POS terminals, receipt and kitchen printers, cash drawers, scanners and label printers for stores, restaurants, bars and hospitality venues. Specified against your POS software and the connection it actually expects.
In retail and hospitality the hardware is not a back office concern, it is standing between your staff and the customer. When a printer will not pair or a drawer does not open, the queue sees it happen.
That changes what matters. A warehouse device is judged on whether it survives five years of abuse. A counter is judged on whether it works first time, every time, at the busiest hour of the week, in front of someone waiting to pay.
Most of the pain in this category is not about durability at all. It is interface mismatches, a printer that cannot pair with an iPad because it is not MFi certified, a drawer cable wired for the wrong printer brand, or a scanner that cannot read the loyalty code on a customer's phone.
Almost every avoidable support call in retail hardware traces back to a connection decision made at order time.
A counter that cannot take payment stops trading entirely. Commercial hardware is specified for continuous duty, not occasional use.
Bluetooth printers must be MFi certified to pair reliably with iPads and iPhones. A non-certified model will not connect.
58mm exists for compact and mobile printers, but layouts formatted for one width will not print correctly on the other.
Thermal paper darkens with heat and fails above a grill. Impact printing on plain paper survives, and is the only way to produce carbon copies.
Most retail hardware problems are decided at order time, not in use. These are the questions worth answering first.
Start here, because the software decides nearly everything else. Cloud and tablet platforms usually expect Android or iPadOS and publish a short list of approved printers. Established retail and restaurant packages tend to expect Windows and a wider set of ports. Get the vendor's supported hardware list before pricing anything.
USB, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Lightning are separate part numbers on the same printer, and the interface is fixed at manufacture. This is the single most common ordering mistake in retail hardware. If the POS is iPad based, confirm MFi certification specifically, because plain Bluetooth will not pair reliably.
A counter, a kitchen position and a mobile server are three different builds. Count them separately rather than ordering a single quantity. Kitchens need impact printers; counters need thermal; mobile positions need battery and Bluetooth. Specify each station type once, then multiply.
Paper width, ribbon type and label stock are ongoing costs that outlast the hardware decision. 80mm is standard at the counter and 58mm on compact printers, and layouts do not transfer between them. Impact printers need ribbons; thermal printers do not. Work out the annual consumable cost before choosing on unit price.
Equipping one store is a purchase; equipping a chain is a standard. Once several sites run the same hardware, paper, ribbons, drawer cables and spares interchange, and staff moving between locations already know the equipment. Choosing the cheapest option per site quietly removes all of that.
Send us your software name, the connection it requires and how many stations you are equipping. We will confirm every part number before anything ships.
A store and a restaurant use much of the same hardware, but the front counter, the kitchen and the shop floor each impose different requirements on it.
| Workflow | What It Involves | Hardware Needed | Key Consideration | Shop |
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01Checkout
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Taking payment at a fixed counter, printing a receipt and opening the drawer for cash transactions. |
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The printer interface is fixed at manufacture. USB, Ethernet, Bluetooth and Lightning are separate part numbers, and the wrong one is the most common ordering mistake in the category. |
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02Kitchen and Bar
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Sending orders from the front of house to the kitchen, bar or pass, where the ticket has to stay readable through service. |
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Use impact, not thermal. Thermal paper darkens with heat and degrades with grease, and impact is the only way to produce a multi-part carbon ticket where the kitchen and pass each need a copy. |
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03Line Busting and Table Service
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Taking orders and payment away from the counter, at the table, in a queue or at a pop-up. |
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Bluetooth pairing with iPads and iPhones requires an MFi-certified printer. A non-MFi Bluetooth model will not pair reliably, regardless of what the specification sheet claims. |
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04Product and Shelf Labelling
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Producing price labels, shelf edge tickets, food date labels and promotional signage in store. |
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Direct thermal is cheaper to run and fine for short-life price and date labels. Anything that must survive months on a shelf, or handling and sunlight, needs thermal transfer with a ribbon. |
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05Stock Counts and Receiving
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Checking deliveries in and counting stock on the shop floor and in the back room without tying up the till. |
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A cordless scanner with batch memory keeps working out of Bluetooth range and uploads when it reconnects, which matters in stockrooms and basements where coverage is poor. |
Most sites start at the counter and extend outward. Keep the printer brand consistent as you add stations, so drawer cables and paper stock interchange across the estate.
Retail hardware rarely fails from a single dramatic event. It fails from heat, grease, spills and the compounding cost of seconds lost at peak.
Thermal paper darkens with heat and is degraded by grease, so a ticket printed above a grill can be unreadable within minutes of being hung on the pass.
Loyalty codes, mobile coupons and digital gift cards are shown on a customer's phone. A 1D laser scanner cannot read a screen at all, so staff key the number by hand or the offer is abandoned.
Printer-driven cash drawers use an RJ11 or RJ12 connector that looks identical across brands, but the pin wiring differs. A cable that fits may not trigger the drawer.
Hospitality counters get wiped down all shift and drinks get knocked over. Unsealed keyboards and open-frame monitors fail quickly in that environment.
Boutiques, salons and food trucks rarely have room for a full terminal, printer, drawer and scanner laid out separately, so hardware ends up stacked or trailing cables across the customer-facing surface.
Hardware that copes on a quiet Tuesday can become the queue on a Saturday. A slow cutter or a scanner that needs a second attempt costs seconds per transaction, which compounds across a rush.
Specify against your busiest hour rather than an average one. Hardware that copes on a quiet weekday can become the queue on a Saturday.
A counter is a set of devices that have to agree with each other. These configurations pair the terminal, printer, drawer and scanner so the cables and interfaces are right on arrival.
