Printed Ticket Order Grouping

What is Order Grouping?

The Order Grouping setting in the Owner Panel allows advanced configuration options to create a custom print rule and assign it to a printer. Creating a custom print rule will not change how orders are handled in Tableside Order & Pay, with integrations, in reports, nor does it change the normal printing behavior at all (unless otherwise specified). Instead, it creates additional print jobs. 

The most common use cases for this tool are:

• Multi-vendor grouped tickets (all orders from a multi-vendor checkout on a single ticket)
• Batched orders (all orders at a specific table within a set number of minutes on a single ticket)
• Coursed tickets (tickets printing with items grouped by tag)

Creating An Order Grouping Rule

To create a new Order Grouping, navigate to the Owner Panel and click 'Order Grouping' under the 'Restaurant Setup' section.

From there, click the 'Create Order Grouping Rule,' and you'll be taken to a popup box to enter the information for the printing rule.

In the popup, fill out the fields shown below, then hit the 'Next' button to save the entries.

Title of Rule - The name of the printing rule you'd like to create. This is only displayed on the Order Grouping Rule page.

Rule Description - An explanation of the function of the new printing rule. This is only displayed on the Order Grouping Rule page.

Where Should This Order Grouping Rule Apply - You are able to specify which location code(s) this rule applies. In most cases, this will be ‘all location codes'. To add multiple location codes, simply click on each of the location codes you'd like the rule to apply to. 

Select Fulfillment Methods - This allows you to select one or multiple fulfillment methods for applying the rule. In most cases, this will be all fulfillment methods. You can use this filter to limit which fulfillment methods trigger this print job.

Select Weekly Schedule - This allows you to have the printing rule apply on either a set schedule, depending on the hours of your location, or any time a ticket is printed out, regardless of your business hours.

When the option 'Selected Days and Times' are chosen, you'll be prompted to enter the specific times for each day that you would like the rule to apply for that day. If you would like the rule to not apply for a specific day in the week or you are closed on that day, you would simply type in 'CLOSED' for that day.

Just Specific Dates - You also have the option to have the printing rule you've created apply to a specific date range with both a beginning and end date. You would just need to enter the date range you'd like in the 'Start Date' and 'End Date' fields, as shown below.

When used in conjunction with a weekly schedule rule, the weekly rules will apply within the specific date range rules and will not apply outside of the specified date range.

Grouping by Checkout - This option allows you to customize how the orders appear on the ticket when the checkout is completed and the ticket is printed out.

• No, handle the orders separately - This is similar to our standard printing behavior. Checkouts will be broken apart by their vendor and fulfilling station and printed as separate orders.
• Yes, group all orders from the checkout together - This will print the entire checkout as a single ticket. This is useful if you need a single consolidated ticket of all items across multiple stations or vendors. This setting can also be utilized for a batched order.
• Only group orders from specific prep stations -  This allows you to choose the specific stations that should be grouped together on the ticket.

Grouping Over Time - Selecting 'Yes' will give two configurable options for how long to wait before printing a ticket when there are items in guests' carts versus no items in carts. If grouping over time is enabled, when a guest places an order a ticket will be ‘opened’ on the back end but will not print. This is only applicable for printed tickets, while the Kitchen Display Screen and Tableside Order & Pay Terminal will receive the order immediately. 

If there are other guests at the same location code with items in their carts at the time of the first guest checkout, that ticket will stay open for the number of minutes specified in ‘have items in their cart’. 

When the specified time passes for either option, the virtual ticket ‘closes’ and a single ticket will be printed with everything that was added while the ticket was ‘open.’

The next time a guest places an order, it creates a new ‘virtual ticket’, and the process repeats. 

Print Ticket At? - In most cases, you will select ‘specific printers' meaning selecting a printer that is currently set up and connected to the Printer Control Box. Alternatively, tickets can be printed according to the station/menu item rules (not supported if this rule groups orders from multiple stations). 

Disable normal printing of orders when they're part of the Grouping Rule - This feature will allow you to disable an order's normal printing behavior when the order is enforced by a Grouping Rule. Otherwise, the ticket will print the menu items according to the Grouping rule and according to the Stations and Printers that the menu items have been designated to print at which can cause duplicate tickets to be printed out.

Number of Copies to Print - This allows you to specify the number of tickets you'd like to print that follows the custom print rule that you've set up.

Choose How Items Should Be Organized on the Printed Ticket 

• All together: No categorization or grouping on the ticket. Listed as if all items are part of a single order.
• By tag: Select menu item tags to organize by, and the items will be grouped on the ticket by each selected tag.
• By order: Tickets containing multiple orders (multi-vendor, multi-station, or batched orders) will have menu items grouped by their order
• Messages to Print on Ticket (optional) - This allows you to include a customized message for the tickets that are printed out, adhering to the printing rule you've created. 

Print Only Specific Items - this setting will allow you to have only specific items printed under this order grouping rule. You can select the specific menu item tag to this printing rule which will designate any menu items that possess the selected tag to print under this Order Grouping rule.

Add additional delay before printing - These settings will allow you to set a printing delay for this order printing rule. You can configure different delay times for ASAP orders and Order-Ahead orders.

For any additional questions or assistance with setting up a custom printing rule, please reach out to our Support Team at [e-mail].