The kitchen screen (KDS): how a kitchen display system works.

This deep-dive series follows one real story per part and stops at every button. Anything that doesn't click the first time is explained again with a second example.

Part 4 is the kitchen screen, the KDS: how an order reaches the kitchen, how the screen reads it aloud to the chef, how the chef finishes it by voice without touching anything, and how kitchen slips print.

Friday night, dinner rush. Three people in the kitchen: one on burgers and pasta, one on the fryer, one packing. Before, paper slips ran the kitchen: a slip fell, an item was forgotten, and nobody knew how long a table had been waiting.

This guide follows one family's order, table T04, four people, from the moment it reaches the kitchen to the moment it leaves.

Open Kitchen KDS in the left menu. This is the screen that stays open all day on a TV on the kitchen wall or a tablet on the counter. Right now three orders are running on the board.

The green dot at the top means the screen is live: new orders arrive by themselves, no refresh needed. Next to it are the counts: how many orders are active, and how many are urgent. Urgent means an order that has been in the kitchen for more than 20 minutes and still isn't done.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu)

Every order has a card. A small strip on the card says where the food is going: Dine-in with the table number, Takeaway (a parcel), or Delivery. The colour of the card's left edge says the same, so a chef standing at a distance knows at a glance.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card

Table T04's order is punched at the counter. The same moment there's a beep and a new card on the board. Nobody has to run a slip to the kitchen.

Whether the order comes from the counter, a waiter's phone, a table QR, the kiosk or the website, it all arrives on this one board.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu)

Look closely at the card. At the top is the big token number; this is the number called out in the kitchen. Below it are the full order number and the table strip.

On the right is a clock showing how long the order has been in the kitchen, ticking every second. Below that, how many items out of the total are ready: 0 of 4 right now.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card

Below are the items in large letters, with the quantity in front. 2 Maharaja Burger, with the add-on the guest chose underneath, Add Cheese Slice, and the guest's note, Less spicy. The fries show their size, Medium.

These are this restaurant's menu items; your own items, add-ons and sizes show in exactly the same way.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card

At the very top, in the orange part, are the order notes. This note is on the whole order, not on one item. The waiter wrote: kids at the table, send the fries first. On a paper slip such a note got lost in a corner; here it sits above every item.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Order notes

The family had both chocolate shakes packed to take home. So the card split itself into two parts: Serve at table, what goes on a plate to the table, and Pack to-go, what goes in a box. The packer only looks at the lower part.

Each part has its own Mark section ready button, which comes in handy later.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card

Now something a paper slip can never do. The chef's hands are in oil and spices; they can't come to the screen and read. At the bottom of the card is the Listen button. Press it and the screen reads the order out.

First the order note, then every item: quantity, name, add-ons and the guest's note. On a dine-in order the table number isn't read out, since it's written on the screen. But a parcel must be recognised so the food goes in a box, not on a plate, so on a takeaway card the reading makes that clear.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Listen

Every item also has its own small speaker. The fryer cook doesn't need the whole order, only the fries. Press the speaker on the fries line and only that dish is read.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → speaker on an item line

That voice was in Hindi. Does someone in your kitchen find English easier? Press the gear at the top and set Read-aloud language to English.

This setting is for this screen only: the bar screen can read in English and the tandoor screen in Hindi, both at the same time.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → Read-aloud language

Cooking starts. As the note says, fries first. When the fries are done, the fryer cook ticks that line. The line changes colour and the count at the top reads 1 of 4 ready.

A small message also appears: no printer is set up on this kitchen screen. That's because one more switch is on in this restaurant, covered in the next section.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → tick an item

As soon as an item is ready, a small slip prints for it: the item slip. If a thermal printer is connected to the kitchen screen, it comes out as you tick. Under the restaurant's name is the big token, then the order number, Dine-in and the table, and in the middle the item's name and size.

The slip goes with the plate, so whoever serves it doesn't go to the wrong table.

An item ticked by mistake? The pasta isn't made yet but got a tick, and the count went to 2 of 4. Tap the same line again: the pasta is back among the items to make, and the count is back to 1 of 4.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → tap the ticked line again

A very useful detail. The chef presses Listen again, and the fries aren't read out. The screen doesn't repeat what's already made, only what is still left to cook.

In a rush, when you need to hear a half-done order again and again, that's exactly what you want.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Listen

Now packing. Both chocolate shakes are made. Tick the shake line in the Pack to-go part. The pack part is complete, and the count is 2 of 4.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Pack to-go

And the slips? Two shakes, so two slips, one for each. They say Unit 1 of 2 and Unit 2 of 2, and at the top in large letters, PACK TO-GO. The packer sticks one slip on each box, and no box goes into the wrong bag.

Now over to the counter. Many restaurants run paper slips alongside the screen: the KOT, kitchen order ticket. Go to All Orders at the top. Here's T04's tile, with a KOT button. The orange dot means this order's items haven't been printed on any slip yet. Press it.

WhereAll Orders (top) → order tile → KOT

This laptop has no printer connected, so the system asks: make a PDF? Yes. Here's KOT number 1. At the top, the order number and the table. Then every item with its quantity, with Serve at table and Pack to-go in separate parts, and the same order note at the bottom.

