What is a prep ticket?

Who reads a prep ticket, and what goes on it?

The person who makes or packs the order reads it, not the customer. It lists the items and quantities, the customer’s name and any notes, such as the pickup time or a message to write. Prices stay off because the maker doesn’t need them, and on a gift the price shouldn’t end up in the box.

A Square seller asking for a kitchen sheet for catering orders in 2023 put it plainly: “The kitchen should not be privy to the costs and payments.”

For example, a bakery taking a birthday cake order on Tuesday for Saturday pickup would print a ticket like this for the decorator:

• Items and quantities: 1 × 8-inch chocolate cake; 12 × vanilla cupcakes
• Customer: the name the order is under, so the right box goes to the right person
• Notes: “Pickup Saturday 10 a.m. Write ‘Happy 40th, Sam’ in gold.”

To check where a note shows up in Shopify, see where Shopify order notes print and where they don’t.

How is a prep ticket different from a receipt, gift receipt, packing slip or kitchen display ticket?

Receipts and gift receipts are for the customer and print after a sale. A packing slip travels with a shipment and prints from an order. A kitchen display ticket isn’t printed at all. A prep ticket is for the maker, has no prices, and is printed when the order is taken, often before it’s paid.

Shopify also prints a pick list, the warehouse’s version for gathering stock; like the packing slip, it prints from an order, not a draft. For every Shopify document in each state (paid, unpaid or still a draft), see gift receipts without prices.

Is a prep ticket the same as a kitchen ticket?

Not quite. A kitchen ticket comes from a café or restaurant system, which can send an order’s items to different printers or screens, and to separate kitchen or prep areas. In a counter shop that makes things to order, a prep ticket is one paper slip with the whole order on it, for whoever makes it.

As of October 2026, POS Cafe and Simmer are two Shopify apps that send orders to kitchen printers or screens: see how Prep Ticket compares with POS Cafe and Simmer.

Florists, framers and cake makers weighing a screen against paper can read when a screen pays off and when paper is enough.

Can Shopify POS print a prep ticket?

Shopify POS prints its receipt after payment, and Shopify says draft orders must be completed and converted to regular orders before they can be printed. Tapping Mark unpaid lets you print an order before the customer pays, but that creates a real order now, and the receipt shows every price.

Printing after payment suits a shop that hands the goods over at the register. A made-to-order job works differently: it’s taken now, made later and paid at pickup.

Shopify POS does let you save the order as a draft, so it waits, unpaid, until the customer collects it (drafts need a location on Shopify POS Pro). To save one:

1. Build the cart in Shopify POS.
2. Tap the menu icon, then Create draft order.

To find, load and finish a saved draft later, see Shopify POS draft orders. For every native way to print a draft and what each one leaves out, read how to print a Shopify draft order from POS.

How do you print a prep ticket from a Shopify POS draft order?

Use Prep Ticket, from Countermade (the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios). From a draft order in Shopify POS, it prints a prep ticket with item names, quantities, customer and notes, and no prices, so the back room gets the whole order while it’s still an unpaid draft.

It prints through the iPad’s print dialog to a printer the iPad can reach (AirPrint). Prep Ticket needs Shopify POS Pro, the same plan that gives you drafts in POS, and is coming soon to the Shopify App Store. See how Prep Ticket works, or check printers for prep tickets from Shopify POS.

Which shops need a prep ticket?

Counter shops where the order is taken now, at the till or by phone, and made or packed later by someone else. The ticket hands that person the items, quantities, customer and notes, without the price. Bakeries, florists, delis, gift basket makers and engravers all work this way:

• A bakery taking custom cake and advance orders: bakery order tickets in Shopify POS.
• A florist sending wedding and event arrangements to the workroom: florist order tickets in Shopify POS.
• A deli or caterer preparing platters for a set pickup time: catering orders in Shopify POS.
• A gift basket maker packing baskets ordered by phone: gift basket phone orders in Shopify POS.
• An engraver, framer or print shop handing a job to the maker: job tickets for custom orders.
• A butcher taking Christmas turkey and ham orders: Christmas orders for butchers in Shopify POS.

Next step

Save your next made-to-order job as a draft in Shopify POS, and note what your maker needs on paper and what should stay off it. That list is what your prep ticket should say.

Prep Ticket isn’t on the Shopify App Store yet. Get early access and we’ll email you when it’s ready to try.