Setting up a kitchen display screen

What a kitchen screen does

When staff send an order from the POS, the kitchen needs to know what to cook, for which table, in what order, and what changed. A paper ticket does that with a printer and a rail. A kitchen screen does it with a screen: each order arrives as a ticket on the screen, the cook marks it as being prepared and then ready, and it disappears when it is served.

The main gains are visibility and change. A screen can show how long each ticket has waited, flag a late one, total up how many of each dish are still to make, and show a change — a dish cancelled, a quantity lowered — on the ticket the cook is already looking at, rather than on a second slip that can get lost.

Screen, printer or both

You don't have to choose one for the whole kitchen.

• A screen suits stations that cook many orders at once and need to see changes clearly, such as a busy hot line.
• A printer suits a station that hands a slip to someone — the pass, a runner, a bar with no room for a screen.
• Both gives you a screen to cook from and paper to hand over.

A kitchen can start with paper, add a screen at the busiest station, and keep the printer as a backup.

Which device

A kitchen screen does not need special hardware. A tablet held sideways shows the columns side by side; a large screen mounted on the wall is easier to read from a distance. Think about:

• Size and distance. Can a cook read a ticket from where they stand?
• Touch. Cooks tap tickets with wet or gloved hands; a screen within reach, with large buttons, is easier than one on the far wall.
• Power. A screen that sleeps in the middle of service is worse than no screen. Keep it plugged in and turn off automatic sleep.
• Heat and splashes. Mount it away from direct heat and steam, and protect it from splashes.

One screen or one per station

If several stations cook different things, each can have its own view. Decide which categories and dishes each station makes — grill, fryer, cold section, desserts, bar — so each screen shows only its own work. A single small kitchen can start with one screen showing everything.

Agree the taps before the first service

A screen only works if everyone uses it the same way. Before going live, agree with the kitchen team:

• who marks a ticket as started, and when;
• who marks it ready, and who clears it once it is served;
• how a ticket marked by mistake is put back;
• what the floor does when the kitchen says a dish is running short.

Run a practice service with real orders from the POS before the first busy evening.

When the internet drops

Ask any system you consider what happens to the kitchen when the internet goes down. The worst outcome is a screen that silently stops receiving orders while everyone assumes all is well. Look for a screen that warns clearly when it is not updating, and a way for new orders to keep reaching the kitchen — on paper, or over your own Wi-Fi. Our guide to handling a power or internet cut covers the rest of the restaurant.

How BillDine's kitchen screen works

• Any device. An Android phone or tablet with the BillDine app, or a computer or tablet with a modern browser. Add it in Settings → Devices & printing → POS terminals and kitchen screens, scan the code or type it on the kitchen device, and the cook signs in by tapping their name and entering their PIN. Then choose which station the screen shows, or All stations.
• Stations and tickets. In Settings → Devices & printing → Kitchen you choose which categories and dishes each kitchen section makes, and a single dish can go to a different section. Each section can have a screen, a printer or both; a section with no printer sends its tickets to its screen only.
• What the cooks see. New tickets arrive with a chime in NEW, oldest first. Prep moves a ticket to PREPARING, Done to READY TO SERVE, and Served clears it. Late tickets are marked LATE ORDER, a dish sent back arrives as a REMAKE ticket, and a changed ticket flashes red with its own alarm until a cook taps OK. To cook totals how many of each dish are still to make. Undo puts a ticket back, and Recently served brings back one served by mistake.
• The floor and the kitchen. A waiter can press Rush on a table that has waited too long; the kitchen can tap Running late with a number of minutes, and Short beside a dish it cannot make. Each POS sees where every sent dish stands and chimes when an order is ready.
• When the internet drops. The screen shows a red NOT UPDATING warning. With Kitchen screens over Wi-Fi when offline turned on, the POS terminal that prints for your outlet passes new tickets to the kitchen screens over your own Wi-Fi; this needs the BillDine app on the screen and on the POS terminal.
• More detail. See the kitchen screen in depth, with what your plan includes.

The lesson Tables and kitchen tickets shows an order going from the POS to the kitchen.

A setup checklist

1. Decide which stations get a screen, a printer or both.
2. Choose devices large enough to read from where the cooks stand, and keep them powered.
3. Decide which dishes each station makes.
4. Agree the taps with the team, and run a practice service.
5. Test what happens when the internet is unplugged — before a busy night, not during one.