KDS (kitchen display system)
A KDS replaces paper kitchen tickets with a screen the cooks read, sorting orders by station and status. The cook bumps an order off the screen with a tap or a button press when the dish leaves the pass.
What it means in operation
A typical KDS sits on the line at eye level: one monitor for the hot kitchen, another for cold, sometimes a third for the bar. Orders arrive as cards in columns: new, in progress, ready. Each card shows the table number, items, modifiers, and the minute count since the order opened. When a cook bumps a card, the floor sees the table marked ready. On MobiTaste the kanban board on the staff dashboard is the KDS surface; restaurants run it on any tablet or old laptop with a browser. There is no printer roll, no jammed ribbon, no smudged thermal paper to translate at 9 pm.
Why it matters
The case for a KDS is ticket loss. Paper KOTs get wet, slip behind the line, get bumped to the floor. Each lost ticket is a missing dish, an angry table, and a comp. A screen does not slip. It also lets a busy kitchen sort by station so the grill cook is not reading sauté tickets, and the timer per card makes Sunday brunch service legible at a glance. For a 40-seat venue, a KDS pays for itself the first month it prevents two voids.
Related terms
- KOT: the paper version a KDS replaces.
- Kanban order board: the column layout most KDS screens use.
- BOH / FOH: who reads which screen.