A full station in one order: terminal, receipt printer, cash drawer, scanner and the cables that connect them. Available as a Windows build for established retail packages, or Android where the software is cloud or tablet based.
Taking payment away from a fixed counter, at the table, in a queue or on the shop floor. A rugged Windows or Android tablet paired with a belt-worn printer and a card reader, so the whole transaction completes where the customer is standing.
A repeatable per-lane configuration for stores running several checkouts, standardised so every lane holds the same hardware and spares interchange.
Tell us your POS software, how many stations per site and whether any are kitchen or bar positions. We will specify each station type once, confirm the interfaces with your software vendor, and stage delivery so each location receives a complete working set.
The questions that come up most often at install, and the answers that prevent them.
For counter printing we carry Star Micronics, Epson, Citizen and Custom America. For cash drawers, APG, Star and Custom America.
For scanning, Zebra, Honeywell and Datalogic. For labelling, Zebra, Brother and Citizen.
We are not tied to a single manufacturer. Which is right depends on your POS software and the connection it expects, and we would rather specify against that than push one brand.
Point of sale for counters, terminals, printing and cash management. Barcode labelling for price, shelf and date labels. Inventory control for stock counts and receiving.
Barcode scanning across checkout and shop floor, and hardware bundles where a whole station needs equipping at once.
We also pre-configure and stage hardware for multi-site rollouts, so each location receives a working set rather than a box of parts.
We supply the hardware behind a wide range of software applications, without being tied to any of them. Common ones include self-ordering and self-checkout kiosks, table-side ordering and payment, queue busting on the shop floor, loyalty and membership check-in, appointment and salon booking, golf and club management, ticketing and admissions, laundry and garment tag printing, and consignment or resale inventory.
Each changes the hardware slightly. Kiosks need front-exit printers and presentation scanners; check-in needs badge or wristband printing; garment tagging needs impact printing on tag stock. Tell us the application and we will specify against it.
Space and power are the constraints, not throughput. A compact 58mm or 80mm printer with an integrated peripheral hub keeps the counter clear, because the scanner and drawer connect through the printer rather than the terminal. If you run from a tablet, confirm MFi certification for iPad or Android compatibility before ordering.
Battery-powered mobile printers matter if you take payment away from the window. A cash drawer is often optional in mobile food, but where one is used a compact 13 inch model fits better than a full 16 inch.
See receipt printers and compact cash drawers.
Delivery adds a second print job to an existing counter: the order ticket for the kitchen and a label or docket that travels with the bag. Sites running high delivery volume usually add a dedicated printer for incoming orders so the counter printer is not competing with walk-in trade at peak.
Linerless or sticky label printers are worth considering for bag sealing and order identification, since a label that sticks to the bag survives the journey better than a docket tucked inside.
See label printers and receipt printers.
A kiosk prints unattended, so the printer has to present paper in a way a customer can take it without opening anything. That means a front-exit or kiosk-specific printer rather than a standard counter model, and usually a presentation scanner mounted behind glass rather than a handheld.
Paper capacity matters more than at a counter, because nobody is standing there to reload it. Specify the largest roll the enclosure takes, and consider a near-end paper sensor so you find out before the customer does.
See kiosks and receipt printers.
The software decides this more than you do. Cloud and tablet-first platforms increasingly expect Android or iPadOS, while established retail and restaurant packages are usually Windows and often need legacy ports for existing peripherals.
Where you genuinely have a choice: Android terminals are typically cheaper, boot faster and suit fixed-function counters. Windows suits sites running back-office software on the same machine, or where the peripheral mix includes older serial devices. Ask your software vendor which they certify, since running an uncertified combination usually means unsupported.
Impact printers strike an ink ribbon onto plain paper, and the cartridge is specific to the printer family. Fitting the wrong one is the most common consumable mistake.
Epson TM-U220, U210, U230, U325, U375, U300 and U200 take the ERC-38B in black, or the ERC-38BR in black and red where your software prints voids or refunds in red. A case of ten is the sensible order quantity for a busy kitchen.
Star SP700 and SP712 take the black cartridge rated at 3 million characters, or the black and red version. There is also an RC700 indelible ribbon where the print has to resist smudging or tampering.
Bixolon SRP-275 and SRP-270 use their own cartridge, and compatible equivalents are available from Thermamark at lower cost than the branded part.
On paper: impact printers need bond paper, not thermal. Thermal paper will produce nothing at all in an impact printer because there is no heat involved. For duplicate tickets use carbonless multi-part stock such as the two-ply carbonless roll, which is the only way to get a copy for the kitchen and the pass.
Browse all printer ribbons.
Standard counter printers, including the Star TSP143 family, mC-Print3, Epson TM-T20 and TM-m30, Citizen CT-S310II and Bixolon SRP-Q302, all take 3.125 inch (80mm) thermal paper. No ribbon is required, because the print head burns the image directly into the coating.
Roll length and case size are what differ. Common options are the RPT3.125-50-PF, 50 foot rolls in a case of 50, and longer 230 foot rolls where you want fewer paper changes at a busy counter. Case quantities of 10, 25 and 50 are all available depending on how much you want to hold.
Two things worth specifying. Phenol-free and BPA-free stock matters if staff handle receipts all day, and is increasingly expected in food service. And coloured stock, such as canary yellow, is useful where a kitchen or back-office copy needs to be visually distinct from a customer receipt.
Do not substitute 2.25 inch (58mm) paper. It fits compact and mobile printers only, and a receipt layout formatted for 80mm will not print correctly on it.
Browse all receipt paper.
Send us what you are trying to do and we will come back with a specific recommendation rather than a catalogue. If you are replacing equipment, a model number or a photo of the existing setup is usually enough to work from.
We usually respond within 10 minutes on weekdays.