---
title: "How do I route food to the kitchen and drinks to the bar?"
slug: "how-do-i-route-food-to-the-kitchen-and-drinks-to-the-bar"
description: "Streamline your food and beverage orders with ROLLER's production dockets, ensuring precise printing for kitchens and bars using cloud or ROLLER Connect."
updated: 2026-08-19T11:31:15Z
published: 2026-08-19T11:31:15Z
canonical: "mysupport.roller.software/how-do-i-route-food-to-the-kitchen-and-drinks-to-the-bar"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mysupport.roller.software/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How do I route food to the kitchen and drinks to the bar?

When you take a food and beverage order, you often need the food to print at the kitchen and the drinks to print at the bar. ROLLER does this with production dockets: each stock product is linked to a printer, so each area only prints what it prepares. How you set this up depends on whether your venue uses cloud printing or ROLLER Connect.

## How order routing works

Each stock product is assigned to a printer. When the item is sold at POS or ordered through a mobile food and beverage checkout, its docket prints at the assigned printer. Food items go to your kitchen printer and drink items go to your bar printer. You can also leave items unassigned (eg cold drinks handed over straight away) so no docket prints for them.

## Which printing method do you use?

ROLLER supports two printing methods. Cloud printing is the current method and is required for mobile food and beverage ordering. ROLLER Connect is the legacy method for printers connected directly to a POS device.

|  | Cloud printing | ROLLER Connect (legacy) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Printers** | Supported Epson ePOS printers on your network (Ethernet or WiFi) | Printers connected to a POS device, managed through Windows |
| **Where you route items** | Print stations configured in Venue Manager | Each stock item is assigned to a printer by name in Venue Manager |
| **Backup printers** | Supported | Not available |
| **Mobile food and beverage ordering** | Supported | Not supported |
| **Sticker and wristband printing** | Not currently supported | Supported |

If you are not sure which method your venue uses, contact your customer success manager or the [support team](/v1/docs/contact-roller-support).

## Route orders with cloud printing

Set up one print station for each area that prints dockets, such as a kitchen station and a bar station.

1. From Venue Manager, go to **Settings** > **Devices** and add a print station for each area.
2. Set the print station **Function** to production docket printer.
3. Choose which stock products print at each station, so food prints at the kitchen station and drinks print at the bar station.

For the full setup, including printer requirements, backup printers and connecting POS devices, see [Create your print stations for cloud printing](/v1/docs/create-your-print-stations-for-cloud-printing). To route orders placed through a mobile food and beverage checkout, see [From QR code to production areas with mobile food & beverage (F&B) ordering](/v1/docs/from-qr-code-to-production-areas-with-mobile-food-beverage-f-b-ordering).

## Route orders with ROLLER Connect (legacy)

With ROLLER Connect, printers connect to a POS device and each stock item is assigned to a printer by name. Assign your food items to the kitchen printer and your drink items to the bar printer.

For the full steps, see [Set up docket printing using ROLLER Connect](/v1/docs/set-up-docket-printing-using-roller-connect).

## Related

- [Create your print stations for cloud printing](/create-your-print-stations-for-cloud-printing.md)
- [Get started with cloud printing](/get-started-with-cloud-printing.md)
- [Integrate with Fresh KDS and configure your devices](/integrate-with-fresh-kds-and-configure-your-devices.md)