Overview

This article describes how to set up a Heartland Restaurant location to print kitchen slips for future orders.

Configuring Future Order Send Behavior

You can configure how future orders behave within a location in the Location Settings screen.

  1. In the Admin Console’s Main Menu, click Location Setup, then click Settings.
  2. In the Location Settings screen, click the App Settings tab, then select the Future Orders check box.

    This check box enables future order features for the location.
  3. In the Future Orders Send Behavior list, select an appropriate send behavior option.

The Future Orders Send Behavior list enables you to set when the POS sends future orders to the kitchen printers. It includes three options:

  • If you select Send future orders immediately when order is placed, the POS will print each future order’s kitchen slip as soon as it receives the order, regardless of its hold time. This is the program’s default setting.

  • If you select Send future orders at start of day, the POS will hold each future order it receives until the date of its prep time, then it will send all future orders for the current day to the kitchen printers at the start of that business day.
    When you select this option, the program displays the Send future orders at start of day box, enabling you to enter the time of the location’s start of day. For instance, if you enter “9:00 AM” in this box, the POS will send all held future orders for the current day to the kitchen printers at 9:00 AM. 
  • If you select Send future orders at hold time minus prep time, the POS will send future orders to the kitchen printers at a certain number of minutes in advance of its hold time.
    When you select this option, the program displays the Future Order Prep Time in Minutes box. In this box, you can set a prep time for all future orders by entering an appropriate number of minutes. For instance, if you enter “10” in this box, the POS will send each future order to the kitchen printers ten minutes before its hold time.

Click Save to save your future order settings.

The location can now use future order features in the POS.

Future Order Printing in the POS

The following procedures describe how to use future order printing in the POS.

  1. Log into the POS and access a room.
  2. In the Room screen, tap New Ticket.
  3. In the Ticket screen, add one or more items to a ticket. 
  4. After adding all ordered items to the ticket, open the left-hand Options panel and tap Info.
    The POS opens the Customer Info panel.
         
  5. In the Customer Info panel, in the Ticket Status area, tap Hold Ticket.
    The POS will open the Hold Time lists.
  6. Using the Hold Time list, select the date and time of the requested hold.
  7. After setting an appropriate hold time, open the left-hand panel and tap Send.

After you tap Send, the POS will not print the ticket until the appropriate time, as set in the Future Orders Send Behavior list (either immediately, the start of the day that it is due, or the ticket's hold time minus its items' prep time).

If you need to review a held ticket for a pending future order, access a Room screen in the POS, then tap the Print Queue button in the top panel.

The POS opens a panel listing all printed tickets, including tickets for future orders.

To review such a ticket, tap its button in the list.

Viewing Future Orders in the KDS

The location’s Future Orders Send Behavior setting can influence how held future orders display in the KDS. In the KDS screen, tap the Options button, then tap Show future orders.

The Show Future Orders menu enables you to review held future orders in the KDS display. The list includes buttons representing different time range options, allowing you to filter the tickets that display by a specific time range.

If you select All, the POS displays all future orders currently held by the POS.

If you tap Today Only, the POS displays all held tickets for future orders set to be prepared on the current day. If you tap Today and Tomorrow, the POS displays all held tickets for future orders set to be prepared on the current and following day.

Each subsequent button (2 Days Out, 3 Days Out, and so on) widens the time range of displayed future order tickets by an extra day.

If you tap At hold time minus prep time, the POS will display all future order tickets that have entered their prep time range. For instance, if the location uses a future order prep time of 15 minutes, this option will display all held future order tickets that will be sent to the kitchen printers within the next 15 minutes.

In the example below, the POS displays the “DUE” time (2:40 PM) in the left-hand order because its hold time has already expired. In contrast, the POS displays the “HOLD” status in the right-hand order because its prep time has begun, but it has not yet reached its hold time.

The At hold time minus prep time option is only available if you set the location’s Future Orders Send Behavior setting to Send future orders at hold time minus prep time.