kitchen display screens quotation

Kitchen display systems (KDS) are digital kitchen monitoring screens that display incoming orders in restaurant kitchens. KDS route orders from the point-of-sale (POS) system to the correct kitchen stations. An excellent kitchen display system streamlines kitchen communication, reduces human error, and monitors cook times for each dish. The best restaurant KDS systems show a dish’s ingredients at the touch of a button and text customers when orders are ready.

Most kitchen display systems are built into restaurant POS systems and offered at an additional fee for hardware and software. We examined each kitchen display system and its corresponding POS systems based on price, ease of use, and features to arrive at our top recommendations.

Toast POS is one of our top-rated cloud-based restaurant POS systems, and its KDS offering is likewise a top performer. Toast’s KDS is the most customizable system on this list. You canhighlight individual ingredients and common allergens. Plus, users can choose their font size and how information is arranged on order tickets. This system also sendstext messages to customers when their orders are ready, and alerts servers in the POS app when they have food waiting in the kitchen.

Toast’s KDS operates on industry-grade hardware built to withstand the steam, grease, and hot temperatures of a restaurant kitchen. Toast’s touch-screen KDS tablets are rated at IP-54 for resistance to dust, steam, and water droplets. Apple’s iPads, on the other hand, are not IP-rated at all. iPads can also struggle in temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

All-day count view “All day” is restaurant-speak for “total” or “altogether.” Cooks say “all day” to refer to the total number of an item they need to prepare to fill all open orders. As in “how many burgers all day?” Toast’s All-Day count screen shows your all-day counts at a glance, so your kitchen team is never second-guessing what orders they have on deck.

Automated order-ready messages You can set your Toast KDS to send automated messages when you mark an order as complete on the KDS. Send SMS text messages to customers who ordered online, letting them know their takeout order is ready. Or, send an in-POS alert to your server staff to let them know their table’s order is up. These alerts help keep your kitchen flowing smoothly and keep cooked food from dying in the window.

Epson integration Toast is one of the many POS systems that integrates with the Epson KDS system. If your kitchen prefers a bump bar configuration, you have the option via this integration.

Toast’s KDS software is currently offered at $25 per screen, per month. If you need multiple screens, however, Toast will likely work out a lower per-terminal price for you. To get the best pricing, reach out to the Toast sales team for a custom quote.

Revel Systems’ KDS offers several dynamic viewing options: Expedite, Expedite Tile, Kitchen Screen, Production View, and Order Display, so cooks and expeditors can choose their preferred view. Revel Systems also supports a customer-facing Order Ready screen to display orders by customer name to identify which orders are ready for pick up. Orders on this screen can be further color-coded to separate to-go, drive-thru, and curbside pickups, a massive timesaver for restaurants that rely on multiple third-party delivery platforms.

Like most systems on this list, Revel runs its KDS on iPads. But if you want more rugged hardware or a larger screen, you can opt for a ViewSonic VSD243 smart display instead. Like Toast, Revel users need to purchase their KDS hardware directly through Revel, even if they plan to use iPads. Revel does not support hardware that is purchased through third parties.

Drive-thru tools The Revel POS includes a detailed workflow for drive-thru restaurants it calls Drive Thru XT. This module condenses order and payment screens to reduce button presses and logs vehicle information to ensure the correct orders are given to the correct customers. You can also track drive-thru orders separately from in-house orders on the Revel KDS.

Epson’s KDS is afreestanding hardware solution that partners with several POS brands. Epson is well known for its workhorse receipt and kitchen printers. In addition to their standard printers, Epson also designs and manufactures printers that support a robust KDS system. With printer-driven, ethernet-connected screens, Epson’s KDS does not need an internet connection to work, making this system the best for offline functionality.

Because Epson’s KDS leverages the information routed to your kitchen printers, it functions as more of a hardware than a software solution. In most cases, the only cost to add an Epson KDS to a compatible POS system is the hardware cost. However, your POS provider may charge a separate software fee for adding the KDS integration—so be sure to ask.

KDS screen, wall mounting bracket, bump bar, KDS driver-enabled impact kitchen printerBump bar navigation panelPrices vary by resellerLinerless label printer with built-in KDS driver

Like Toast, Epson’s KDS operates on commercial-grade hardware. Epson monitors are rated IP-54, the exact same level of water and dust protection as Toast’s hardware. Commercial-grade hardware will likely function better than an iPad if your kitchen is particularly hot or steamy—like an Italian spot with a wood-burning oven and lots of boiling pasta water.

