Kitchen Display Screen (KDS) Technology facilitates communication between wait staff and kitchen staff by replacing handwritten or printed order tickets with an easy-to-read digital screen that displays order tickets. While KDS technology is generally more necessary in larger restaurants with high order turnover rates, every restaurant can benefit from implementing such technology.

Below are 5 common benefits offered by KDS technologies.

1. Faster and More Accurate Customer OrdersManaging customer orders manually requires more effort and leaves more room for error. With KDS technology, your kitchen staff can immediately see these orders directly from your POS system rather than wait for the arrival of a hastily scribbled ticket or one that needs to be printed out. The result is a faster and more accurate system of processing customer orders.

2. Improved Customer ServiceKDS technology speeds up the entire ordering process, allowing customers to get their food more quickly. Some KDS technologies can even display orders by the time it will take to prepare each item so that the orders come out at the same time.

3. Improved Kitchen EfficiencyWith KDS technology, order tickets can be routed directly to specific kitchen screens and prep stations as well as color coded to turn different colors when they are not fulfilled within a designated amount of time. Thus, you can create specific routines or protocols to help kitchen staff easily keep track of all of the different tickets and quickly identify the ones that need to be prioritized.

4. Kitchen Data Collection & AnalysisKDS technology will track the time it takes your kitchen staff to fulfill each ticket, so if you have a POS system that automatically generates kitchen reports, you will obtain valuable data on your kitchen operations, like how long it takes your chefs to fulfill order tickets at different days and times. Using this data, you can identify your most efficient staff members or the particular business hours that require additional hands on deck.

5. Reduced WasteIn addition to reducing wasted paper, KDS technology can also help to cut down on wasted food by preventing communication errors between the front and back of the restaurant. 


While there are many KDS technologies in the market, not all will benefit your restaurant equally. Thus, when considering which KDS technology to use, it is critical to consider the following elements.