The Benefits of Kitchen Display Systems & Integrated POS
Kitchen display systems (KDS) integrated with POS solutions improve busy restaurant kitchens by eliminating lost paper orders, organizing dishes by station with color-coding, monitoring preparation times, enabling quality control through expeditor screens, enhancing customer communication in quick service restaurants, and personalizing dining experiences by sharing customer data like allergies and preferences between front and back of house.
Paper gets lost. Orders get missed. Options and modifiers are overlooked due to the busy nature of the kitchen line.
Issues with order prep and delivery are inevitable when you’re running a busy quick service or table service kitchen. With many kitchens understaffed as well, tensions can run high as staff works tirelessly to get orders to the table.
As FSR Magazine reported, “The ideal technology to round out a restaurant’s data is a powerful kitchen display system (KDS), which helps kitchen staff organize orders, troubleshoot back-of-house issues, and streamline operations.”
How do kitchen display systems help drive results?
- 1.No more lost paper chits. Paper is easy to lose, easy to miss, and leads to added waste.
- 2.Monitor the time spent on each dish. By learning more about your order times, you can evaluate areas of improvement and strive to get meals out more quickly.
- 3.Separate orders by station via a screen for a more organized kitchen. Send grill items to the grill screen, and salads to the salad station. The KDS will reduce confusion by allowing team members to focus on what matters most to them and their station.
- 4.Implement an expeditor screen. You can have a designated chef or expeditor who reviews the order as a whole to improve quality control.
- 5.For QSRs, use KDS to show customers when their orders are ready or send them text messages upon preparation.
- 6.Use color-coding to help organize menu items and display items that are newly inputted, in progress, and completed.
- 7.Deliver more personalized dining experiences by implementing customer profiles from the POS to the KDS. Data that can flow from your POS to the screen includes customer name, allergy or dietary preferences, and more – helping reduce the disconnect between serving staff and kitchen staff.
What is a kitchen display system (KDS) and how does it work?
Kitchen display screens are visual representations of the orders that flow into the POS solution. They receive orders from the POS the same way printers do but provide a wealth of information about items, courses, sides, and more. With a KDS, you can use colors to indicate order times, such as green if the order is new, yellow as the order is being prepared, and red as the order is due or overdue for being delivered based on the times you have programmed into the system.
Kitchen display systems are typically hard-wired and there are varying screen sizes available. 10”, 15”, and larger screens are supported with KDS, so you can truly pick the sizes that best accommodate your kitchen. They can be programmed similarly to printers, based on stations such as appetizers, mains, desserts, or other stations you may be supporting.
The process with screens is very similar:
- Order rung in on POS
- Order displayed on designated screen
- Order bumped by staff when complete
Kitchen display systems can also be programmed to contain recipe information and pictures, allow for more detailed analytics about order times, and can support both bump bars and touch screens to bump orders upon completion. Expo screens can also be used by chefs and expeditors to compile and prepare a full table’s order with each meal arranged to be delivered to its designated seat.
Volanté utilizes KDS integrated into the POS to help partners across food service management, healthcare dining, senior living, stadiums, and higher education to deliver better dining experiences. Contact Volanté to discuss how KDS can help your kitchen run more efficiently.
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