Managing restaurants and organizing the operations are quite challenging if you are still using handwritten paper notes or printed tickets to process orders. We can understand how busy it will get in the kitchen and you could be missing out on a real opportunity. That is the reason Kitchen Display System (KDS) technology has been introduced to transform your back-of-house operations by displaying ticket times to keep track of turnaround, color-codes the orders to help staff see what’s cooking and what’s ready to go, and letting staff manage incoming orders more effectively.

A kitchen display system is a digital menu board for your kitchen staff. It gives a digital order viewer so that your paper tickets and kitchen printers can be replaced. Though, with this basic functionality, KDS does so much more!

You can control the routes of your orders with how recipes are prepared while monitoring the kitchen data. Most kitchen display systems are built into restaurant POS systems and offered at an additional fee for hardware and software. KDS performs the following major functionality:

• Orders route to the designated and right food preparation stations

• Manages time and organizes items, so dishes can be prepared and served at the right time without any delay

• Alerts kitchen staff if the orders have been in the queue for long

• Customization can be made as per your kitchen’s flow

• Is interactive, so the kitchen staff can bump dishes to different stations or mark when they are ready

• Enables front-of-house staff to see the status of dishes on the mobile POS and pick up orders as soon as they are ready. They can also use this information to share updates with customers.

KDS improves efficiency in the kitchen regardless your business is big or small. Here are eight reasons why you should consider introducing a KDS to your restaurant kitchen operation:

The chances of losing the order are very high if you are managing your kitchen operations on the kitchen printer. This common mistake can put your service in disarray. However, KDS eases the staff and manages the operation efficiently by automatically displaying new orders and sorting them into logical queues, the KDS ensures that staff always know exactly what’s going on, and no dish gets lost or left behind.

KDS displays the order coming directly from the POS which indicates what’s in the queue and for how long. The detail of the order for example asking for no mayo in the burger also shows on the KDS screen. In this way, unnecessary food waste can be avoided and also show and still ensure that the entire order arrives at the table simultaneously. The result is an organized operation where kitchen staff can see exactly what they need to do and when.

With a KDS there is no confusion in the kitchen operations. As orders are sent to the right workstations with the details. This will increase efficiency in the kitchen as well as in the staff as no shouted instructions are given or moving of a tiny piece of paper. The workflow is organized and synchronized properly.

The KDS breaks information down and communicates it clearly so staff can focus on what they need to make at that moment in time. And it also helps chefs keep track of modifications and know exactly what needs to be prepared for each menu item.

There is no excuse accepted by the customer if mistakes are made. There are likely to be more chances of error if instructions are written down on the notepad and communicated to the chef and staff through shouting or circulating tiny papers. A KDS takes misinterpretation and lost notes out of the equation. As information is updated in real-time from POS to KDS. Hence, both ends of the communication (waiter & kitchen staff) are updated.

Customers can bash instantly if the served food is cold. You cannot calm the customer with an apology thus you have to move swiftly as soon as the order items are ready. The KDS ensures that all orders per table are synchronized so that meals come out at the same time, at just the right temperature.

With a KDS, delays are reduced as orders are sent to the kitchen immediately.  Chances for miscommunication and error are minimized. You can organize orders by the seat to ensure there are no interruptions and no risk of giving a customer the wrong dish. This kind of attention to detail will also make your general service feel more polished and professional.

A KDS routes orders from the online ordering systems directly to the kitchen, without the need for staff members to manually enter information. If required, you can set the system so that online orders must be approved by a manager before they reach the kitchen. But the overall result is that online and takeaway orders are fully integrated into your kitchen operation without any extra effort. And in the kitchen, take-out orders can be clearly marked as such on the screens, to ensure that they are prepared and packed appropriately instead of, for example, being plated up.

Would your kitchen benefit from an improved flow and better organization? If you want to find out more about how you can take advantage of a KDS to streamline your restaurant operation and do away with error-prone manual processes, please get in touch with our team of experts.