About Kitchen Display System 2.0
The Kitchen Display System (KDS) is an order manager that displays customer orders on a screen so they can be made by a kitchen, bar, or other production site. You'll need to assign a dedicated POS to be the hub to direct orders to their appropriate station. This hub receives all of the orders from any number of your business's POS and creates secure websites to display those orders for each service station, as needed. You can set all orders to go to a single screen or you can configure multiple KDS displays each with its own name, such as “Grill”, “Cold Service” or “Bar”. Items can be flagged via their accounting groups for a specific KDS, so you might send the order for a cheeseburger to the "Grill" while the order for a cocktail goes to the "Bar".
Once orders appear on a KDS screen, the operator can flag orders as they are started and when they are ready. Orders can be held, canceled, or have their priority changed.
The KDS is designed to create a live and interactive picture of what is needed and what is happening in your restaurant.
Preparing for KDS 2.0
To start, you'll need to enable KDS 2.0 on your account. Contact your Sales Account Manager for more details. Once it's been enabled, you’ll assign a dedicated POS to be the central hub for KDS orders and configure your Back Office settings. Ensure you have the latest versions of the OS and POS installed. Finally, assign a tablet or any screen with a browser to act as the KDS screen.
The POS assigned to be the hub for the KDS must always remain on for the system to function. Please keep it charged or plugged in at all times.
KDS 2.0 supports the two most recent versions of iOS, Android, and Windows.
Configuring your dedicated POS hub
- Go to Settings > Kitchen Management System
- Tap Check for updates to verify you're running the latest version. If there's an update available, then update to the latest version.
(If "Kitchen Management System" is not visible, that means it's not enabled for your account. Contact your Sales Account Manager to add it to your account.)
Assigning a Static IP to your POS hub
It is important that the POS hub does not lose its data connection with the KDS screens. To prevent any network changes from affecting the hub's connection, you will need to set a Static IP address to the iOS device assigned to be your hub.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Wi-Fi.
- Tap the name of your Wifi Network to open the menu for that connection.
- Under IPV4 Address take note of the current IP Address.
Use the values you find on your device, not the ones from this sample screenshot.
- From IPv4 Address, navigate to Configure IP > Manual.
- Enter your IP Address as noted.
- Set the “Subnet Mask” to 255.255.0.0
- Set the Router to the same IP Address, except change the final number to 1.
- Tap Save in the top right corner.
Understanding Kitchen management settings
- IP Address: The IP address of your POS and the address you will need for your KDS screens.
- Current version: The current version of KDS running on the POS. Tap Check for updates to see if there is a more recent version available.
- Connection Code: The four digit security code each KDS screen needs to authenticate its connection.
- Connected Devices: The list of devices that have been or are currently connected to this Hub.
Configuring the Back Office settings
Items will not appear on a KDS if they have not been assigned to a production center via their accounting groups.
Each screen in KDS displays order items from one or more production centers, which need to be added in the Back Office before configuring the screen. In a restaurant with multiple screens or production centers, items can be directed to a specific location by editing each item's accounting group and assigning it to a production center.
Adding production centers
To add a production center in the Back Office:
- Go to Configuration > Printing > Production centers
- Click Add production center.
- Enter a Name.
- [Optional] Fill in the form to customize the production center. For a list of settings and descriptions of what they do, see Production center settings. The default settings other than Name are sufficient for the KDS.
- Select Save to add the production center to the Back Office.
Configuring items for production centers
In the Back Office, you can configure your ordered items to be routed to the proper production centers and KDS screens. Use accounting groups to efficiently assign production centers to groups of items at a time.
- Go to Menu Management > Accounting Groups.
- If you are creating a new group, click Add an accounting group. If you wish to edit an existing group, click Edit under the Actions column.
- In the Production center section, each KDS screen name is listed. Select the production centers that apply to the items in this accounting group.
- [Optional] If you want the item to appear on a second KDS screen, you can add a Secondary production center to the group.
- Repeat the configuration process for each accounting group to direct them to the correct KDS screen(s).
Configuring the KDS Screen
To avoid connection interruptions, use a wired connection rather than relying on WiFi.
Each KDS screen needs to be configured before it can start receiving and displaying orders.
- Go to the IP address as listed on your POS in the browser. Note the Connection code (also called the Verification code).
- Connect the KDS screen to the Hub by putting the IP Address in the browser address bar. (e.g. If the IP Address listed in the KDS is "10.0.1.24", then put that in the browser as though it were a website to go to the KDS.)
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To authenticate the screen, enter the connection code you noted earlier. Click Connect to confirm the code.
- If this is your first station, you'll be taken to a splash page. Click Create a new station.
- Enter a unique name for this KDS screen, with a maximum of 25 characters. This name can be anything because it's not related to the Production center name and is only used to identify the screen on the POS Hub. Click Save and continue.
- Select which items you wish to have routed to this station. As an example, you might want All items to go here if this is your only station. To select all items displayed, check the box next to Items. Or you might want the Menu categories > Alcohol items to go to this station if it's for a bar area. Click Add [number] items to station to proceed.
- Select which information you wish to have displayed on each ticket. Toggle on or off the following options: Customer, Order ID, Number of Customers, Server, Type, Floor, Order Source, Pickup Time. Changes made are reflected live in the sample ticket. Click Save and continue once you've finished configuring the ticket.
- You can deactivate two of the Order Status options if your workflow doesn't use them: New (received order awaiting preparation) and Ready to collect (Cooked items ready to be served). Click the Deactivate button on the Order Status you wish to remove. You can reactivate your choices if you change your mind by clicking on Activate. Click Save and continue when you're done.
- Select one or more of the production centers configured in the Back Office for this KDS screen. Multiple screens can be assigned to any Production center.
Once you've finished setting up your KDS, you're ready to start receiving and displaying orders on your screen.
Using and customizing KDS 2.0
Learn more about how to set up KDS 2.0 for your needs to get the most out of it.
Using KDS 2.0