Epson’s KDS screens are driven by the printers they are attached to. You can print paper tickets on demand, or even linerless sticker labels—which are ideal for labeling takeout and delivery orders.

Like Lightspeed and Toast, Epson allows your staff to access recipe information directly from the KDS screen so there are never any mistakes from the kitchen. You just need to be sure to attach a recipe to each dish.

Fresh KDS earned a 3.32 out of 5 in our KDS evaluation. This system scored well for price—the seven-day free trial gave it a boost—and number of POS integrations. Advanced features like customer text messaging and an integrated order-ready display also earned points.

However, Fresh KDS could have scored higher if it offered recipe lookup tools (like Toast, Revel, and Epson) or had the ability to operate without an internet connection (like Toast, Revel, and Epson). Currently, like Lightspeed Kitchen and Square KDS, Fresh KDS needs a strong internet connection to function.

Like Revel, Fresh KDS includes an optional customer-facing order tracking screen. This is ideal for counter-service restaurants or those that do a high volume of takeout orders. When your kitchen marks a KDS ticket as completed, the order status on the tracking screen automatically updates to show customers their food is ready.

Fresh KDS offers three subscription tiers: Basic, Advanced, and Enterprise. Basic starts at $19 per month, Advanced comes in at $35 per month, and Enterprise requires a custom quote. Each subscription includes software for two KDS screens, though the system can support up to 10 screens at a single location.

Countertop iPad POS terminal with built-in card reader*Countertop or wall mounting bracket for iPad in Square Stand case*POS terminal with built-in card reader and customer-facing display

Every other KDS on this list processes voided items as separate tickets. These tickets will typically be marked with the same ticket or table number as the original ticket, but this can still lead to over-prepped food on a busy night. Square displays voided items in red directly on the original ticket. So, if table 25 cancels their soup order, your cooks will see it in real time.

Customizable views On each Square KDS, you can individually adjust the text size, the number of tickets displayed per page, and notification settings for new orders. This way, your cooks can view orders the way they prefer.

Free online ordering All of the systems on this list display online orders in the KDS. But Square for Restaurants is the only POS that includes a free online ordering site. In addition to receiving online orders directly in your KDS order stream, Square users have the comfort of knowing they aren’t paying any extra fees for those orders.

Lightspeed POS is a cloud-based POS that operates on iPads. Like the underlying POS, Lightspeed’s KDS module—called Lightspeed Kitchen—also runs on iPads. Pricing for Lightspeed Restaurant’s POS starts at $39 per month. The KDS software is an additional custom-quoted price. In the past, the KDS was available for just $12 per screen, per month.

Lightspeed Kitchen earned a 3.19 out of 5.00on our KDS ranking, putting it right on Square’s heels. It earned points for its recipe lookup “Show and Tell” functions and for its affordability. But Lightspeed Kitchen is not quite as customizable as Toast and Revel’s KDS (though restaurants looking for a simplified solution might prefer this).

Since Lightspeed Kitchen operates via a browser-hosted app, it needs an internet connection to work (unlike Toast, Revel, and Epson). Overall, however, the streamlined nature of Lightspeed Kitchen is excellent for keeping quick service restaurants and small, independent restaurants organized.

From the top left corner of the Lightspeed Kitchen screen, you can filter tickets by active, new, preparing, done, or archived status. Tickets can be moved from one order phase to the next with single or double taps.

Show and Tell function Lightspeed Kitchen’s KDS includes a Show and Tell function that shows a detailed image and item description on the KDS screen when a cook clicks on the menu item. This stops short of the recipe look-up function supported by Epson and Toast, but ensures your cooks are reminded how to plate a dish and review a list of its ingredients.

Lightspeed Kitchen is a paid add-on to the Lightspeed Restaurant POS. The software is offered at a custom-quoted price from Lightspeed. Contact their sales department for full pricing.

See why we recommend Lightspeed Restaurant for cafes and as the best available iPad POS for restaurants. Plus, explore Lightspeed Kitchen’s POS features in our full Lightspeed Restaurant review.

We compared 10 of the most popular kitchen monitoring systems based on the most frequently cited kitchen pain points. We weighed each KDS’s available hardware, offline functionality, ticket layout, and customization options. We also considered each system’s overall price. Based on these criteria, Toast emerged as the clear winner, with an overall score of 4.48 out of 5.00.

We prioritized tools that send automated text updates to customers when their orders are ready or support multiple hardware types. We also looked for kitchen monitoring systems that include recipe lookups and menu images at the click of a button.

We looked for systems that log preparation times and provide reports that measure your kitchen’s productivity. We also awarded points for KDS screens that work during an internet outage in offline mode.

