Send to Prep

The POS Cafe Send to prep tile in Shopify POS sends the items in the current cart to your receipt printers and Fresh KDS screens before the customer pays. It’s designed for table service and open tabs: send the first round now, keep adding to the cart, and tap again to send only the new items.

What Send to prep sends

When you tap Send to prep, POS Cafe sends each item to the printers and Fresh KDS screens set up for its prep area at the current location, using the same prep areas as your other order tickets.

Item in the cart	Sent?
POS Cafe items added with the POS Cafe tile	Yes, to the printers and screens for the item’s prep area.
Shopify products set up with Native Product Routing	Yes, to the printers and screens for the product’s prep area.
POS Cafe items without a prep area	Not on the tap. They print on your usual printers when the order is saved or paid.
Other custom sales and Shopify products	No. They stay in the cart but aren’t sent.

Each ticket includes the table assigned to the cart (if any) and the cart note, so the preparation team knows where the order is going.

Before you start

Send to prep uses your existing printer and Fresh KDS setup:

Receipt printers: Epson Server Direct Print, Star CloudPRNT or a Shopify POS Printer.
Kitchen screens: Fresh KDS.

Send to prep is available at a location that has at least one of these:

an active Epson or Star printer that has connected to the POS Cafe print server in the last 3 days;
an active Shopify POS printer;
a Fresh KDS screen with a prep area selected for this location.

At any other location the tile shows Not set up at this location · tap to check again, and kitchen tickets print as usual when the order is saved or paid.

Add the Send to prep tile

Add the tile to the Shopify POS Home screen the same way as the other POS Cafe tiles:

Add a tile. In Shopify POS, tap Add tile on the Home screen.
Tap App, then choose POS Cafe.
Choose Send to prep and tap Add.
Tap Save.

See Using the App in Shopify POS for screenshots of each step.

Send items to prep

Build the cart. Add items with the POS Cafe tile as usual. If you use table service, assign the table and add any cart note now, because they’re included on the ticket.
Tap Send to prep. The tile shows Sending to prep…. Keep the cart open until POS Cafe confirms.
Check the confirmation. A message shows the ticket name and what was queued, for example “Table 4 - Cart #1A2B3C - Ticket 1. New items queued for 2 preparation destinations. You can continue with the next cart.” The tile then shows Queued.

The ticket name combines the table (if assigned), a short cart reference (such as Cart #1A2B3C) and a ticket number that goes up with each send from the same cart. On Fresh KDS, the ticket name appears as the order name and the cart note appears as the order’s special instructions.

If the location has a Shopify POS printer, its ticket prints on the printer connected to this POS device, and the message adds how many copies were sent, for example “1 copy sent to Kitchen.”

Send more items later

Tap Send to prep again whenever you add to the cart. POS Cafe only sends what hasn’t been sent yet:

New items are sent.
Increased quantities send only the extra quantity. For example, if 2 flat whites were sent and the cart now has 3, one flat white is sent.
Changed items, for example an item whose modifiers changed after it was sent, are sent again in full.
If nothing new has been added, you’ll see “Everything in this cart has already been sent.” and the tile shows No new items to send.

This works well with open tabs: send each round as it’s ordered, then check out when the customer is ready to pay.

Removing items after they’ve been sent

Send to prep never cancels a ticket that has already been sent. If you remove or reduce an item after sending it, the next send shows a warning so you can tell the preparation team:

What changed	Message
A sent item was removed	“A previously sent item was removed, but its preparation ticket was not cancelled. Tell the preparation team.”
A sent quantity was reduced	“A previously sent quantity was reduced, but its preparation ticket was not cancelled. Tell the preparation team.”
Both of the above	“Previously sent removals and quantity reductions were not cancelled. Tell the preparation team.”
The cart note changed	“The cart note changed. Earlier tickets keep their original notes; tell the preparation team about the change.”

When there’s a warning, the tile shows Prep warning (tap for details) and the Send to prep screen opens with the details.

Paused printers

If you’ve paused a printer, Send to prep skips it. The rest of the cart is still sent to your other printers and screens. Items that only the paused printer prints are sent on a later tap, or print at checkout, once you resume it.

If every item in the send is for a paused printer, you’ll see “The printer for these items is paused, so nothing was sent. Resume it in POS Cafe to send them.”

What happens at checkout

When a cart that used Send to prep is checked out (or saved again as an open tab), POS Cafe prints only the items that haven’t already been sent. Items already sent aren’t printed again.

POS Cafe never holds a ticket back. If it can’t confirm what was already sent, for example because an earlier ticket’s outcome is unknown, it prints the items anyway. A repeated ticket is better than a missed one, so in rare cases the preparation team may receive a duplicate. Orders that never used Send to prep print exactly as before.

If a cart shows Prints automatically when saved or paid, Send to prep is off for that cart and its tickets print through your usual printers and Fresh KDS when the order is saved or paid.

Re-send a completed order

You can send a completed order to prep again from Shopify POS:

Where	Button	What it does
The order’s details in Shopify POS	Re-send to prep	Sends the whole order again to every printer and Fresh KDS screen at the location, including this device’s Shopify POS printer. You’ll see a message such as “Sent to 2 prep destinations.”
The Order Complete screen, at locations with a Shopify POS printer	Re-send all to prep	Sends every item again, for example if the automatic ticket after checkout is missing. You’ll see “Re-sent all items to 2 prep destinations.”

A re-send prints the whole order again, so the preparation team gets a repeat of anything already made. The order must belong to the POS device’s current location. Where Send to prep isn’t set up, the order’s details show a disabled button: Send to prep isn’t set up here.

At locations with a Shopify POS printer, the Order Complete screen also shows a Send to prep section that prints the automatic ticket for that printer. See Shopify POS Printer.

