Providing fast, efficient customer service and communicating orders quickly and accurately to food prep areas are absolutely vital to a quick-service restaurant (QSR) operation. Thermal receipt printers will help you achieve those objectives if you choose a model with the right features and design for your operation.
Answer these questions to narrow your choices decision-tree-style to make a confident thermal receipt printer choice for your business.
What Do You Need the Thermal Printer to Do?
The best place to start with any technology purchasing decision is by identifying gaps in your operation or developing plans for a more efficient operation. Are you looking for an efficient printer for receipts? Do you plan to deploy printers in the kitchen? Or do you need a model designed for both uses?
Do you need a printer that can generate labels for efficient online order fulfillment in addition to printing receipts and chits? Once you define your needs, you can narrow your choices to thermal receipt printer models designed for your applications.
Where Do You Need Printers?
Another question you need to ask before you begin to search for point of sale (POS) printers or kitchen printers is where it makes the most sense to implement them in your operation.
In a modern, fast-paced QSR, it’s not practical for employees to walk to a wired printer to generate a receipt for drive-thru customers or pick up kitchen orders. If you can save steps and time by deploying printers where wired connections aren’t possible, narrow your choices to printers that can connect via WLAN, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
Restaurants choose impact printers for hot, humid kitchens that could impact the quality of thermal-printed chits and receipts. Impact printers remain a good choice; however, more kitchens are now heat-controlled, allowing restaurants to use thermal printers for better speed and connectivity options.
If you plan to deploy your printer in the kitchen, limit your choices to models with IP ratings for resistance to damage from dust, dirt, and liquid splashes or sprays to minimize repair and replacement costs. Easy maintenance is also a must!
Learn “Why Thermal Printers Have A Place In Today’s Modern Kitchens” >
Where Are Customers Placing Orders?
The days of only taking orders at the counter are over. Drive-thru traffic rose 30% from 2019 to 2022 and continues. Nearly 45% of QSRs plan to add self-service kiosks this year, and restaurants continue to take orders from third-party ordering and delivery services. Plus, many establishments are now taking orders from their own websites or apps.
While giving customers the freedom to choose how they interact with your restaurant can increase satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue, it also creates operational complexity. A printer that can print orders, labels, and receipts directly from a web application or cloud-based software eliminates the need for additional devices and simplifies the IT environment necessary to make an omnichannel operation work.
How Fast Do You Need to Print Labels and Receipts?
Your customers expect fast, accurate service. Delaying food prep because a kitchen printer queue is backed up or serving the wrong order because employees mixed up slow-printing chits can hurt your brand and negatively impact loyalty. Narrow your choices only to options with print speeds that can keep up with peak traffic.
The Best Thermal Receipt Printer Choice
After you answer these questions, you’ll have a clearer picture of the best thermal receipt printer for your business. Following this decision-making process may guide you straight to the best printers for business — or convince you that you need more help to find the right model for your restaurant.
The good news is that Star Micronics has a full line of printers for QSRs with models that meet every need–backed by world-class support. Contact us to connect with an expert who knows your industry and printer technology options and can help you explore your options.
Additional Resources
Learn more about these Star Micronics products for your QSR:
- The mC-Label3 Multifunctional Printer prints permanent or repositionable sticky labels on linered or linerless media and also provides thermal receipt printing.
- The mC-Print3 series of thermal receipt printers are lightning-fast with robust connectivity options, CloudPRNT Next capability, and compact, splash-proof designs–perfect for demanding, high-traffic environments.
- The TSP143IV SK is a compact, sticky linerless label printer that can help increase efficiency in order preparation and fulfillment processes. Linerless labels are also the more eco-friendly label media.
- The TSP143IV thermal receipt printer delivers high print quality and offers multiple connectivity options and high-speed printing.
- Star’s CloudPRNT technology stores and creates print jobs and offers cloud-based printing capabilities, allowing QSRs to print directly from web apps and cloud applications.
- The mPOP® multifunction “mobile point of purchase” system combines a printer and cash drawer into one sleek solution.
- The SP742 impact printer is a high-speed, reliable solution for hot, humid kitchens. It features multiple connectivity options, including cloud-based printing.
Star Micronics Product Catalog
Explore Star’s Product Catalog today to discover the perfect printer solutions tailored for your QSR’s unique needs.
