The short answer
A KOT, or kitchen order ticket, is the slip that tells the kitchen what to cook: the table or order number, each item and quantity, any special instructions and the time it was sent. It is raised when the order is taken, before the bill, and can be handwritten, printed or shown on a kitchen screen.
Why restaurants use KOTs
A KOT keeps the order separate from the bill. The waiter or counter takes the order and raises a KOT, the kitchen cooks only against KOTs, and the bill is made from the same items. If food leaves the kitchen without a KOT, or a KOT never reaches a bill, the gap shows when the two are compared at the end of the day.
That is why the KOT is taught as a control document. CBSE’s Class XII Food and Beverage Services syllabus covers the KOT and bill control system, and its marking scheme describes the duplicate system used in smaller restaurants: the top copy goes to the kitchen and the second acts as the guest’s bill. Drinks made at the bar often go on a separate bar order ticket, or BOT (Restroworks).
How a KOT moves through a service
- Take the order. Note the table number, the number of guests, and each item with its quantity and any change, such as less spicy or no onion.
- Raise the KOT. One ticket per round. When the table orders more later, raise a new KOT for the new items only, rather than rewriting the first.
- Send it to the right station. Where the kitchen has stations, such as tandoor, Chinese and beverages, each station gets the items it makes.
- Cook and mark it ready. The kitchen works through tickets in the order they arrived and marks each one ready for pickup.
- Bill from the KOTs. The bill carries exactly the items on the table’s KOTs, no more and no less.
- Check KOTs against bills at day end. Items cooked but not billed, and items cancelled, should each have a reason and a signature.
Special KOTs
The CBSE Food Service marking scheme lists special checks for situations an ordinary KOT does not cover. Each is signed by a supervisor or manager.
- Accident. A dropped dish is replaced at no charge to the guest.
- No charge (NC KOT). Items issued without charging the guest, such as alcohol needed to finish a dish, or a meal for a guest of the management.
- Duplicate. A replacement when the original is lost, marked “duplicate”.
- Return. An item sent back for a valid reason.
- En place. A change to a dish on a fixed menu, even when the price does not change.
Printed KOT or kitchen display?
A kitchen display system (KDS) is a screen in the kitchen that shows tickets instead of printing them. It replaces the paper, not the KOT.
| What differs | Printed KOT | Kitchen display |
|---|---|---|
| What the kitchen sees | A paper slip from a thermal printer | Tickets on a screen, grouped by status |
| How long an order has waited | Worked out from the time printed on the slip | Can be shown on the ticket as it waits |
| Lost tickets | Slips can fall, tear or jam in the printer | No paper to lose, but the screen needs power and a connection |
| Equipment per station | A thermal printer | A screen or tablet the cooks can see |
| Record afterwards | The slips, if they are kept | Kept in the software |
Printed tickets suit a small kitchen with one or two stations. A display helps when several stations work at once, when you want to see how long each order has waited, or when slips keep going missing. Some kitchens use both: the screen on the line and a printed ticket for packing delivery orders.
EkamOS
How EkamOS helps with KOTs
EkamOS is point of sale (POS) software for cafés and restaurants in India. For kitchen tickets, it does the following today.
- Send an order to the kitchen as a numbered ticket, add more rounds later, and route items to stations.
- Print tickets on 80 mm thermal paper when they are sent or reprinted.
- The kitchen display shows New, Accepted, Preparing and Ready columns, filtered by station, with the age of every ticket.
- If the Wi-Fi drops, staff can keep opening orders, adding items and sending them to the kitchen; they are sent once each when the connection is back.
- Settling an order issues a GST bill you can print on thermal paper or A4, download as a PDF or share from the phone.
KOT questions
What is the full form of KOT?
Kitchen order ticket. It is the order as the kitchen receives it, kept separate from the bill the guest pays.
What is the difference between a KOT and a bill?
A KOT tells the kitchen what to cook; a bill tells the guest what to pay. A table can have several KOTs, one per round of ordering, and is usually settled with one bill made from all of them.
What is a BOT?
A bar order ticket: the same idea as a KOT, for drinks made at the bar (Restroworks).
What is an NC KOT?
A no-charge KOT, for items issued without charging the guest, such as alcohol needed to finish a dish or a meal for a guest of the management. The CBSE Food Service marking scheme has it countersigned by the outlet manager.
Do I need a kitchen display if I already print KOTs?
Not necessarily. Printed KOTs work well in a small kitchen. A display helps when several stations cook at once or when you want to see how long each order has waited. Either way the KOT stays; the display is another way of showing it.
Sources
The pages this guide relies on, opened when it was written or last updated.
- Food and Beverage Services (736, 737), Class XII curriculum, CBSE
- Food Service (736), Class XII sample paper marking scheme, CBSE
- KOT in Food and Beverage Service: Meaning, Importance & Process, Restroworks
Related guides
- X report vs Z report: What X and Z reports are, when to run each, and how to close a café or restaurant cash drawer at the end of the day.
- Choosing café billing software: What to check before buying café or restaurant billing software in India: GST bills, KOT, printers, day close and what happens when the Wi-Fi drops.
See EkamOS on your own kind of business
Tell us what you run. We will walk you through the parts of EkamOS that fit it, and be straight about the parts that are not ready yet.