Toast POS has our favorite KDS module. With options like text message notifications, customizable alerts, and kitchen-specific features like all-day counts, Toast’s KDS supports the widest range of restaurant styles. Combined with Toast’s excellent online ordering, delivery management, team management, and reporting functions, the Toast KDS creates a full spectrum restaurant management solution at a competitive price. Visit Toast for a demo, or to get started for free today.

The restaurant and service industries are fast-paced and demanding. Customer satisfaction depends on prompt service and accuracy with every order or purchase. How can switching to a touchscreen system benefit your kitchen, restaurant or retail outlet?

Easy to Learn – Restaurant and service industries are experiencing an all-time high in employee turnover. Having to constantly train new employees in a computer system that relies on a bulky keyboard and mouse wastes time and results in slower service. Touch screens are what today’s younger generation is used to, and they respond quickly to them. A touch screen monitor system is a huge selling point when hiring new staff for your kitchen or restaurant business.

Easy to Clean – When multiple staff members use the same computers, the germs and dirt can build up quickly. Properly cleaning and sanitizing a keyboard is almost impossible, and spills can wreck POS transactions or shut down a kitchen. Avoid problems by using easy-to-clean touchscreen monitors. Glass touch screens can be disinfected quickly and wiped clean with just a quick swipe of a damp cloth.

When we opened our restaurant last year we started with ShopKeep, but we outgrew it very quickly. We love how TouchBistro allows to manage the restaurant, all from an iPad. Our kitchen staff adore the TouchBistro Kitchen Display System for making their lives easier without any more lost paper chits and our servers love it because they can serve guests faster and they make less mistakes now.

Best practices for how to configure your Kitchen Display Screen so that each individual item fires on its own ticket. This is common for tapas restaurants.

The new KDS "Rush" feature allows the expediter to move the ticket to the far left of the Kitchen Display Screen, signaling to the kitchen that this is the next ticket to work on.

Kitchen Capacity Throttling helps ensure that POS and Online Ordering volumes do not exceed the kitchen"s ability to fulfill tickets on time during peak hours by staggering orders.

“The best thing about ConnectSmart Kitchen is its versatility. I’ve used the solution in full-service dining restaurants with 300-600 seats and fast-casual restaurants. The majority of the business comes from digital channels and off-premise dining. The product is so flexible that you can solve almost any operational situation you can imagine. I’ve used several other kitchen management products from major POS providers, and none can match ConnectSmart Kitchen.”

We’ve got great iconic kitchen vinyl wall art – from measuring cups and cutlery to roosters and apples – to fresh kitchen vinyl wall decals and kitchen wall decals that will fit any décor – modern or traditional. Remind your crew to pitch in with a funny kitchen quote for the wall or display a favorite family recipe with vinyl wall letters. Whatever your style, make your kitchen decor come alive with a kitchen wall quote decal just right for your space. Every kitchen wall decal is made with premium materials right here in the USA. They"re durable and waterproof - steam and heat won"t cause curling, buckling, or peeling. Add kitchen wall words and letters to any smooth space for instant style.

Our kitchen vinyl wall quotes are easy to apply; each kitchen decal comes with complete instructions and a free application tool. They are pre-spaced to make the process simple and straight-forward and most kitchen wall art decals can be applied in 5-10 minutes making them the perfect quick DIY project to take your kitchen decor to the next level. Bring a little charm to your kitchen space today with our removable wall quotes kitchen decals!

When you operate a busy restaurant, the kitchen can be chaotic. Using paper order slips is a thing of the past. There is a better way to manage orders in the kitchen.  A KDS system has all the features you need to keep your kitchen running smoothly. It is cost-effective and will improve efficiency in your restaurant. With the opportunity for multiple setups throughout the restaurant, orders are accessible from every station. Everyone in your restaurant from staff to customers will benefit.

KDS stands for kitchen display system.  They are an evolution in kitchen technology.  You can manage your kitchen easier with customizable displays, menus, and order screens. Manual input is error-prone, but with Adora’s KDS System, every order is accurate as put in by the customer. Our kitchen display system includes flat-screen monitors that display information in one or more locations in the kitchen. This is great for high-volume restaurants, so each station has its own screen. There are a variety of benefits including accuracy, efficiency, and improved customer service.

No more paper tickets or trying to read someone’s handwriting. Kitchen staff doesn’t need to wait for paper tickets to arrive and can begin prepping as soon as the order is input.

Staff can optimize workflow and be sure every order is accurate and on time. Staff can start prepping quicker, and with multiple displays, each station will have its own order screen. No more losing paper tickets or calling out orders.

