A kitchen display system, or KDS, shows order tickets on screens in the kitchen instead of printing them. Each item routes to the station that makes it, cooks bump a ticket when it is done, and a lead can recall one that went by mistake. Many kitchens keep a printer as a backup.
Terms
Ticket. One order as the kitchen sees it, with items, modifiers, the table or name and the time it arrived.
Station. A place where a certain kind of food is made, such as grill, fry, cold or pastry. Each station has its own screen or printer.
Expo. Short for expediter. The person at the pass who checks plates and calls them out. The expo screen can show every ticket.
Bump. Marking a ticket or an item done so it clears from the screen.
Recall. Bringing a bumped ticket back to the screen, with its original time.
Why stations matter
Without station routing, every cook sees every ticket and must find their own items. With it, the fry cook sees wings and fries, and the grill sees burgers. Tickets are shorter and mistakes drop. See station routing.
Setting one up
- List your stations as they work on the line today.
- Assign each menu item to the station that makes it. Items made at two stations go to both.
- Decide which screen is the pass.
- Choose timers: a color change after a set number of minutes.
- Test with fake tickets before service.
Bumping rules
Decide who bumps what. Some kitchens bump per item at each station and per ticket at the pass. Others bump per ticket only. Write the rule on the wall. An accidental bump is common in a rush, so make sure recall is easy.
Merge by table
When a table's dishes come from different stations, the pass needs one view of the whole table. A merge by table view groups items so the expo can send a table together. See merge by table.
Keep a backup
Screens fail. A printer set as a backup for a station takes over when its screen stops. See backup printer. During an internet outage, what the kitchen sees depends on whether the screens depend on the cloud. In Zorveta One that local path is the store hub.
Common mistakes
Too many stations make the line confusing. Timers set too tight turn the screen red all night, and cooks stop noticing. Too little training leads to bump-all behavior. Start simple and tune weekly.
See the kitchen display hub for what it covers.