Kitchen (KDS) — kitchen display

Kitchen (KDS) (Kitchen Display System) is the kitchen screen that replaces paper tickets: new orders appear automatically, and the cook marks them ready with one tap.

Open: Admin panel → Kitchen (KDS). Runs in a browser on any device — tablet, monitor or TV.

Putting KDS on a kitchen screen#

Two ways:

1. Staff login — a cook signs in with their own account (the "Cook" role only sees kitchen screens).
2. Device code — in Devices, create a code for a kitchen display and enter it on the device. The tablet/TV connects without a password and shows only the KDS.

Useful modes: fullscreen and a sound alert for new orders (toggled on the screen).

Working with tickets#

Every order is a ticket card with the table, type (Dining area / Delivery / Pickup), items and note.

A timer runs on each ticket from the moment the order was placed — overdue orders get highlighted. Cancelled items are marked on the ticket automatically.

For delivery orders, after "Done" the order moves to "Ready for pickup" — couriers see it on the Courier screen; for pickup orders the guest is notified.

Stations#

If the kitchen is split into stations (hot, cold, bar, desserts), enable the Stations filter: pick menu categories and the screen will show only dishes from those categories. Put a separate display at each station — everyone sees only their own queue.

The chosen set of categories is saved as a station preset, shared across all kitchen screens of the account. A physical device is bound to a station through a link (the stations panel offers a QR code and a copy button): the tablet opens straight into the right station. If the link goes stale, the screen does not hide orders — it simply stops filtering and warns about it.

Each station can have its own printer, so station tickets print there, with a backup printer in case it fails. Setup and details — Kitchen printing.

All-day summary#

The Summary tab shows total quantities per dish in the queue: "Khinkali — 24, Khachapuri — 7". The cook sees what to batch-cook without counting tickets manually.

Courses and guests#

Full service brings dishes in waves: starters first, then mains, then dessert. Turn coursing on in the KDS settings (off by default) and the rail starts to understand them:

• every line gets a course number; the waiter sets it at the till, or it comes from the "default course" setting of the dish category;
• lines of courses whose turn has not come are grouped on the ticket into a "🔒 HELD · " block — the kitchen sees them but does not cook them;
• the 🔥 "Fire" button releases a course to the kitchen when the table is ready for the next wave;
• course names are configurable: three by default ("Starters", "Mains", "Desserts"), up to six in total.

Independently of courses, a line shows the guest number if the waiter split the items between guests on the till ticket. Combo slots the guest picked arrive in the line's options.

Smart prep time#

The Smart prep section of the KDS settings solves the main headache of delivery: how many minutes to promise the marketplace. Instead of the channel's fixed value it turns on an automatic prep-time quota computed from the current kitchen load and sent to Wolt and Yandex Eda. It is off by default; once enabled you set:

Ticket urgency itself is measured against the promised time where one is known (slot time or estimated readiness) rather than raw age; separately, a dish that is taking longer than its own cooking time is highlighted on its line.

A separate toggle inside the section — "Cook for courier arrival" — floats tickets with a known courier arrival time to the top of the rail and sorts them by that time instead of ticket age.

Handoff ("Expo") mode on a tablet#

In the Android KDS app the same tablet can work in a second mode — "Handoff": instead of the kitchen rail it shows the queue of ready bags to pass to couriers and guests. The data is exactly the same as on the web Expo screen — selection, grouping and sorting of the queue match.

Switching between "Kitchen" and "Handoff" happens inside the app; no separate device is needed for the pass.

The differences are worth knowing up front. The app has a "Send back to the kitchen" button (ready items are rolled back and the order returns to the rail) — the browser has no such action — and it beeps both on a new card and on a courier arrival, while the web beeps only on the latter. On the other hand, the app's handoff mode has no voice assistant, no manifest and bag-sticker printing and no dark-kitchen virtual brands — for those, use the web Expo screen.

The tablet app#

The kitchen screen has a native Android app, Cenaly KDS. Things the browser does not have:

• kiosk mode (pinning the app to the screen) — a toggle in settings, off by default;
• starting up after the tablet reboots — the app tries to bring the board back by itself (there is no guarantee: without device-owner Android forbids background activity starts, so the tablet is granted the "Display over other apps" permission);
• a brightness slider for the window plus a "System" chip;
• device-level overrides of urgency thresholds and filters — what you set on this tablet does not travel to the account;
• "Hey Cenaly" voice commands right in the kitchen.

What you need to get started#

• A tablet, monitor or TV with a browser — the screen opens at the admin panel address and is bound with a device code (QR codes and devices).
• Stations set on dishes — otherwise there is nothing to route items by (grill, cold station, bar).
• Orders that actually reach the kitchen. By default a guest order reaches the kitchen display only after an operator accepts it in the Orders section; the location setting "guest order needs confirmation" switches back to "straight to work".
• The cook role. An employee with the "Cook" role lands directly on the kitchen display after signing in.
• A station printer — if tickets are also printed on paper (Kitchen printing).

Limitations#

• The screen is not adapted to a phone. It is built for a tablet and a monitor — it has no mobile breakpoints.
• Course firing for full-service fine dining is postponed.
• Without the internet, tickets do not arrive. Updates come over a websocket with 30-second polling as a fallback; there is no local network between the POS and the kitchen — If the internet goes down.
• Kitchen analytics runs on the AWS contour. The "Kitchen" view in statistics (cooking time, station load, lateness) is unavailable on the Russian brand.
• The feed includes aggregator orders — the kitchen does not care where an order came from, and there is no "our own only" filter here.

Troubleshooting#

An order did not appear on the screen. Go in order: the order has not been accepted by an operator in Orders (the "guest order needs confirmation" setting); items have no station set while the screen is filtered to a specific one; the screen is showing a different location.

A ticket was bumped by mistake. The "Recall" button returns an already bumped ticket to work, and it survives a screen reload.

There is no sound for new orders. The browser blocks autoplay until the page is touched once — tap the screen after opening it.

The screen goes dark. That is a tablet setting, not the kitchen display: turn off auto-lock and put the device into the OS kiosk mode.

Items go to the wrong station. The station is set on the dish in the menu card — check that, not the screen settings.

Related#

• POS — where waiters send orders from
• Kitchen printing — station tickets and stickers through the hardware bridge
• Expo — the handoff screen for ready orders
• Orders — the shared feed and order statuses
• Own delivery — what happens to an order after the kitchen
• Staff & shifts — the "Cook" role

FAQ#

What hardware do I need?#

Any device with a browser: a tablet, smart TV, all-in-one PC or an old laptop. No special kitchen terminals required.

Does the screen refresh itself?#

Yes, new orders and status changes arrive automatically without reloading. If the connection drops, the screen shows an "offline" indicator and reconnects on its own.

Can I run several screens for one kitchen?#

Yes, unlimited. With the Stations filter, each screen shows only its own categories.

Where do KDS orders come from?#

From every channel at once: guest QR menus, the POS, the venue website, Telegram, WhatsApp, plus Wolt and Glovo.