Restaurant KDS: from paper tickets to a kitchen screen
Tickets piling up at the pass, a docket fallen behind the oven, a Deliveroo order nobody saw: here is what a kitchen display changes, and what to check before installing one.
By the Maxilog team · · · 7 min read
A KDS (Kitchen Display System), or kitchen screen, is a display that replaces paper tickets in the kitchen. Every order appears on it as soon as it is confirmed, whatever the channel: till, website, kiosk, waiter, Uber Eats or Deliveroo. The team moves it along with one gesture, and the oldest order always stays the most visible.
Why move from paper tickets to a kitchen screen?
Because paper says nothing about waiting time. A ticket printed at 8:05 pm looks just like the one from 8:25 pm; it gets lost or stained, and the roll runs out mid-service. On a screen, orders line up by status and by arrival time, and a late order changes colour.
Paper also has a less visible cost: kitchen tickets are printed on thermal paper that gets handled all evening. In the EU, bisphenol A above 0.02% has been banned in thermal paper since 2 January 2020 (Regulation (EU) 2016/2235, Actu-Environnement, in French). Fewer tickets also means fewer rolls to buy and handle.
A kitchen screen does not mean throwing the printers out: with Maxilog, both can run side by side, and a ticket can be reprinted from the screen.
Which orders reach the kitchen screen?
All of them, as soon as they are accepted. The Maxilog kitchen display brings together, on one board, orders from the counter, the online ordering site, the app, the kiosk, the waiter handheld, QR code table ordering, the phone, Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
For the kitchen they look alike: same layout, same way of moving them along. What sets them apart is shown when it matters:
- an Uber Eats or Deliveroo badge for the platforms, and an AI phone badge for an order taken by the voice assistant;
- the service type: delivery, pickup or dine-in;
- the waiter’s name for an order taken on the floor, the terminal’s name for a till or kiosk sale, otherwise the customer’s name.
To connect the platforms to the till and the screen, our article on centralising Uber Eats and Deliveroo orders covers the setup. If you are changing tills at the same time, our restaurant POS software comparison sets the main systems side by side.
How does the screen bring the most urgent order forward?
Through order and colour. Orders sit in columns (new, in the kitchen, ready, then done) and, within each column, from oldest to newest. Each ticket shows the time it was sent to the kitchen.
- Amber once the order has waited 15 minutes, red and pulsing at 20 minutes. Those are the defaults: each restaurant sets its own thresholds in the admin.
- A scheduled order only starts counting from its time slot, not from when it was placed.
- In the ready column, a badge shows how long the order has been waiting to be collected, and turns red after 10 minutes by default.
A ticket moves forward when you drag it to the next column, or from its detail view. As an option, the kitchen can also mark dishes one by one instead of the whole ticket. A sound announces every new order.
Do you need one screen per kitchen station?
No, one screen is enough to start: by default, it shows everything. When the kitchen works in stations (pizza, grill, desserts, assembly), the station routing option sends each item to its own station, based on its category or on the product itself. Each screen then shows only what concerns it, and a default station picks up anything not assigned.
The same stations drive the kitchen printers, so an item goes to the same place on paper and on screen. Several screens can follow the same station, for example at the pass and at the oven.
How does the kitchen screen handle table service?
By courses. On the floor, the waiter takes the order on the handheld or at the till; the dishes stay on hold on their side until they send them. When the table is ready for the next course, they select the dishes and send them to the kitchen. Each send arrives as a separate, numbered ticket (course 1, course 2…), so the kitchen fires each course at the right moment.
Once a course is ready, the screen shows whether a waiter has picked it up, and the marker turns amber then red if plates are waiting at the pass. For the dining room itself, the Maxilog for restaurants page covers the floor plan and bills by table.
What stands out on a ticket?
- Modified options: a “Modified” badge on the ticket and a mark on each line concerned.
- Notes: instructions for a dish show in red; the order note is visible in the ticket detail.
- A waiting courier: when an Uber Eats or Deliveroo courier has arrived, a red “Courier on site” badge shows how many minutes they have been waiting.
- The pager: when the customer is handed a pager, its number is on the ticket.
Worth knowing: allergens are highlighted on the printed kitchen ticket, not yet with a dedicated marker on screen.
What happens if the network goes down?
The screen keeps the tickets it has already received and keeps showing them. A red banner tells the team the screen is running locally and that no new order will arrive until the connection is back, and a sound signals the outage.
Meanwhile, the kitchen can keep moving the tickets on screen. Each change is queued on the device, marked “not synced”, then sent in order as soon as the network returns, with a progress bar. Reprints requested during the outage wait their turn too.
How does the front of house know an order is ready?
With the order status board, placed where customers can see it. It shows two columns, “Preparing” and “Ready”, with order numbers. Nobody updates it: when the kitchen moves a ticket along, the number changes column by itself.
The board can beep, or announce out loud “Order number 44 is ready”. If the connection drops, it says so full-screen rather than showing stale statuses. The counter no longer has to answer “is 44 ready?”.
What hardware does a KDS need?
- A touch screen at the pass or the station: the Maxilog kitchen display runs in a browser, as an Android app or as a Windows app.
- A screen or TV in the dining area for the status board, which runs in a browser.
- Your kitchen printers, if you want to keep paper alongside.
Each screen pairs with the restaurant using an eight-character code, then the team member signs in with their PIN. Bump bars (physical button boxes) are not supported today: everything is done by touch.
The easiest way to judge is to watch your own menu reach the kitchen from the till, the website and a platform at the same time. Book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is a KDS in a restaurant?
A KDS (Kitchen Display System) is a kitchen screen that replaces paper tickets. Orders from every channel appear on it as soon as they are confirmed, sorted by status and arrival time, and change colour when they wait too long.
Does a kitchen screen work without the internet?
Partly. The Maxilog kitchen display keeps the tickets it has already received and lets the team move them along; those changes sync when the network returns. New orders, however, only arrive once the connection is back, and a banner says so.
Can you keep printers with a KDS?
Yes. With Maxilog, kitchen printers and screens use the same stations, so an item goes to the same place on paper and on screen. A ticket can also be reprinted from the screen.