With the ability to have multiple screens, each station can have its own screen: grill, fryer, and prep. This ensures better accuracy, and your kitchen will run smoother and more efficiently.

Each KDS System is customizable and easy to manage. Create custom screens and menus for patrons and staff. Orders can be modified easily, and staff can access customer information to ensure accuracy.

Our innovative system is easy to use. With multiple display stations throughout your restaurant, each order is automatically routed to the proper station.  Servers can easily access customer information and make order changes if necessary.  It will prioritize certain dishes or group orders to maximize efficiency and accuracy.

Installing a KDS system in your restaurant will improve order accuracy and efficiency. Your kitchen will run smoother, and each station can have its own order screen. This ensures that every member of the kitchen gets the right order by maximizing efficiency and optimizing workflow. No matter what kind of restaurant you run, everyone will benefit from a kitchen display system. It is beneficial for restaurants, bars, dark kitchens, and barista stations.

The dream of every restaurant owner, chef and manager is to have a successful kitchen, and by successful we mean profitable. After all, serving delicious meals to amazing customers won’t last long if the kitchen is not running like a well-oiled engine. This, perhaps, is the reason most restaurants fail within the first 3 years according to recent studies. This forces kitchens to constantly look for new and creative ideas, like kitchen display systems, to increase revenue, protect profitability, and offer customers the experience they expect in return for their loyalty.

Over the last two years technology designed for kitchens has helped hundreds of kitchens and thousands of individuals measure and manage food waste and therefore increase their food gross margins by 2-6 percent. Still, many restaurant owners don’t seem to realize that 30% of their business lies in their kitchen.

One of the most effective implementations of technology in a commercial kitchen is the Kitchen Display System or KDS for short. Digital display systems are helping businesses fine-tune their kitchen staff and protocols to protect their profits. They reduce wastes, improve overall experience and raise profitability at the same time.

The way a KDS achieves this is by tracking ticket times, so you can improve turnaround times. It also color-codes the orders to help staff see what’s cooking and what’s ready to go. For staff managers, this allows them to focus on incoming orders more effectively. All in all, a KDS can help minimize the day to day pressure of keeping track of all information needed to run a busy kitchen. It can save time, energy and labor while resulting in improved profitability.

We have interviewed experts on kitchen display systems for businesses ranging from large commercial kitchens to small restaurants, and they all had similar advice. The most important areas, according to experts, are integration/compatibility, price, ease of use, and reporting features.

KDS touchscreens are meant to be intuitive and easy to read, but not all are created equal. Closely compare how easy each system and interface are to use. Consult with your kitchen staff so they are able to offer you their feedback as well. If possible, take advantage of free trials. Allowing your staff to try the new system is an excellent way to land on the right choice.

Look at the reports you can pull and how easy it is to break them down. A KDS system can provide data on things like order fulfillment times and order accuracy. Many systems can also display order changes in real-time, without having to waste time, food, or receipt paper.

Do you want to know more about how a Kitchen Display system can help your business become more profitable? Request a free demo with a restaurant technology expert today.

Having a Kitchen Display System in your restaurant can significantly improve your operational efficiency and increase revenue for your business, improve customer service, reduce food waste, and even help with kitchen staff management.

If you record your orders digitally, you can accurately account for them. In addition, kitchen staff can quickly determine which tickets require their full attention.

As an added benefit, Kitchen Display Systems eliminate the need for servers to pass order tickets to the kitchen, thus speeding up service. Directing the orders to the relevant preparation points will ensure that the prepared food is sent to the right place because every second is precious.

It is even more beneficial for restaurants with complicated menus and multiple-course offerings to have a kitchen display system. In practice, the server or POS is responsible for timing the flow of food. A human error can naturally occur when this is performed manually over multiple tables. KDS simplifies the process of planning and implementing a multicourse meal by timing the event. KDS handles the rest of the order after the servers enter it into the POS.

A kitchen display system can help you run your kitchen more easily and efficiently. As a result, there would be fewer returns, frustrations, and arguments. Every appreciation will boost the morale of your team members since it confirms that they are providing extraordinary food and service to their customers.

The Kitchen Management System empowers the KDS at your restaurant facility. A kitchen management system understands your kitchen"s bottlenecks and accordingly manages resources. You can use the information extracted from your KDS to measure the average time your kitchen takes to deliver food. This insightful information helps you uncover your kitchen"s limitations or bottlenecks that you need to accept and improve upon while delivering quality food without sacrificing your service or waiting times.

