Order type at a glance on the kitchen screen: how a kitchen display system works.

Every order on the kitchen screen now shows clearly, even from a distance, where it is going: to a table, in a parcel, with a rider, or to a car. This video places each kind of order and follows it to the kitchen.

Before, each card had a thin coloured stripe on its left edge and, under the token number, a small light-coloured label: Dine-in, Takeaway, Delivery. That is fine up close.

But in a kitchen the TV is on the wall, two or three metres from the cook, and from there the label can't be read. And for a cook who doesn't see colours well, all four stripes look almost the same grey.

Now every card has a chip at the top right: a white icon on a coloured tile, the order type in big letters beside it, and the table number below.

Four types, four icons. Plate and cutlery: Dine-in. Bag: Takeaway. Scooter: Delivery. Car: Drive-in. Take the colour away and the shape of the icon alone tells you which order is which.

The token number is still the biggest thing on the card, and the stripe on the left stays too.

Press + New Order at the top and the counter's order screen opens. Type Dine-in, the customer's phone number, and table T03 from the floor plan. Then the items from search, here Paneer Tikka, Butter Naan and Jeera Rice. Place order.

The order is placed with its token number at the top. Open the left menu and go to Kitchen (KDS). On the new card, the token number is biggest, on the left. On the right is the new chip: plate and cutlery on a blue tile, Dine-in, and a large T03 below it. One look at the icon tells the cook this goes plated to table 3.

WhereOrders → + New Order → Dine-in → table; then left menu → Kitchen (KDS)

+ New Order again, and this time Takeaway as the type. There's no table to pick; the menu opens straight away. Phone number, then two Veg Burgers and Peri Peri Fries from search. Place order.

On the kitchen screen the second card has a bag on a teal tile: Takeaway. There's no table number below it, because this parcel goes out from the counter. The stripe on the card's left edge is the same teal. And at the top of the board, next to Active, you now see one plate and one bag.

WhereOrders → + New Order → Takeaway

+ New Order, type Delivery. Enter the phone number, then the delivery address below: street and locality. Set Address & Continue, and the menu opens. Items: Veg Biryani and Boondi Raita. Place order.

On the kitchen screen: a scooter on a purple tile, Delivery, meaning a rider will take this order. The board now has three cards, each recognisable at a glance: plate, bag and scooter.

WhereOrders → + New Order → Delivery → Set Address & Continue

Drive-in appears in restaurants where drive-in is switched on: the customer orders sitting in their car. On New Order the type now has a fourth tile, Drive-in. Instead of a table, enter the last four digits of the car number, here 4521. Phone number, then Veg Sandwich and Fresh Lime Soda. Place order.

On the kitchen screen: a car icon on a yellow-orange tile, Drive-in, and the same four digits, 4521, below. The runner isn't looking for a table but a car, and its number is right there. The count at the top now includes a car too.

WhereOrders → + New Order → Drive-in → car number

An everyday case: the family at table T05 will eat here, Margherita Pizza and White Sauce Pasta, but two Cold Coffees are going home. In the order summary, press the box button on the Cold Coffee line and it is marked Pack. The other two items still go to the table. Place order.

On the kitchen screen the card is still Dine-in, T05, but the corner of the plate tile has a small teal bag: part of this order goes in a parcel. Inside the card are two parts: Serve at table, with the plate icon, and Pack to-go, with the bag icon. The packed line has a thin teal line on its left, so whoever packs spots it quickly.

WhereNew Order → order summary line → box (Pack) button

What if a guest at a table has the whole order packed? Dine-in again, table T06: Hakka Noodles and Chilli Potato from search. In the order summary press Pack on both lines. Place order.

For the kitchen this is a full parcel, so this card shows no plate: just the Takeaway bag and the teal stripe. The kitchen sees exactly what it has to cook and pack.

At the very top of the board: six active, and next to it each type's own count: plate 1, bag 3, scooter 1, car 1.

Why three bags? One takeaway going out from the counter, one fully packed table order, and the T05 order too, because it has a parcel in it. In a rush, one glance tells you how many plates, parcels, rider orders and cars are due.

The screen that stays open all day on the kitchen TV or tablet, at /kds/ followed by your restaurant's name, shows the same cards, the same chip and the same count at the top. No left menu, nothing else: just the kitchen board.

Seen from a distance, as on a wall TV, small text blurs but the coloured tiles and icons stay clear. Even with the colour removed completely, plate, bag, scooter and car still look different.

Wherever the order comes from, the counter, the waiter app, QR or the kiosk, the chip comes from the order's type. There's no setting to change: it's on by itself on every kitchen screen. Just open Kitchen (KDS).