Kitchen Printing
Turn your kitchen screens into paper. Kitchen Printing decides which printer prints each station's chits — so the grill's tickets come out on the grill printer, the bar's on the bar printer — and can auto-print them the moment an order is placed.
A "kitchen printer" is simply a printer assigned to a station. The exact same routing that fills a station's screen (item → routing class → station) also picks its printer. There's no separate "kitchen vs. bar" tagging to keep in sync — set up your stations once, hang a printer on each, and paper follows the screen.
Before You Start
Kitchen Printing builds on the two pieces you set up first:
- Routing classes — your kitchen sections (GRILL, FRY, BAR…), and your menu tagged with them.
- Kitchen stations — the screens, each subscribed to the classes it cooks.
- Printers — added to your location under Settings → Printers. If you haven't added your printers yet, do that first: see Printer Management.
Then Kitchen Printing is the final step: hang printers on stations, and optionally turn on auto-print.
Accessing Kitchen Printing
You must first navigate to a specific restaurant location. If you signed up as a single restaurant, you'll land directly at your location. For restaurant groups/chains, select your location from the Group/Chain Dashboard first.
Navigation Path: [Your Location] → Settings → Kitchen Printing
Required Permission: Manager with Manage Kitchen Stations
On this page you'll find everything about paper for the kitchen in one place: the auto-print switch, the station → printer assignments, an at-a-glance printer overview, and a routing preview for checking your setup.
Assign Printers to Stations
This is the core of Kitchen Printing — the paper version of subscribing a station to routing classes.
- Go to Settings → Kitchen Printing
- Under Station printers, find the station you want (e.g., Grill)
- Open its printer dropdown and pick one or more printers for it
- Your choice saves instantly
That station's chits will now print to the printer(s) you chose.
You can assign a station's printers here on the Kitchen Printing page (a full overview of every station at once), or right on the station's card under Kitchen → Stations — next to its routing classes. Both edit the same thing, so use whichever is handier.
Screen-Only Stations
A station with no printer assigned is screen-only — it shows tickets on its display but prints nothing. That's perfectly normal for kitchens that run fully on screens. Assign a printer only to the stations that need paper.
One Station, Several Printers
You can assign more than one printer to a station. The station's chit then prints on each of them — useful when a section has both a prep printer and an expo printer. (In the routing preview, you'll see this clearly labeled so it never looks like a duplicate.)
Auto-Print Chits
When auto-print is on, SSP Manager prints each station's chit automatically the moment an order is placed (and again for any items added later) — no one has to press "print."
To turn it on: flip the Auto-print chits switch at the top of the Kitchen Printing page.
Auto-print only fires when both are true:
- Auto-print is on, and
- At least one station has a printer assigned.
That second gate is a safety net — you can't accidentally auto-print to a printer you never set up. Until you've assigned a printer somewhere, the switch stays disabled with a hint telling you why.
Auto-print means the system prints your chits. If your point-of-sale is also set to print kitchen chits on order placement, you'd get two copies of everything. Pick one: let SSP Manager auto-print, or let your POS print — not both.
New locations start with auto-print off, so nothing prints until you're ready. Assign your station printers first, confirm they're online, then switch it on.
The Printer Overview ("Serves")
Underneath the assignments, the Printers → stations overview shows the relationship from the printer's side: for each printer, which stations it serves. It's the quick answer to "what does this printer print?" — for example, a printer that reads Serves: Grill, Expo prints both of those stations' chits.
You'll also see this same Serves information on each printer over in Settings → Printers, so you can check a printer's kitchen role without leaving the Printers page.
Check Your Setup with the Routing Preview
Want to see exactly where a real order's chits would print before a busy service? Use the Routing preview at the bottom of the Kitchen Printing page.
- Enter a placed order's ID
- Click Preview
You'll see, for that order:
- Whether auto-print is on ("Server auto-fires these — no client action needed") or off
- One card per station, listing the items that would print and the destination printer(s) — each with a live online / offline dot
- If a station has two printers, it's labeled "same lines to all printers" so a double copy reads as intentional, not a mistake
- An empty result if nothing would print for that order (nothing new to fire, or no routed station has a printer)
The preview is a read-only check — it prints nothing. It's the fastest way to confirm that your routing and printer assignments are correct: place a test order, preview it, and make sure each item lands on the right station and printer.
Example: Wiring Up a Kitchen for Paper
Assuming you've already created stations and tagged your menu:
Step 1 — Add your printers (Settings → Printers): "Grill Printer," "Bar Printer." See Printer Management.
Step 2 — Assign printers to stations (Settings → Kitchen Printing → Station printers):
| Station | Printer |
|---|---|
| Grill | Grill Printer |
| Fry | Grill Printer (shares the line printer) |
| Bar | Bar Printer |
| Cold Line | (screen-only — no printer) |
| Expo | Grill Printer + Bar Printer |
Step 3 — Preview a test order to confirm each item lands where you expect.
Step 4 — Turn on Auto-print chits. From now on, every order's chits print themselves to the right printers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a printer a "kitchen printer"?
Assigning it to a station. There's no separate kitchen/bar label — a printer prints kitchen chits because you hung it on a station. The same routing that fills the station's screen picks its printer.
How do I add a printer in the first place?
On Settings → Printers. Kitchen Printing assigns existing printers to stations; adding and connecting the hardware is covered in Printer Management.
Nothing prints when an order is placed. Why?
Check three things: (1) Auto-print is on, (2) the item's station has a printer assigned, and (3) the printer shows online. The Routing preview will show you exactly where the order's chits are headed and whether the printers are online.
I'm getting two copies of every chit.
Something is printing twice. Most often, both SSP Manager's auto-print and your POS are printing kitchen chits. Turn off one of them (see the caution above). A single station with two printers assigned will also print two copies — by design.
Can a station show on screen but not print?
Yes — that's a screen-only station. Just leave its printer assignment empty.
Do I set this up per location?
Yes. Printers and station assignments are per-location, just like the stations themselves.
Related Features
- Kitchen Stations — the screens your printers are attached to
- Kitchen Routing — how items reach a station in the first place
- Printer Management — adding and connecting printers
Getting Help
- 💬 Live Chat: Click the chat icon in your dashboard
- 📧 Email: support@ssppos.com
- 📚 Help Center: docs.ssppos.com
Hang a printer on each station, flip one switch, and your kitchen chits print themselves.