Ticket time is the time between when a customer orders and when that order is ready for service or delivery. In restaurants it's the time from when a server puts an order into the POS system to when the kitchen finishes the dish. For bars it's the time between ordering a drink and receiving it. In hotels it's the time for room service orders or requests for amenities.
Ticket time is a key metric in hospitality. It directly impacts customer satisfaction as customers expect to be served quickly. Long ticket times equal frustrated customers, bad reviews and lost business. Short ticket times equal happy customers, higher table turns in restaurants and overall efficiency. Managers use ticket time data to adjust staffing, streamline kitchen processes and identify areas to improve service.
Imagine you're the head chef at a busy city centre restaurant on a Friday night. The front of house manager tells you ticket times are creeping up to 30 minutes for main courses. You quickly reorganise your kitchen staff, assigning one cook to starters and one to desserts. You ask the servers to space out their orders slightly. Thirty minutes later, you've brought the average ticket time down to 20 minutes. Customers are happy and tables are turning over nicely. You've potentially saved the night from going pear shaped and receiving complaints by making these adjustments.