Kitchen Display (KDS)
Menu path: Sidebar (top) → Kitchen Display • URL: /kitchen
Access: ADMIN, MANAGER, KITCHEN
Requires: kdsIntegration — included in the free core
Purpose
The KDS (Kitchen Display System) is where orders from the till or the QR menu land in the kitchen in real time. It replaces the paper ticket: the cook sees the order, starts preparing it, and marks it “ready” when done. All updates stream instantly over WebSocket — the moment the till writes an order, the kitchen sees it.
KDS is included in the free core: no licence, no module, no time limit. Like POS, it sits behind no paid gate at all.
Screen layout
The kitchen screen splits orders into columns by three statuses:
| Column | Status | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | PENDING | Just arrived, prep not started |
| Preparing | PREPARING | The cook has started |
| Ready | READY | Done, waiting to be served/handed off |
- Desktop (≥1024px): the three columns appear side by side.
- Tablet/phone: they appear as three tabs, each showing that status’s count.
The stats header at the top shows the live state (connection status, order counts) and a refresh button. Each order card ages by how long it has been waiting; urgent (long-waiting) orders are highlighted with a red alert dot and surfaced on the tab badge.
Usage
The cook advances an order to the next status with a single tap on the card:
- Pending → Preparing (start work)
- Preparing → Ready (ready to serve)
Ready orders appear in the “awaiting payment” list on the till side and close out after they’re served/paid.
Safe cancellation: only an order in Pending can be cancelled, and the cancel commits after a 5-second undo window. In that gap another station may have advanced the order — when the system commits the cancel, it re-verifies the order is still “Pending”. If it isn’t, it won’t cancel (you get an “order is no longer pending” warning). A cancellation restores stock server-side (line items return to inventory).
Kiosk mode
The kiosk toggle at the top turns the screen into a full-screen, dark-themed kitchen board — readable from a distance, with distracting UI hidden. If you’ve mounted a fixed screen/tablet in the kitchen, leave it in kiosk mode.
Connection drops and resilience
- If the live connection (WebSocket) drops, the screen auto-polls roughly every 10 seconds to stay current; polling stops once the connection returns.
- The last known orders stay on screen (the board never blanks out during a transient error).
- If a fetch fails, a red warning banner appears showing the time of the last successful sync; one click refreshes.
- On first open, before data has arrived, a skeleton is shown instead of empty columns — so “still loading” is never confused with “kitchen is empty”.
Tips
- Put a dedicated screen/tablet in the kitchen and turn on kiosk mode; define a user with the KITCHEN role (their access is limited to the kitchen screen + board).
- The “urgent” red dot flags a long-waiting order — use it to prioritize during the rush.
- If an order came in wrong (the customer changed their mind), cancel it only while Pending; once prep has started, manage it from the till.