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A novel use of kitchen printing |
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Centara® is a broad spectrum retail application and has many features that have been especially designed for a particular sector of commerce. We have however quite often found that features designed for a specific use, solve problems in other areas.
One such feature is kitchen printing. It is primarily used in restaurants, where waiters take down orders and the kitchen is automatically notified of the order, so that it can be prepared right away. The location of the printer varies greatly – some are connected to a computer, others are direct on the network. Likewise the type of printer depends on how the orders are handled. Some use thermal printers, but most prefer printing on paper that is not affected by the heat in the kitchen, such as impact or laser printers. Centara® allows you to tailor the information on the printed form and also to specify on which kitchen printer a specific item should appear.
We found use for this in a store that sold large household items that were picked up from another location than the store itself. By designating a "kitchen printer" where the inventory was stored, they are notified when an item (that is stored there) is sold, so they can have it ready for pick-up when the customer arrives.
If the customer requests that the item should be delivered, then that was a simple matter of adding additional instructions to the order (similar to specifying how you want your steak done in a restaurant – Well done, medium, rare, etc.), so that was easily done by Centara®.
You may think that you have a specific need as a part of your operation, but it may just so happen that it is already available in Centara®. Why not contact us at
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and find out. |
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Although Centara® is a general retail system that is primarily used in supermarkets and regular stores, you will find it in all sorts of points-of-service. And one of the more unusual locations where you'll find Centara® is in a toll plaza for a tunnel in Iceland.
Centara® was selected for its ease of use and how it can be adapted for any situation. The screens had to be configured so that transactions could be completed quickly. Certain aspects of what would be considered a „normal layout“ for a till is not applicable in this environment. That was however not a problem for Centara® as it could be easily configured to match the needs of the customer.
Another challenge was to connect to the sensors, cameras, and traffic lights in the toll plaza. Again the flexibility of Centara® was up to the challenge. We set aside a portion of the screen for this information and listen to the sensory input to indicate when a car arrives. We also collect a snapshot of one of the videos and display that at the till. When a payment for a trip is made, Centara® notifies the traffic light control for that lane to switch the light to green.
Do you have a unique system that serves you well, but an outdated till functionality. Why not contact us at
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and see if we are able to merge Centara® to your existing system. |
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KFC Iceland now uses Centara |
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KFC® in Iceland has now replaced it's Micros® retail system with Centara®. As they were in the process of adding a new restaurant to their chain, they decided to look around at the solutions that were on the market. After some evaluation they deemed that our solution would best suit their needs.
This provided us with an excellent opportunity to enhance our fast food solution. Enhancements were made to the kitchen displays giving KFC even greater flexibility in controlling the food preparation displays as the staffing varies throughout the day. Other fast food functionality, such as bump-bars, drive-thru, combination meals, meal modifications, etc., are all standard in Centara®.
Our fast food solution is currently used in a number of Burger King® and other restaurants throughout Europe.
If you operate a fast food outlet, why not check out if Centara® is the right system for you? Contact
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for further information. |
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Centara in hospital cafeteria |
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The largest hospital  in Iceland has now installed Centara® in all their cafeterias and canteens. This is part of an effort in reducing costs and making greater use of the hospital resources. Staff can use their identity card to pay for any item in the canteen, and the (subsidized) amount will be taken from their salary next month. Visitors, contractors and others can pay for their meals or other items at the normal cafeteria price.
Centara® has proven quite popular for use in canteens and cafeterias as it is very flexible. The screens can be tailored so that checkout is extremely fast and convenient. The lunch break is a valuable time for all and no one wants to be waiting in a long line, just for a few items to be entered into a till system. Various methods of payment (RFid, fingerprints, staff identity cards, etc.) can be utilized so that check-out is fast. Some canteens have even introduced a self-checkout version of Centara® to minimize this time.
Another feature of Centara® is how easy it is to connect to payroll, security and other systems that are already in use within the company. This means that integration is seamless and as staff is added or people leave the company, the cafeteria is always kept up-to-date. Tracking of financial transactions is also simplified, resulting in better control of staff and company expenses.
Are you interested in controlling the costs of your canteen? Are you operating a small restaurant or cafeteria? Why not contact us at
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for further information?
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