Send to prep tile states

The tile’s subtitle shows where the current cart is up to. When the cart has a reference, it appears first, for example Cart #1A2B3C · Queued.

Tile shows	What it means
Add items to the cart	The cart is empty.
Add items to the cart · tap for printer setup	The cart is empty and this location’s Shopify POS printer is paused. Tap to open the Send to prep screen and check printer setup.
Not set up at this location · tap to check again	This location has nothing Send to prep can send to (see Before you start). Tap to check again after you set up a printer or screen.
Tap to send new items	Ready to send.
Sending to prep…	The send is in progress. Keep the cart open and wait for the confirmation.
Queued	The items have been queued for your printers and Fresh KDS screens.
Delivery in progress	A printer or screen is still receiving an earlier ticket.
Waiting to retry	A delivery didn’t go through first time and will be retried automatically.
No new items to send	Everything in the cart has already been sent.
Prep warning (tap for details)	The send worked but needs your attention, for example a removed item.
Choose a printer (tap to continue)	More than one printer is connected to this POS device. Tap to choose the prep printer.
Prints automatically when saved or paid	Send to prep is off for this cart. Its tickets print when the order is saved or paid.
Tap to retry safely	The last send didn’t complete. Tap to try again; items that were already sent aren’t sent twice.
Unavailable at this location	Send to prep can’t be used at the current POS location.

Check printer setup again

POS devices check the location’s printer setup every few hours. After you add a printer, add or resume a Shopify POS printer, or set up a Fresh KDS screen, you can update a device straight away:

Tap the tile when it shows Not set up at this location · tap to check again; or
Open the Send to prep screen (tap the tile with an empty cart) and tap Check printer setup again; or
Fully close and reopen Shopify POS. POS Cafe checks the printer setup again when POS opens.

The result is one of “Printer setup updated.”, “No change to printer setup.” or “Couldn’t check printer setup. Check the connection and try again shortly.” Checking again never delays a send.

The Send to prep screen

A normal send is one tap. The Send to prep screen opens only when an outcome needs review or a decision. Depending on the situation, it offers:

Button	What it does
Try again safely or Retry this exact send	Retries the send without sending the same items twice.
Check and send new items	Checks an earlier ticket that wasn’t confirmed, then sends only new items.
Recover original session and retry	Looks up the cart’s earlier send history, then sends again. If the history is gone, it starts afresh and may repeat items.
Use [printer] and Refresh connected printers	Chooses which connected printer this POS device uses for Shopify POS printing. The device remembers the choice.
Review printer retry options	Prints the Shopify POS printer’s last ticket again after you confirm. Other printers and KDS aren’t sent again.
Check printer setup again	Checks this location’s printer setup now (see above).
Done	Closes the screen.

Troubleshooting Send to prep messages

Message	What to do
“Send to prep isn’t set up at this location. Kitchen tickets print when the order is saved or paid.”	The location has no printer or screen Send to prep can use (see Before you start). Set one up, then tap the tile to check again.
“The printer for these items is paused, so nothing was sent. Resume it in POS Cafe to send them.”	Resume the printer on the Receipt Printers Page.
“A printer or KDS setting for this location needs fixing in POS Cafe before Send to prep can use it.”	Usually a printer at this location uses Print from specific POS devices only (advanced). Change its Device Source to Print from all POS devices (recommended). If no printer uses it, contact POS Cafe support to check the Fresh KDS setup.
“An item’s prep area has no printer or KDS. Assign one in POS Cafe.”	Add the prep area to a printer’s Prep Areas or a Fresh KDS screen.
“None of the cart items are assigned to a prep area.”	Give the items a prep area in POS Cafe, or set Shopify products up with Native Product Routing.
“Product prep-area routing is not turned on, or is still updating, for this shop.”	The cart only has Shopify products that aren’t POS Cafe items. Add POS Cafe items, or set the products up with Native Product Routing.
“POS Cafe couldn’t read the printer or KDS setup for this location. Check the printers page in POS Cafe.”	Check the location has at least one printer or Fresh KDS screen, and that every printer has at least one prep area.
“An earlier ticket for this cart is still being delivered. Wait a moment, then tap Send to prep again.”	Wait a few seconds and tap again.
A message that a printer or KDS “is still processing an earlier ticket” or “is waiting to retry an earlier ticket”	Wait a moment, then tap Send to prep again.
“The cart changed while sending. Tap Send to prep again.”	Tap Send to prep again.
“The cart changed. Close this screen and tap Send to prep to review the current cart.”	Close the screen and tap Send to prep again.
“The cart isn’t ready to send yet. Wait a moment, then tap Send to prep again.”	Wait a few seconds and tap again.
“This cart’s Send to prep history couldn’t be found. Tap Send to prep again; it starts afresh and may repeat items already sent.”	Tap again. Items already sent may print again.
“POS Cafe didn’t confirm the send in time. Tap Send to prep again to finish it; a ticket that already printed may print again.”	Tap Send to prep again.
“The Shopify POS printer didn’t confirm the last ticket. Tap Send to prep again to print it again.”	Check the printer, then tap again. See Shopify POS Printer.
“Shopify POS storage for Send to Prep is full on this device, so nothing new was sent. Tap Send to prep again in a moment. Unsent items still print when the order is saved or paid.”	Wait a moment and tap again.
“Shopify could not authorize the request. Reopen Shopify POS and try again.”	Close and reopen Shopify POS, then tap Send to prep again.
“This POS location is not active or does not belong to the current shop.”	Check the POS device is signed in to the right location, then try again.

Many messages end with “Nothing was sent. Tap Send to prep to try again; unsent items also print when the order is saved or paid.” Nothing is lost: tap again, and anything that still isn’t sent prints at checkout.