Choosing How to Print Order Tickets

POS Cafe can send order tickets to your prep areas in three ways. They can be combined, and every one of them routes each item by its prep area, so a drink goes to the barista and a sandwich to the kitchen. This page compares them so you can pick the setup that fits your cafe, then follow that option’s guide.

The short version

Most cafes: an Epson or Star receipt printer on POS Cafe’s print server. It prints every order at the location, including online and kiosk orders and open tabs, with nothing to install on the POS device.
Paperless kitchens: Fresh KDS screens, on their own or alongside printers.
A single counter with a printer already connected to the iPad: a Shopify POS printer. Quick to set up, but it only prints the orders taken on that device.

Side by side

	Epson or Star print server	Shopify POS printer	Fresh KDS
What it is	The printer collects tickets from POS Cafe over the internet (Epson Server Direct Print or Star CloudPRNT).	POS Cafe prints through the Shopify POS app on the receipt printer connected to that POS device.	Kitchen and barista display screens that replace paper tickets.
Which orders it gets	Every order at the location: Shopify POS, online ordering, Cloudshelf kiosks, and open tabs when they’re saved.	Orders taken on that POS device only. No online orders.	Every order at the location, like the print server.
Before the customer pays	Yes: tickets print when a draft is saved, or on tap with Send to prep.	Only with the Send to prep tile. Nothing prints when a draft is saved.	Yes, as for the print server.
Hardware	An Epson TM-Intelligent or Star CloudPRNT printer on your network.	Any receipt printer Shopify POS supports, already connected to the device.	Fresh KDS screens and a Fresh KDS subscription.
Shopify plan	Any.	Any, with Shopify POS 11.11 or later.	Any.
Per prep area	Yes, and one printer can serve several.	Yes. One Shopify POS printer per location.	Yes, per screen.
Copies, one item per ticket, pause and resume	Yes.	Copies and one item per ticket; pause and resume.	Managed in Fresh KDS.
Setup guide	Epson Server Direct Print, Star CloudPRNT	Shopify POS Printer	Fresh KDS

Combining them

Printers and screens at a location are all managed from the same place, and an item goes to every printer or screen that has its prep area. Common combinations:

Print server printer plus Fresh KDS: the kitchen works from a screen while the barista keeps a printed docket, or the screen shows every order and the printer prints only the prep areas you choose.
Print server printer plus a Shopify POS printer: the print server covers online orders and open tabs, and the counter’s own printer gives staff an immediate docket for walk-up orders.

Things to know before you choose

Prep areas come first. Every option routes by prep area, so set up your prep areas and assign them to your products before adding a printer or screen.

Only POS Cafe items are routed unless you set up Native Product Routing for other Shopify products.

Managing printers. Printers of every type are added, paused and checked on the location’s Receipt Printers Page.

Table service and open tabs. The Send to prep tile sends a round to the kitchen before payment on any of these options.