In a restaurant with a printer connected, it comes straight out of the kitchen printer.

WhereAll Orders → order tile → KOT

Midway through the meal the kids ask for a Coke. On the same tile, press Add. Type Coke in search and tap it. At the top right are the items already ordered, and this time the button at the bottom says Add & Print KOT.

WhereAll Orders → order tile → Add → Add & Print KOT

Same question: yes, PDF. The new slip is the Add-on KOT, number 2. It has only the Coke. The earlier items aren't printed again; otherwise the kitchen would think the whole order needs making again.

Back to the kitchen screen: Kitchen KDS from the left menu. Notice that no new card was made. The Coke joined the same T04 card with a New tag, so the chef knows it has just arrived. The count changed too: 2 of 5 ready.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu)

Now the colours. The background of each line on the card shows how long that item has been cooking. Just arrived: light green. A while: yellow. Far too long: light red, and the line slowly starts to glow so eyes go there.

You decide at how many minutes a line turns yellow and red; this restaurant uses 48 and 70 minutes. The Urgent count at the top is separate: it always counts at 20 minutes.

To show it, shorten them. The gear, then Aging colours at the bottom. Turns yellow after: 2 minutes. Turns red after: 5 minutes. Save.

Now look at the board. Orders that have been there a while have red lines. T04's burger and pasta are past 5 minutes, so they are red too. But the Coke on the same card, just added, is still green. Every item runs on its own clock.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → Aging colours

Set the minutes for your kitchen's speed. Burgers and pizza are fast food, so perhaps 10 and 15 minutes. A big dal and tandoor kitchen takes longer, so 20 and 30.

Above them is Colour strength: how deep the colour looks, so it stays clear even in a brightly lit kitchen. Set it to zero and the colours are off. These three settings apply to every kitchen screen in the restaurant.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → Aging colours → Colour strength

Back on T04, the colours are on this restaurant's own minutes again. The burger, pasta and Coke are made. Instead of ticking them one by one, press Mark section ready in the Serve at table part, and the whole part is ready at once. At the top: 5 of 5, and in place of the clock, All Ready.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Mark section ready

The bottom button has changed to Bump, Order Sent, meaning the food is on the pass. Press it and the card leaves the board, so the board only holds what is still to cook.

This button is there because Auto-clear is off in this restaurant. With it on, the card would leave by itself on the last tick.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Bump — Order Sent

Someone bumped an order by mistake while the shakes hadn't reached the counter yet? Open Recalled Orders at the bottom; bumped orders are listed there. Press Recall to Kitchen on T04 and the card is back on the board as it was. Once everything is fine, bump it again.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → Recalled Orders (bottom) → Recall to Kitchen

Now from the counter's side: All Orders. T04's tile has a new button, Served, because the kitchen has made the order ready. The waiter takes the plates, presses Served, and next come the payment and the bill. The kitchen's job is done.

WhereAll Orders → order tile → Served

The kitchen's most fun feature: voice control. The chef doesn't need to touch the screen at all. Three steps. One: say Oye Chotu; the screen beeps and starts listening. Two: say the token number, for example order six is done; there is no need to say the leading zeros. Three: the screen waits 10 seconds, then marks the whole order ready.

Within those 10 seconds, saying ruko, cancel, nahi or galat (stop, cancel, no, wrong) changes nothing. If the screen's language is English, speak English: Oye Chotu, order six is done.

Open the gear and turn on the Voice control switch. The screen starts listening through the microphone. The first time, the browser asks for microphone permission; allow it.

A strip appears at the top: say Oye Chotu. Its right corner shows what the screen just heard.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → Voice control

Say T02's pizza puffs are ready and the chef is holding tongs. They just speak.

On hearing Oye Chotu the screen beeped and listened. The chef said only the token number, six. The screen highlighted that card, ran a 10-second countdown, and then marked the whole order ready, just as pressing Mark All Ready would.

What if the wrong number is said? That's what the 10 seconds are for. The chef says ruko (stop) and the screen replies Cancelled. The delivery order stays exactly as it was.

If your hands are free, you can also press the Cancel button on the card during the countdown.

WhereKitchen KDS → order card → Cancel (during the countdown)

And a number that isn't on the board at all? The screen says plainly: order 90 not found. No other card is touched.

Finally, T02's card shows All Ready. Bump, and it leaves the board too.

A switch that changes how the whole kitchen works. In the gear, under All KDS screens: Auto-accept new orders. It's on in this restaurant: an order starts cooking as soon as it arrives and nobody has to press Accept.

But some kitchens want the chef to see and approve every order. For that, turn it off.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → All KDS screens → Auto-accept new orders

A takeaway order arrives. The screen keeps ringing until someone pays attention. There's a red dot on the gear and an Accept Order button under the card. The chef looks at the order and presses it: the ringing stops and the order goes into cooking.

