Soft Opening. couple of questions

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synpse
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Soft Opening. couple of questions

Post by synpse »

We had a big soft opening today.. before our grand opening on Friday. Couple questions ran into..


1. How do I do a main course plus a side salad? Any easy/awesome answer for that?

2. how do I split checks w/o the dine-in module? Like we have a dine in table, and then split the checks to separate orders...

3. How do I edit orders and only send the additional items to the kitchen printers?

4. How does someone change the item price when the food has been ordered? We've got almost all the prices in.. but some are missing.


Thnaks for the help!
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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1. How do I do a main course plus a side salad? Any easy/awesome answer for that?
You can do this by making the side salad a topping, or you can use the groups to have both items included as a single point of entry.

If you use the toppings to achieve this you can also use the requirements to require a choice if you want to.
2. how do I split checks w/o the dine-in module? Like we have a dine in table, and then split the checks to separate orders...
Click the cashout button. Then click the "Split Order" button at the top of this screen. This allows you to move items from the current order into a new order (to be payed separately). You can do this as many times as needed as long as there are at least 2 items on the order that is being split.
3. How do I edit orders and only send the additional items to the kitchen printers?
Printers always print the entire order. Only the make-line sub-system (screens or label printers) will print "updated' items.
4. How does someone change the item price when the food has been ordered? We've got almost all the prices in.. but some are missing.
You can't change the price of an item on an order, but you could add a non-inventory item to the order called "adjustment" and set its price as a positive value to add to the price or a negative value to subtract from it.

Scott
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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1. If I use groups, then I can't have the individual items come up for topping selection and stuff. So GROUPS doesn't work. And how would that fit on the menu without using the Quick-Add ?

Right now I added a "Side Salad" to the Pasta menu with a $0 cost. Easier to add it if they want it. But it would be nice to trigger another item, like the salad, when you order the first item, like a pasta dish.


2. Split Order works nicely!


3. "NO, WE DON'T WANT THE WHOLE THING TO PRINT AGAIN!!!" Is what I was told... help?


4. Yeah, one of the waitresses pushed buttons til she figured out that trick of using the non-inv item to put in a charge.


And another question..

5. How do you specify appetizers?? Cuz right now I'm putting a topping option for "APPETIZER" and that will print on the ticket. but it'd be easier to have some sort of way to flag that stuff.

6. How's that Dine-in module coming? I'd love to do some beta testing in a month when this place is up and running!

Thanks Scott!!

-Mark
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

Post by synpse »

Ok.. one more question...


Can you combine orders?

If they add on a desert to a ticket.. it'll print the whole ticket again in the kitchen. If they add another order for just the desert, then just that item gets printed. Is there a way to combine the two tickets (and not print them again in the kitchen) So that we can work around this?
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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You can use the label print format, but on your receipt printer. That is the only way that I can think of to make your kitchen printer print only changed items. You are using filtered receipts right now, and they only have access to the order as a list of descriptions/prices/line#. Labels get actual make-line data which is quite a bit different and is more suitable for kitchen info. I would setup make-line 1 as your kitchen printer, and design the data that you want printed on the ticket. Make sure that you add a few empty lines after each item so that they separate better on your slip printer. Next remove the kitchen printer from the local machine configs so that the print jobs stop going there as a receipt. Finally on the station that has the printer attached install/run the Make-Line Print-Only Module. This will then print only those items to that printer. You can imbed the printer codes for font size into the label if needed too. This will be character based printing and will print each item individually. So 3 large pizzas will print as Large Pizza, Large Pizza, Large Pizza.

The send items to make-line will then also work so you can resend individual items as needed. One recommendation would be to run the make-line screen first and clear any items from it before starting the printer. Otherwise you may end up printing 24 hours worth of items.

Orders cannot be combined. They can only be split. If you use the method above, only the desert will print, or nothing at all if the desert is a non-make-line item.

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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

Post by synpse »

Ugh... that's a bit complicated. Today is our grand opening. and we're pretty darn busy. the waitresses and kitchen want to kill me. we're running into every issue possible all at once..


is there an easy way to enter a name on a "walk in" order w/o an account?
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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You can type a name in on the order entry screen for a walk-in while adding items to the order.
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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I'm doing away with Carry Out orders w/o a phone number and a name. All the Dine In orders will use the Table # as the phone number. This will print names on tickets and keep track of things.

I'm still not sure about the add-ons to orders. I mean.. really.. things have already been made, and they want some deserts. Are we going to print the whole ticket again?!! This is almost a deal-breaker on the software that we already paid for. I don't want to be blamed for a $500 mistake!! It's killing me.

