At Restaurant & Bar Tech Live 2022 held in October 2022 at ExCel, London, Star Micronics exhibited its latest solutions for hospitality POS, mobile ordering, food labelling and self-service kiosk applications. These were demonstrated with a range of key hospitality payment and online ordering software partners.
Introducing a number of new hardware products for hospitality POS and self-service kiosks alongside unique technologies critical to the changing nature of the hospitality sector, Star recognises POS technology has an increasingly important role to play in meeting higher customer expectations as well as demand for greater levels of convenience and choice.
Having provided printing solutions into hospitality for over 40 years, Star is renowned for reliable receipt, food label and kitchen order printing. Its CloudPRNT technology is available across a range of thermal receipt and label printers as well as matrix kitchen printers, providing the largest range of multi-platform remote cloud receipt and online ordering printers available today.
The technology benefits hospitality venues by enabling customer orders to be sent directly to the printer from an online ordering service or app, eliminating the need for an additional tablet in the bar or restaurant. Moreover, Star CloudPRNT enabled printers are able to receive orders from multiple channels including POS, tablet, web and cloud which results in an efficient ordering and transaction process for any hospitality business.
For venues that prefer a fully managed service, Star also demonstrated its unique StarPrinter.Online dedicated service for businesses to manage the printer estate with minimal setup time and cost. This allows printing direct from an ordering website through the REST API or direct from the page with JavaScript, or even via email; order emails can be forwarded directly to the chef’s printer for preparation. The ordering service can not only communicate directly with the printer to create print jobs but also receive the status of the printer estate. Thanks to an online dashboard, users have an overview of all devices and activity including reliable tracking of print jobs with notification of device status changes, barcode scans, new device connections to a group, etc. Additional printers and peripherals can simply be added without the need for server upgrades.
As stricter requirements for pre-packaged food labelling take effect, Star provides a number of labelling solutions as a result of partnerships with a range of leading hospitality and labelling software providers. The TSP654IISK linerless label printer and new SK1-311SK linerless kiosk mechanism both offer versatile labelling solutions which support MaxStick® liner-free media.
With the recent growth in online orders across multiple channels along with increased allergy legislation, the cloud-enabled TSP654IISK provides an environmentally friendly solution for printing customer orders for takeaway, delivery, as well as item labelling. It can also connect via CloudPRNT to centrally held allergy labelling software and online databases of product ingredients to directly print label updates as needed, which could prove a significant cost saving for larger chains.
“With many hospitality venues looking at innovative ways to boost business, Star’s unique POS solutions can facilitate the creation of new revenue streams, while allowing businesses to accommodate potentially large numbers of customers ordering food and drinks from multiple locations. Moreover, the introduction of StarPrinter.Online demonstrates Star’s focus on providing a comprehensive range of tools for businesses to manage the ordering process and entire printer estate efficiently and cost-effectively,” stated Simon Martin, Director & General Manager, Star Micronics EMEA.