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Kitchen Receipt Body Header Styling

Updated

Overview

You can change the size and color of each "header" line on your kitchen tickets from the Back Office, independently from one another.

Header lines separate items into groups - the course banner, the seat header, the appetizer/entree banner on expo tickets, and a few more.

This is useful when:

  • Your kitchen prints a lot of items per ticket and the cooks miss the course separator. Make Course Banner Size larger, or Course Banner Color red, so it jumps off the paper.
  • You print by seat at a fine-dining restaurant and want SEAT #N to be twice as tall and red so servers don't mis-deliver plates.
  • You want the existing ***** REMOVED ITEMS ***** banner to print at the regular size instead of double-tall.

By default, tickets print the same way they do without these settings.

How to Use

  1. Open Back Office, then go to Settings > Printers.
  2. Scroll to the General Printer Settings section.
  3. Below the printer station settings you'll see two settings for each of the seven body headers - one for size, one for color:
    • Course Banner Size / Color (the dashed ----COURSE 1---- line)
    • Seat Header Size / Color (the ---------- SEAT #N ------------ line on by-seat and expo tickets)
    • Appetizer/Entree Header Size / Color (----------APPETIZERS----------- and -----------ENTREES------------- on expo tickets)
    • Print Priority Divider Size / Color (the dashed line printed between print-priority groups on regular kitchen tickets)
    • Menu Name Header Size / Color (the menu name printed above grouped items, eg "Lunch Menu")
    • Edited Item Header Size / Color (***** EDITED ITEM *****)
    • Removed Items Header Size / Color (***** REMOVED ITEMS *****)
  4. For Size, pick one of:
    • Normal - regular receipt size
    • Tall - double-height (same width)
    • Wide - double-width (same height)
    • Large - double-height AND double-width
  5. For Color, pick one of:
    • Default - the color the printer prints in normally (usually black)
    • Red - prints the line in red. Only works on 2-color thermal printers.
  6. Click Save at the top of the page.
  7. Send a test ticket to the kitchen and confirm the header looks the way you want it. If something is too big and crowds the rest of the ticket, drop the size back down.

Limitations

  • Red only prints in red on 2-color thermal printers (the kind that accepts black/red receipt paper). On a regular thermal printer the line still prints, just in default black. There's no way for the software to detect whether your printer supports red.
  • These settings only affect kitchen tickets (cook-line, expo, KDS slips). They do not change customer receipts, credit slips, or reports.
  • The Print Priority Divider size only matters on regular kitchen tickets. By-seat and expo tickets use the Seat Header instead.
  • The Appetizer/Entree banner only appears on expo tickets, and only when expo grouping is configured.
  • Sizes are limited to what thermal printers natively support: Normal, Tall, Wide, and Large. There is no "small" option.
  • These settings are global per location. If you have multiple kitchen printers you can't style them differently per printer.

FAQ

Q: I changed Course Banner to Red and Tall, saved, but my tickets still look the same. Why?

A: Most likely the setting hasn't reached the POS terminals yet. The POS reads back-office settings on startup. Restart the POS terminal that prints to that kitchen printer and try again. If it still doesn't change, confirm the printer is a 2-color model when testing red.

Q: Will I lose the bold double-height look on REMOVED ITEMS?

A: No. The Removed Items Header defaults to Tall, the standard double-height. If you want it normal-sized you can pick Normal in the dropdown.

Q: Does this affect customer receipts?

A: No. This is only kitchen tickets.

Q: Can I set per-station styles? eg. red for the grill, default for cold prep.

A: No. The settings apply to all kitchen tickets at this location. If this is something you need, let OrderCounter support know.

Q: My printer is monochrome. Will picking Red affect anything?

A: No. The line will print in default color. Single-color printers ignore the setting.