Questions · Restaurants and food business
What is a KOT (kitchen order ticket) in a restaurant?
The answer
A KOT (kitchen order ticket) is the instruction that tells the kitchen what to prepare for an order: the table or order number, the items, quantities and any special requests, but no prices. It is created when the order is taken, before the bill, and a new KOT is sent each time the table orders more.
A KOT is the link between the person who takes the order and the people who cook it. In a small restaurant it may be a carbon-copy slip torn from a pad; in a larger one it is printed at each kitchen station or shown on a kitchen screen. Either way, it does one job: the kitchen cooks what is on the ticket, nothing more and nothing less.
What goes on a KOT
A typical KOT for table 9 might read:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| KOT number | 0147 |
| Table or order type | Table 9, dine-in |
| Time sent | 13:24 |
| Taken by | Waiter 3 |
| Items | 2 × Masala Dosa; 1 × Rava Upma |
| Notes | 1 dosa without onion |
There are no prices on it. The cook does not need them, and leaving them off keeps the ticket short and easy to read at a glance.
KOT vs bill
| KOT | Bill | |
|---|---|---|
| For | The kitchen | The guest |
| Created | When the order is sent | When the guest asks to pay |
| Shows prices | No | Yes, with tax and total |
| How many per table | One per round of ordering (and per station) | One |
If table 9 later asks for two filter coffees, a second KOT goes out for just the coffees. The kitchen never receives a copy of the whole order again, which is how dishes get cooked twice. The bill at the end includes every item from both KOTs.
Split by station
Where a kitchen has separate stations (main kitchen, tandoor, beverages, desserts), each station gets its own KOT with only its items. The tandoor sees the naans, the beverage counter sees the coffees, and nobody hunts through someone else's list.
Cancellations
A cancelled item should never be crossed off a KOT that has already gone to the kitchen. A separate cancellation KOT tells the station to stop, and the record shows what was ordered, what was cancelled and who cancelled it. That trail matters when the end-of-day count does not match sales.
Common mistakes
- Verbal orders with no KOT. The dish gets cooked but may never reach the bill.
- Illegible handwriting, which software-generated KOTs remove.
- Reprinting the full KOT for additions instead of sending only the new items.
- No KOT numbers, which makes it impossible to check that every ticket became part of a bill.
For the whole chain from order to KOT to bill, see how restaurant billing software works. In DINE OS, orders appear on a kitchen display by station with a timer, and a KOT can be printed for kitchens that prefer paper. The glossary entry for KOT has the short definition.
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General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Published by Chameron Digital.