This suits a kitchen with a single chef who wants to see every order first. This restaurant is busy, so auto-accept goes back on.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → order card → Accept Order

The rest of the gear. At the top, This device only: these settings apply to this screen alone. Board zoom: press minus for smaller cards and more orders at once, plus to make them big again, readable from a distance.

Below, Sound alerts: Off; Once, one beep for each new order; or Continuous, which you just heard, ringing until someone accepts.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → This device only

Below is All KDS screens: these settings apply to every kitchen screen in the restaurant together, and only someone with the KDS settings permission can change them. Auto-accept you have seen.

Auto-clear: the card leaves by itself once every item is ticked, or stays until Bump is pressed. And Content text size: how large item names appear. This restaurant uses the largest, XL.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → All KDS screens

Next, On-device printer, Set up. Here you connect a printer to this kitchen screen. At the top is the thermal receipt printer: USB, which works in the kitchen Android app, or LAN, where you enter its IP address on the network; and the paper width, 58 or 80 mm.

Below is the label printer, a TSC printer that takes sticky labels: its IP address, and the label's width, height and gap.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → On-device printer → Set up

Last, where item slips print: on the receipt printer, the slip seen earlier, or on the label printer. With the label printer, a small sticker comes out for each unit: the token, which unit, and the item's name. Stick it straight on the box or cup.

If you pack a lot, stickers are the cleanest way.

WhereKitchen KDS → gear (top) → On-device printer → Item slips print to

Now a bigger kitchen. Say there are three counters: the grill for burgers, the fryer for fries and rolls, and a separate shake counter. Each counter has its own screen showing only its own work: these are stations. Give each menu category a station once, and all its items go there.

There is also a pass screen, the expo, which shows the whole order and which station is ready and which isn't. An item with no station also shows on the expo, so nothing is missed.

In the left menu, Menu Management, then Kitchen Stations. There are no stations yet, and the page says so: with no stations, the whole kitchen runs on one screen. That's right for a small kitchen. To split the line, press Add your first station.

WhereMenu Management (left menu) → Kitchen Stations

Name: Grill. Below, Chip colour, which becomes this station's identity on the kitchen screen. Next to it a printer ID, if this station has its own printer. Create Station. Fryer and Shakes are made the same way.

WhereMenu Management (left menu) → Kitchen Stations → Add station

One last station: the pass, where plates go out. This time turn on the Expo / Pass board switch below. Only one such station can exist in the whole restaurant. Create.

WhereMenu Management (left menu) → Kitchen Stations → Add station → Expo / Pass board

Now set the routes. Below is Assign categories to station. Tick Burgers, Wraps and Sandwiches, choose Grill next to them, and Apply. It confirms: three categories on Grill. Fries, Rolls and Momos go to Fryer, and Shakes and Ice cream to Shakes, the same way. Pasta isn't given to any station here.

Keep in mind: stations apply to new orders. Orders already in the kitchen keep running as they were.

WhereMenu Management (left menu) → Kitchen Stations → Assign categories to station

Now the kitchen screen, and a new takeaway order arrives: fries, burger, shake and pasta. There is a new strip at the top, This screen: All, Grill, Fryer, Shakes and Expo.

On the fryer's screen choose Fryer: now only the fries from this order show, and the count is only for this station. Fries done: tick. Choose Grill: only the burger here.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → This screen

And Expo, the pass screen. Here the card has the whole order, with a stations strip on top. Fryer is green, its work done; Grill and Shakes are still pending. And see Unassigned: the pasta had no station, so it came here and wasn't missed.

When everything is green, the pass puts the whole order together and sends it out.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → This screen → Expo

Is your kitchen small? Don't make any stations: everything stays on one board, as seen so far. Choose All and every order shows in full.

You can create stations any time later, and if you delete a station, its items move back to the expo board, so nothing is lost.

WhereKitchen KDS (left menu) → This screen → All

Finally, the kitchen's own screen. On the kitchen TV or tablet, open the address /kds/ followed by your restaurant's name. No left menu, no bills, no reports: just the orders board. Kitchen staff logins are set up so that this is all they see.

One button goes full screen, and Sign out is in the corner. There is also an app for the kitchen's Android TV.

WhereOn the kitchen TV or tablet: /kds/ followed by your restaurant's name

Two switches are in Settings too. In the left menu, Settings, the Receipt & Print tab, and the Kitchen Display part: Print an item slip. This is the switch that made a slip print on every tick.

It's a restaurant-wide switch: when on, a slip prints on any kitchen screen that has a printer connected.

WhereSettings (left menu) → Receipt & Print → Kitchen Display → Print an item slip

And in the Notifications tab, the alert sound. Six sounds: Classic Ding, Chime, Ring, Marimba, Low Buzzer and Triple Beep. A noisy kitchen needs something loud, a quiet café something gentle. Each has a preview. This restaurant's sound is Triple Beep.

WhereSettings (left menu) → Notifications → alert sound

One full kitchen rush. T04's order arrived, the screen read it aloud, the fries came first, each shake got its own slip, a Coke was added midway, old items turned red, the chef finished an order by voice without touching anything, and for a big kitchen the line was split into stations.

The next deep dive covers the money, the whole day's accounts, the same way.