  • The program checks whether there are any comments linked to the order in question that have a kitchen status To Be Sent or Sent.

  • The comments are attached to the KOT header.

  • For display stations: The comments appear on all chit displays .

  • For printer stations marked as showing KOT comments (the value in the Show KOT Comment field is Yes: The comments appear at the top of the KOT printout for each station showing KOT comments.

  • Comments are sent to display station KOTs if they have not been bumped.

  • Comments are printed on printer station KOTs that have been sent or served. The printer stations need to be marked as showing KOT comments.

Comments sent to the kitchen can also be viewed from the KOTs page:

  1. To view the KOT comments, click the icon, enter KOTs, and select the relevant link.
  2. Select the relevant KOT.
  3. Click the KOT action, then click KOT Comments.

Sending comments to kitchen in the Comments panel

The staff does not need to worry about sending comments to the kitchen as long as the comments are registered before any KOTs are created.

If the staff adds comments and marks them as To Be Sent in the Comments panel, after KOTs have been created, the following scenarios are possible:

  • The staff closes the panel. The comments are not sent until a KOT is created again (additional items added to the order). The new comment is not displayed on or printed to the stations of the older KOTs.

  • The staff presses the button with the COMM_SENDTOKDS command (with parameter DISPLAYMESSAGE). The new comment is displayed on or printed to the stations of the older KOTs. If you are using printing stations, the KOTs are reprinted including the new comment with the older comments at the top.

  • The staff presses the EXIT button with the COMM_SENDTOKDS command (no parameter) that has the EXIT command as post command. The new comment is displayed on or printed to the stations of the older KOTs. In this case, the staff does not have to remember to send the comments to the kitchen.

The COMM_SENDTOKDS command functions like this when activated:

  • No order (POS transaction) yet associated with the source - no action taken, message displayed if needed.

  • No KOT yet created for the order associated with the source - no action taken, message displayed if needed.

  • KOTs already created for the order associated with the source - comments waiting to be sent are printed and/or displayed on all existing KOTs for the order.

Parameter: DISPLAYMESSAGE - the function displays a message to the user with information on what was done. Otherwise, the function runs without displaying any messages. You can use this command with the EXIT command as post command to let the system try sending comments to the kitchen whenever the Comment panel is closed.