And for only having 1 order entry station, and 2 phone lines (both with m'f'n call waiting! wtf!) yeah.. we're going to need more stations real quick. What happens when you run the CS version on a Terminal Server??? Does it only use one node license :) sorry, that's just my usual comptuer-hacker-knowhow way. If we add another, then obviously we'll need a license.
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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synpse wrote:I'm still not sure about the add-ons to orders. I mean.. really.. things have already been made, and they want some deserts. Are we going to print the whole ticket again?!! This is almost a deal-breaker on the software that we already paid for. I don't want to be blamed for a $500 mistake!! It's killing me.
That's really what the make-line subsystem is designed for. This would be the make-line screen or make-line print only modules. They do exactly what you're looking for.

The receipts on the other hand just don't have the information needed when it comes time to print them, to determine what time(s) specific items were placed on the ticket since that information is only temporarily stored in the make line system and not on the order record. This would require a pretty significant change to the system and what data is stored with each item, so it's not something that can be easily added. This type of addition would require a data conversion again. :( We typically reserve those types of requests for major upgrades, since it costs us a lot to support all of the changeovers.

It sounds like your running a sit down operation, so I would strongly suggest make-line screens/printers anyway instead of filtered receipts. If you don't want to do this we can always issue you a refund on your purchase up until the 30-day mark if you want to go that route instead.
And for only having 1 order entry station, and 2 phone lines (both with m'f'n call waiting! wtf!) yeah.. we're going to need more stations real quick. What happens when you run the CS version on a Terminal Server??? Does it only use one node license :) sorry, that's just my usual comptuer-hacker-knowhow way. If we add another, then obviously we'll need a license.
No, every connection to the server that creates order records has to have a licensed connection. Multiple instances are treated exactly the same as multiple stations. It is counted at the server.

Scott
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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synpse wrote:Ugh... that's a bit complicated. Today is our grand opening. and we're pretty darn busy. the waitresses and kitchen want to kill me. we're running into every issue possible all at once..
It's not as bad as it sounds. Go into the management utility first and select "Configure" then "make-line screen/label prn conf". On line 1 (or whichever one that you're using), enable "Line Printing" (bottom option), and then select your printer in the drop down list. Next go to the "Label Printing" tab page. Modify the Line 1 field to meet your needs. The one below is an example for an Epson TMU-2xx using the large font.

Code: Select all

{27}@{27}!!%cc/%ic/%ph - #%on%bn%id%bn%si%bn%bn%bn%bn%bn%bn
The {27}@{27}!! part at the beginning is derived by taking the printer's init sequence and appending the large font sequence to it. Codes in brackets are ASCII codes that can be sent directly to the printer. The remainder of the string tells my label what I want on it. The guide for this is at the top of the "Label Printing" tab page.

You can use the test button next to each field to view (on screen) a sample of what your label would look like. *NOTE: The escape sequences {codes} will display literally in this mode, the printer itself will not print them, but use them to change settings. You can add those last if you want to.

Next fire up the make-line screen module. This way you can test print an item over and over until you get it printing to your liking. Once you get the labels adjusted to your needs. Shutdown the make-line screen and then run the MLPOM.exe in it's place (on the same computer that you did all of the configuration from). Once this module runs, right-click on its icon in the task tray and select "Launch at System Boot". This ensures that the module always starts when that station starts.

When running in the mode described above, the actual printer does not need to be shared. It is effectively shared because the module will gather all items and print it regardless of which station placed the order or added to it. I would recommend un-sharing the printer if it is shared to help avoid future confusion or accidental printing to it from another module/station.

Scott
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

Post by synpse »

Thank you Scott.


But another question for right now, regarding the usual graphic extended scripted receipts..

How do I change the font color? Is there a %red or something?

Is there a field/flag/%editeditem ? Some sort of data to tell if an item was edited on an order.. cuz if they printed in red, that would make people happy!

I found the %fe (Flag - Edited Order) but was just wondering if each line comes with some sort of flag like that in the DB or script.
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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Hi Mark,

There is presently no color commands in the scripting language. I had them there during beta, but the 2-color printers weren't responding to the color change commands in graphics. It would work great on a color laser or inkjet printer, but the 2-color ribbon printers just printed in blue/black. I could put these back in, but am worried about support. I think it is an Epson printer driver issue because like I said it worked on other Windows printers.

For now I would suggest this. If you have an unused font, select a wide spaced font that will stand out compared to your others. Then add these lines at some point in your script.

Code: Select all

%po%fe%cl
%po%feE D I T E D   O R D E R
%po%fe%lj
That would put that pretty big on your slip at whatever position that you place it. Are you using an Epson impact printer?

Scott
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

Post by synpse »

Yup, Epson TM-U220 here. USB on the register computer, Ethernet for the kitchen.

I've already done the "EDITED ORDER" part. But is there a way to change the font "per item" for things that were added?

Thanks for all your help, Scott
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Re: Soft Opening. couple of questions

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is there a way to change the font "per item" for things that were added?
No, the receipt printing system knows that the "edited order" flag is set for the entire order, but it doesn't know which items were added when. It only has a list of the items. There is no field in the table for time added for individual items.

Scott
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