Kitchen Display System

A kitchen display system, or KDS, is a digital screen that is used in restaurants to manage customer orders. It is crucial to profitability and customer satisfaction for restaurants to digitize this process to reduce errors and improve customer satisfaction. Orders appear in the kitchen instantly once employees enter them into the Point of Sale.

 

Understanding the Problem

​​Kitchen management is a complex issue. Before KDS systems, waiters passed orders to chefs on paper tickets. This option led to several errors, such as delayed cooking times, inefficient service, and lost kitchen order tickets. Eventually, the process evolved into the use of printers connected to restaurant POS systems, which printed receipts in the kitchen used by kitchen staff. In the modern restaurant business, the KDS plays an important role. ​​It reduces human error and increases efficiency. It also provides a better inventory and time management process.

 

The Challenge

After the development of the POS, Curbngo asked me to design a KDS system that would integrate more seamlessly with this system with the essential functions of sending orders to the kitchen, displaying order statuses and marking items as ready.
As a result of listening to Curbngo’s store owners and line cooks, I was asked to implement the ability to sort orders by items and disable out-of-stock items and products.

 
 

Competitive Analysis

 
 

The Process

After doing my competition analysis research I came to a few conclusions:
• Ticket needs to indicate if it’s for pickup or dine-in
• Ability to go back or undo an action quickly
• Display items relevant to their areas (bar, kitchen, salad bar)
• A way to know in advance if an item is running out
Wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes were developed to test UI consistency, ticket size, grid layout, etc.

 

 

High Fidelity Prototypes

 

Initial Animated Prototypes

 

 
 

 

Latest KDS Version

 

The Result

The first version of the KDS was tested and installed in a store in March 2022. Over the past six months, Curbngo’s KDS has been installed in 25 stores. Store owners are reporting immediate improvements to operations and efficiency, which has led to KDS becoming the most popular Curbngo product.

 

 
 

KDS in-store images

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