Italian Restaurant & Sports Bar Finds Dual Purpose for Star’s TSP650 Thermal Printer
Overview
What started as utilizing a “leftover” from the previous owner turned into a dual-purpose printer in the busy kitchen at LaPiazza Italian Restaurant in Lititz, PA. When Guisippe Gambino and his family took over the property and established LaPiazza Restaurant over 2 years ago, as is normal when a new restaurant takes over an existing restaurant setup, some POS equipment is left behind from the former occupants. One piece of equipment that remained in the kitchen was the Star TSP650 thermal printer, along with a few rolls of MaxStick® paper.
Star Solution
In addition to the dining room systems used by the wait staff to enter diners’ orders, three printers are used in the kitchen. Orders coming into the kitchen come from the 100 seat dining room, bar area and the restaurant’s take out area. The kitchen features one printer each for the pizza, sandwich/options and expo windows. Utilizing the remaining MaxStick paper rolls, the kitchen staff originally used the TSP650 to print the orders for each window and wait staff would then distribute the tickets, “sticking” them to the appropriate window, alerting the cooks to a waiting order.
MAXStick paper features a special repositionable adhesive which is applied to thermal or inkjet paper sealed with a proprietary coating. This means that the paper can be printed on with most roll printers to whatever length is needed, then stuck to almost any surface where it will remain until it is removed and, even, placed elsewhere. MAXStick is liner-free eliminating the need to manage non-recyclable waste. Star has approved its TSP650 printer for use with MAXStick paper.
After testing the TSP650 with MAXStick, Gambino decided to utilize the printer for the busy expo window, where orders are assembled by wait staff for delivery to their customers. The receipt printer at the expo window prints the customer’s completed order, combining orders from the various kitchen windows. The server can then compare the plated food with the full receipt and ensure all parts of the order are there and ready for delivery to the customer. As an expo window printer, the TSP650 can print anywhere from 50-200 receipts per night, especially on a Friday or Saturday. LaPiazza uses Digital Dining as its POS software with the printers in the kitchen being connected via serial and the dining room via parallel communication.
