BOT Full Form in Restaurants: Bar Order Ticket Explained (KOT vs BOT)

The BOT full form is Bar Order Ticket. It is the slip (or screen message) that tells the bar which drinks to make, for which table, and how many. It works exactly like a KOT, but it goes to the bar counter instead of the kitchen.

If your restaurant serves mocktails, shakes, fresh juices, coffee or alcohol from a separate counter, a BOT keeps the bar's orders apart from the kitchen's. The cook never has to shout "two cold coffees" across the floor, and the bartender never has to read through a long food order to find one lime soda.

01What a BOT contains

A BOT is short, just like a KOT. The bartender should understand it at a glance. It usually has:

• BOT number: a running number, separate from the KOT numbers, so every drink order can be traced.
• Table or order type: table number for dine-in, or "Takeaway" / "Delivery".
• Time: when the order was sent.
• Drinks and quantity: names exactly as the bar knows them.
• Notes: "no ice", "less sugar", "extra lemon", "large".
• Waiter name: so the bar knows who will pick the drinks up.

Like a KOT, a BOT has no prices and no tax. Those go on the bill.

02A sample BOT

This is a typical BOT for a table that ordered food and drinks together. The food went to the kitchen on a KOT; only the drinks are here:

        BOT #061      Dine-in
  Table: 6        Waiter: Ravi
  26-10-2026      08:43 PM
  --------------------------------
  2  x  Fresh Lime Soda (sweet)
       ** no ice **
  1  x  Cold Coffee
  1  x  Virgin Mojito
  --------------------------------

When Table 6 orders another round, a new BOT is made with only the new drinks. At the end, all KOTs and BOTs of the table add up into one bill.

03KOT vs BOT: what's the difference?

If you are new to tickets, first read what a KOT is and how it works. The BOT follows the same idea:

The golden rule is the same for both: nothing leaves the bar without a BOT, and nothing is billed that wasn't on a BOT.

04Why bars use a separate ticket and printer

Speed: drinks are usually ready before food. If drinks wait on the kitchen ticket, the table waits too.

Clear work: the bartender sees only drinks. The cook sees only food. Nobody skips a line by mistake.

Control: the bar holds costly stock. A separate number series makes it easy to match every drink poured with a ticket and a bill.

Licence and accounts: bars that serve alcohol often keep their drink sales separate for their own records. Check your state excise rules on what you need to record.

Distance: in many restaurants the bar is at the front and the kitchen at the back. One printer for both means someone walks the slip across the floor all evening.

05Paper BOT vs bar screen

• Paper BOT from a small thermal printer at the bar is simple and familiar. Slips can get wet at a busy bar, so keep the printer away from the sink and ice well.
• A bar screen (a tablet or phone running a kitchen display app) shows each drink order, how long it has waited, and lets the bartender tap "ready" so the waiter knows.

Small cafes with one coffee counter often print BOTs on the same printer as KOTs and just hand the slip over. That works too, as long as the slip clearly says BOT.

06How to set up BOTs in your restaurant

1. Decide what is made at the bar. Usually whole categories: Beverages, Mocktails, Shakes, Hot Drinks, Bar. Watch for exceptions, like a lassi that the kitchen makes.
2. Mark those categories or items as "bar" in your billing software, so they split off from the KOT by themselves.
3. Choose where BOTs go: the same printer, a separate network printer at the bar, or a bar screen.
4. Give the bar its own login, so the bartender sees only bar tickets and not the whole kitchen.
5. Test with a mixed order: food plus drinks for one table should make one KOT and one BOT, and one bill.

07How BOT works in RestroGrow

In RestroGrow, you set each menu category to Kitchen or Bar (Menu › Categories › Kitchen / Bar), and you can move single dishes to the other side. When a waiter sends an order with food and drinks, RestroGrow makes a KOT for the kitchen and a BOT for the bar, each with its own number. The same happens for orders from your QR table menu, your ordering website and WhatsApp.

Under Settings › Printer › Bar tickets you choose whether BOTs print on the same printer, on the bar's own Wi-Fi or LAN thermal printer, or not at all (the bar then reads them on the KOT page, Bar tab). You can also add staff with the Bartender role: they see a bar screen with only bar tickets, with a timer on each. The kitchen and the bar each mark their own ticket ready, and the order is ready when both are. Nothing changes until you set something to the bar, so a restaurant without a bar keeps working as before. You can see it in the app demo.