Kitchen Display System (KDS)

What it does

The Kitchen Display shows kitchen staff exactly what needs to be cooked, in what order, and how far along each item is. It replaces paper tickets with a live board that updates the moment an order comes in or a status changes — on every screen watching it, at the same time.

Getting started

1. Open the Kitchen Display screen. You'll see up to three columns: Queue (waiting to start), In Progress (being cooked), and Ready (done, waiting to be served).
2. New items appear in Queue automatically as soon as an order is sent in — no need to refresh. A counter on the Queue tab shows how many new items arrived since you last looked.
3. To start cooking an item, tap the forward button on its card (or drag the card into the In Progress column). If cooks are checked in on this screen, you may be asked to pick who's making it.
4. When an item is done, tap the forward button again (or drag it into Ready) to mark it ready to serve.
5. Once an item has been picked up or handed to the customer, tap the green Deliver button on its card. This is the final step — the item then disappears from the board.
6. Every card also has a back button, in case an item needs to move back a stage — for example, if it was started by mistake, or a ready item still needs more time.
7. If your venue has more than one prep station (grill, cold, drinks, etc.), use the station filter at the top to show only the items for your station.
8. If cook check-in is turned on for your venue, staff can check in with a PIN so their name is available when assigning who's cooking an item, and check out the same way at the end of a shift.

Key things to know

• An item only shows up on the Kitchen Display if it has been assigned to a prep station. Items with no station attached skip the kitchen screen and are treated as ready right away.
• Some prep stations can be set up (by a manager) to print directly to a kitchen ticket printer instead of showing on screen. For those stations, new items never appear on the board at all — they print automatically the moment the order comes in.
• The board updates live across every device watching it. If someone else starts, finishes, or delivers an item from another screen, you'll see it change on yours within a second or two — no need to refresh.
• Sending an item back to Queue (rejecting it) requires typing a short reason, so the front-of-house staff knows why.
• Rejecting an item automatically puts its ingredients back in stock, if your venue tracks inventory — the dish was never served, so nothing about it stays deducted. This happens on its own; nobody has to do anything extra on the Inventory side.
• Items that are getting close to their target ready time are visually flagged, so nothing slips through unnoticed.
• Each order's header shows a small icon — a table icon or a pager icon — followed by the table name or the pager number, so you can tell at a glance where the order belongs. Hover over the icon to confirm which one it is.
• A combo/set item doesn't show up as a single card — each of its parts appears as its own card, routed to its own prep station, and moves through Queue → In Progress → Ready independently of its siblings. Advancing or reverting one part never affects the others; the combo line only counts as fully ready once every one of its parts has reached Ready.
• Once an item is marked delivered, it's done — it leaves the board and won't come back, even if you refresh the screen.
• If more than one screen has the Kitchen Display open at the same time, each one independently watches for new orders — for stations set up to auto-print, this means a ticket could print once per open screen. It's best to keep only one Kitchen Display screen open per print station setup.
• The printer assignment for each station is managed on a separate Configuration screen — this is where a manager decides which stations show on screen and which print automatically, and multiple stations can share the same printer.

FAQ

Q: What are the three columns for?
A: Queue is everything waiting to be started, In Progress is what's currently being cooked, and Ready is what's finished and waiting to be picked up or served.

Q: How do I move an item to the next stage?
A: Tap the forward button on the card, or drag it into the next column. Some cards may ask you to confirm who's cooking before moving to In Progress, if cook check-in is turned on.

Q: What happens when I mark an item as delivered?
A: The item is marked as handed over to the customer and removed from the board — this is the last step, so only use it once the item has actually left the kitchen.

Q: Why don't some items show up on the kitchen screen at all?
A: Either the item wasn't assigned to a prep station (so it's treated as ready immediately), or its station is set up to print tickets automatically instead of appearing on screen — check with a manager if you're not sure which stations print.

Q: Can I see who's cooking an item?
A: Yes, if cook check-in is enabled. Checked-in cooks can be assigned to an item when it's started, and their name shows on the card.

Q: Can I send an item back if it was started by mistake?
A: Yes, every card has a back button to move it to the previous stage. Sending an item all the way back to Queue asks for a short reason first.

Q: Does rejecting an item affect stock?
A: Yes, if your venue tracks inventory — its ingredients are put back on the shelf automatically, since the dish never left the kitchen. You don't need to do anything on the Inventory side; it happens the moment the item is rejected.

Q: If two people have the Kitchen Display open at once, will a ticket print twice?
A: For stations set up to print automatically, yes — each open screen watches for new orders independently, so it's best to only keep one Kitchen Display screen open where auto-printing is in use.

Q: I ordered a combo/set item — why do its parts show up as separate cards instead of one?
A: Each part of a combo is sent to its own prep station, so it needs its own card and its own progress — different parts are often cooked by different stations. Moving one part's card doesn't move the others; the combo is only fully done once every part has reached Ready.

Q: What does the small icon next to the table or pager number mean on an order card?
A: It's a quick visual cue instead of the word — a table icon means the order belongs to a dine-in table, and a pager icon means it's linked to a paging device. Hover over it to confirm which one it is.