Intelligent kitchen display systems automatically dispatch orders to the kitchen after categorizing each order item to ensure easy identification. This improves order management by streamlining the cooking process and increasing staff efficiency.

Intelligent kitchen display systems can also be configured to schedule orders for delivery at specific times to help chefs avoid mistakes and reduce food wastage. Additionally, chefs can review the order schedule to prepare for later courses and ensure food is ready at the designated serving time.

The ChefXML™ Hospitality Suite software is the result of years of development to integrate the most desired features for KDS into one highly efficient and versatile package at a shockingly affordable price. Complete with management & maintenance utilities, there is no better software suite available to complement SEC KDS systems using our IPad or NGen controllers. For the wide spectrum of hospitality environments, ChefXML™ brings kitchen automation to peak performance.

YOU MUST PURCHASE SEPARATELY AN LCD OR LED MONITOR. THE HIGHER UP THE MONITOR WILL BE MOUNTED, THE BIGGER YOUR MONITOR WILL NEED TO BE SO KITCHEN STAFF CAN EASILY READ THE ORDERS DISPLAYED.

The MicroPlus Kitchen Video Display System (KDS) is one of the easiest KDS systems to install and operate. The MicroPlus Kitchen Video Display System’s EPAD controller can mount on the back of most VESA compatible monitors and fit in tight places where space is at a premium. The MicroPlus Kitchen Display System is a cinch to install with no jumpers or settings to fiddle with. You simply select the POS software you will be using with the KDS from the startup menu, plug in the monitor and rugged, stainless steel BumpBar. Then connect the assembled Kitchen Video Display System to your POS computer via a Serial or Ethernet connection, and you are up and running in no time.

Simplify communication between servers and kitchen staff. Your servers ring up orders in Loyverse POS, and Loyverse Kitchen Display System immediately brings them right in front of your kitchen staff eyes, no time wasted.Effective order management

When we talk about technology in restaurants, we often think of online ordering and payment integration. We often miss technology for restaurants’ backend operations. RestaurantTech is playing a massive role in automating and optimizing restaurant kitchen operations. If you are curious regarding what these are, read essential restaurant automation systems that you should employ in your restaurant. In this article, we will talk about the Kitchen Display System as innovation and why you should invest in it.

A Kitchen Display System, more popularly known as KDS is a display monitor that is set up in the kitchen. Integrated with the Point of Salessoftware, it displays the orders that have been placed in the POS. It acts as a mediator between the waiting staff who takes the order, and the chef who prepares the order.

Now that you know what a Kitchen Display System is, next is understanding why you must invest in it. Not only is it a piece of new-age technology where the world is going right now, but it also has multiple benefits that will reflect in your restaurant operations. Here is how a Kitchen Display System can improve the efficiency of your restaurant.

As soon as you enter the order into therestaurant kitchen system, it instantly reflects at the display in the kitchen. Thus, instead of generating a KOT (Kitchen Order Ticket), which needs to be taken to the kitchen and given to the chef or the kitchen staff to be prepared, the order is automatically visible on the kitchen display. Kitchen display systems reduce the time gap between the order placing and order preparing.

Kitchens are often messy and chaotic. Handwritten or even printed KOTs can get misplaced, lost, and deliver incorrect order instructions. The KDS system ensures that no order gets missed and enhances accuracy. If the customers give any special instructions, they can also be included, and are visible on the display system.

Kitchen Display System is a one-time investment. Once installed and integrated through the POS, it is cheaper than paper KOTs. Bonus points for being environment-friendly and reducing paper wastage!

Orders placed online are directly pushed to the KDS system through the POS. This way you don’t have to push online ordersseparately to the kitchen, thus eliminating the risk of missed orders.

Since the order punched into the POS is directly visible on the Kitchen Display System, there is improved communication between the staff. KDS system helps customize the kitchen workflow, especially in the case of multi-kitchen restaurants. When the order has been prepared, the chef can change the status of the order to ‘prepared or ready.’ The serving staff can view the display system and serve the order to the customer. Kitchen Display Systems eliminate the need for the service staff to keep asking the chef if the order has been prepared, thus improving communication.

Integrated with your POS software, a Kitchen Display System also helps you keep track of your business, andanalyze reports. The KDS system gives you in-depth reports through which you can track the average time taken to complete an order. This way you can view how much time and resources are being spent on a particular order.

Kitchen Display Systems are the need of the hour. Not just big cafes, and multi-kitchen restaurants, small restaurants are now also adopting the KDS system for smoother restaurant operations and increased efficiency. To understand more regarding the Kitchen Display System in detail, read How Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) Improve Efficiency & Reduce Costs in Restaurants